Impact hopes sad season yields happy anniversary
Celebrating 25-year mark, Montreal seeks rebound from ‘worst game’ of 2018
The Impact will be celebrating its 25th anniversary when it plays the Los Angeles Galaxy at Saputo Stadium Monday (3 p.m. TVA Sports, TSN Radio 690) and they’re hoping the occasion will be a happy one.
There hasn’t been a lot of joy in the Impact camp this season. The team goes into the holiday weekend in ninth place in the MLS Eastern Conference with a 3-8-0 record. The Impact had lost its last two games and coach Rémi Garde wasn’t mincing his words when he called last Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union “our worst game on the year.”
There was reason for optimism two weeks ago when the Impact posted a 4-2 home win over the New England Revolution and followed that with a strong defensive effort before losing 1-0 to the Chicago fire on the road.
But nothing went right against Philadelphia.
“I didn’t expect that because the week before we controlled the game, we controlled the ball, we controlled everything against a very good team,” said Garde. “I was surprised that a week later, with the same players, with the same construction, we couldn’t win. I’m not pessimistic, I’m not worried. I just want the players to be confident.”
Injuries have been a problem, particularly among the deep backs, and Garde said Michael Petrasso and Rudy Camacho are touch-andgo for Monday’s game.
“Every week we have to change the backline and it’s not an easy situation for me and it’s not an easy situation for the team,” said Garde. “Normally, when you want to have stability and for some reason we are struggling to keep the same players every weekend. We have to cope, we have to adapt.”
Garde did say things should get easier now that it’s warmer and the team is moving back and forth between grass and artificial turf.
The Impact is expecting a sellout crowd Monday. The anniversary celebrations may be part of the attraction but it’s also an opportunity for fans to see Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish superstar. The 36-year-old striker became the latest international star to take advantage of the MLS retirement plan when he signed with the Galaxy in March. His resumé includes action with some of the most storied teams in soccer — Ajax, AC Milan, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Paris St- Germain, Juventus and, most recently, Manchester United.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush said the presence of stars like Ibrahimovic is good for MLS.
“He has a strong persona,” noted Bush. “He was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel’s show and I don’t think (Kimmel) has many soccer players on the show.”
He also presents a challenge for Bush and the Impact defence.
“You want to try to push him back into the midfield,” said Bush. “He’s 6-foot-5 and you don’t want him to establish position in the box where he can serviced. He can also be effective as a playmaker. But you can’t be focused on him alone. They also have a dangerous player in (Ola) Kamara.”
Kamara leads the struggling Galaxy — Los Angeles is ninth in the Western Conference with a 3-61 record — with four goals while Ibrahimovic has three goals and three assists.
Ibrahimovic, who has trademarked his first name in Sweden, has no problems with confidence, When he moved to California, he was required to take a driving test and when he was asked whether he missed any questions on the written portion of the test, he replied: “Zlatan never misses.”
The Impact is hoping that isn’t the case Monday.