Chemistry key to goals, Arnaud says
Learning teammates’ tendencies will help Impact fill net: captain
Impact captain Davy Arnaud laughed when reminded he is the team’s leading scorer after its first two games in Major League Soccer.
Arnaud scored the first MLS goal in Impact history in a 1-1 tie with the Chicago Fire last Saturday at Olympic Stadium, following a 2-0 loss to Vancouver in the season opener.
The Impact’s apparent lack of offence has been under the microscope since preseason training began.
“We don’t concern ourselves with that because I think we have guys on the team capable of scoring goals, and from several different positions,” Arnaud, 31, a midfielder in his 11th MLS season, said after practice Thursday.
“I think we’d worry more if we weren’t creating chances, but we’re creating chances, and that’s the most important thing,” he added. “We’re two games (into the season), so we’re not worried about it too much.”
The Impact has had more opportunities to score than its opponents in the first two games, ranking third among the league’s 19 teams with 31 shots. Sporting Kansas City tops the league with 44 shots, followed by the Los Angeles Galaxy with 38.
The Impact is second in shots on goal with 13, trailing Kansas City with 15. The Galaxy and Houston Dynamo are tied for third with 12 shots on goal each. Impact forward Sanna Nyassi is tied for fifth in the league with eight shots on goal.
Arnaud, who spent the previous 10 seasons with Kansas City, had 44 goals in 242 regular-season games before joining the Impact. He has already exceeded last year’s output when he failed to score in 22 games.
Arnaud said it’s not unusual for a team to struggle with offensive consistency early in the season.
“Part of it is developing a chemistry,” he said. “But in the final third (of the field) and scoring goals, it’s the toughest part of the game. We know that.”
“It helps when you’re familiar with each other and you know each other’s tendencies, especially closer to the goal,” Arnaud said. “That will come for us. The way we’ve been working at it has been good, and we’re getting better every day in terms of our sharpness in front of the goal. Our goals are going to come ... I know that.”
The Impact will play the first of three straight road games on Saturday against the Columbus Crew, an Eastern Conference rival. It will be the home opener for the Crew, which is coming off a bye week after losing 2-0 to the Colorado Rapids in its season opener.
It will mark the first time this season that the Impact plays outdoors and on real grass.
Defender Josh Gardner played with the Crew last season and is looking forward to somewhat of a homecoming in a different uniform.
“It will be exciting to see all my friends,” he said. “I haven’t been back since I moved out of my apartment to come up here. It will be good to see those guys.”
The Impact practised outdoors for the first time in Montreal this week, working out the last two days on artificial turf at the Town of Mount Royal Recreation Centre. The club leaves for Columbus on Friday morning and will practise on grass for the first time in the afternoon.
Gardner said the team remains buoyed by its performance against the Fire, and expects the momentum to carry over into Columbus.
“They had a bye last week, played a few college teams, so if they created bad habits for themselves, hopefully we can exploit those and do well,” he said. Week’s best 11: Brazilian midfielder Felipe is the first Impact player selected to Mlssoccer.com’s 11-member team of week.
Felipe, who joined the Impact from Switzerland’s FC Lugano in December, controlled the midfield like a seasoned veteran in the game against Chicago. He had an 83-per-cent pass-completion rate and was responsible for the play that led to Arnaud’s historic goal.