Impact are underdogs vs. Dallas FC

When the Montreal Impact players stepped off their plane at Dallas-Fort Worth airport Thursday afternoon, the thermometer had eased above 37 C.

But coach Rémi Garde said extreme heat isn’t the biggest obstacle facing the Impact in Saturday ’s game against FC Dallas (8 p.m., TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio).

“(It’s) the quality of the opponent,” Garde said before the Impact held an early morning practice in Montreal Thursday. “I think Dallas is a very good team. They have an identity that is very clear. I watched their game last night and, despite the number of regulars who weren’t playing, they were in good shape collectively and the challenge for us is to manage this.”

Garde was referring to Dallas FC’s 1-0 win over FC San Antonio, a United Soccer League side, in the U.S. Open Cup.

“Sometimes when a team plays a mid-week game, they may be tired and be at a disadvantage in the next game, but I think I saw only one player who’s likely to be in the lineup Saturday,” said goalkeeper Evan Bush.

The two teams are at different ends of the MLS standings. The Impact sit ninth in the Eastern Conference with 12 points on a 4-10 record. Before Friday’s game between Toronto and Philadelphia, Montreal sat seven points behind Orlando City in the battle for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and the Florida team holds a game in hand. Dallas FC is second in the Western Conference with 26 points, two behind Sporting Kansas City.

Montreal hasn’t had much success against Dallas FC, with a 1-4-1 record. The Impact will be decided underdogs Saturday, but Bush didn’t put much stock in past results.

“It may be cliché, but in this league any team can beat any other team,” said Bush. “You can’t look at the past because we have different players, they have different players.”

Montreal is coming off a 1-0 home victory over the Houston Dynamo Saturday. That snapped a four-game losing streak.

“You could feel the difference in training this week, everyone was feeling more confident,” said midfielder Samuel Piette.

Garde said: “The previous weeks have been tough, but the group rebounded quite quickly after the disappointing weekends we had. This week, the difference was as soon as we got back on the field, we were ready to prepare for the next game.”

Garde has been forced to juggle his back line on a weekly basis because of injuries and this week he will be without Jukka Raitala, who has been a stalwart as a central defender. Raitala has been called up by the Finnish national team for a friendly against Belarus Saturday.

Raitala’s absence means Rod Fanni and Rudy Camacho will start at centre back. Before the season started, the Frenchmen were pencilled in for key roles but, because of injures, they have played together only once. Garde said he hoped they could develop some cohesion, but noted it would have been better if that process had begun in the preseason.