Photo: John Raoux Associated Press
Rod Fanni and the defence of the Impact have given up four goals last week at Toronto FC.
As it is not possible to erase the moments of inertia and the blunders that have dotted their first two outings, the players of the Montreal Impact do not have more than one idea in mind : building on a foundation of positive from their performance Thursday against the Toronto FC for their last match of the preliminary phase of the tournament relaunch of the MLS.
This positive attitude was also noticeable in the comments of the head coach, Thierry Henry and midfielder Samuel Piette during video conferencing held on Sunday afternoon, a little more than 48 hours of the duel between the Impact and the D. C. United.
This match will be shown Tuesday night at 22: 30.
After providing disappointing against the Revolution in New-England in its first match, leading to a defeat of 1-0, montreal was a lot better seemed against Toronto FC. However, she suffered another setback by the slimmest of margins, 4-3, leaving the Impact in the fourth and last place in group C, and in search of a first point in the standings.
“I say often : “you’re where you should be” “, said Henry, when he was asked if his team fully deserved their current position in the standings.
What seems certain in the eyes of Henry, it is that the Impact has offered a quality performance against its major rivals canadians.
“For me, the game against New England and the match against Toronto are totally different. Against New England, I found that it was not there physically for X reasons, especially in terms of combativeness. But in terms of fighting spirit against Toronto, and what we wanted to do, we kept the ball, we dominated, Toronto did not have the ball. Now, we have made a few mistakes which have cost us, we got caught in against on two or three actions “, described the head coach of the Impact.
If we take the positives, if we take the good stuff that we have done against Toronto, I think we can give them a good chance in the last game against D. C.
— Samuel Piette
Since the beginning of the tournament, the Impact has always had to play the soccer of catch-up, and took the advance only once. Also, he has provided goals at times when we would have been able to believe that he had the wind in the sails.
Against New England, he gave as he came to know about its best moments early in the second half. The Face of Toronto FC, he was awarded a crucial goal that broke a tie 2-2 that had just created Sapphire Taïder on a penalty just a few seconds earlier, during the 37th minute of the game.
“We paid cash for our mistakes in the first two games,” admitted Piette.
“I think that in the game against Toronto, maybe it would have deserved a better fate, in the sense that it offered a better performance. We put the ingredients in the game that was missing against New England. After that, the goals that we concede, it is we who offer it to Toronto. If we take the positives, if we take the good stuff that we have done against Toronto, I think we can give them a good chance in the last game against d.c., ” says Piette.
To access the knock-out stage, which must begin on the 25th of July, the Impact faced a scenario that is both simple and complex.
It is simple in the sense that the team that absolutely must beat the D. C. United for hope to continue on his way. With a win, the Impact will complement the pane preliminary with three points in the tournament standings, and three points more in the overall classification in the Association Is.
It is complicated because the Impact is not entirely the master of her destiny. It will benefit from the help of other teams to advance to the next round in the four ” best third “.
Already, the Sporting KC, in group D, FC and FC Cincinnati, in the group E, a total of three points. A third training could be added if there is a winner in the match of group B between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Seattle Sounders, submitted late on Sunday night.
In the event of a tie at the end of the group stage, the gap between the goals scored and goals conceded will be the first criterion to be analyzed to establish the training that will continue through the tournament, followed by the goals scored.
“Essentially, we have nothing to lose,” said Piette about the game against D. C. United.
“We want to win and we will give everything, that’s for sure. We know that no other result will allow us to move to the next round. I’ll leave the mathematical aspect to the coaches. But it is certain that we want to perform and win. “
“It’s going to have to focus to win this match, noted Saphir Taïder. Then, the gain of the best ways. If we can win and push on the nail, we’re going to do. “
