Impact aims to end 25-game road skid
Montreal faces Chicago Fire armed with new-found scoring prowess
With back-to-back home wins under the belt, the Impact wants to prove it can be successful away from Saputo Stadium.
The Montreal team will look to record its first away victory in Major League Soccer in its last 25 road games when the club takes on the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park on Saturday (8:30 p.m., TVA Sports 2).
“Playing on the road is always difficult,” said defender Bakary Soumaré, who spent the bulk of his MLS career with the Fire. “Admittedly, it’s more difficult for us than for other teams. But away wins are definitely our priority.
“To make the playoffs in this league, you need to get points away from home.”
Montreal is 0-18-7 in MLS road games dating to Sept. 8, 2013, when Patrice Bernier and Marco Di Vaio each scored twice to beat 10-man New England. Since that victory, the Impact has been outscored 46- 16 away from home.
“It was difficult last year, but we have different qualities in our players and a different team this year,” head coach Frank Klopas said. “That also helps from a confidence standpoint.”
This season, the Impact is 0-2-1 as the visitor, failing to score in all three games. Starting with Chicago on Saturday, five of Montreal’s next seven games are on the road.
“The travel requirements are a lot more than any other league,” goalkeeper Evan Bush said before practice on Friday. “We’re flying across the country — it’s not charter flights. A lot of those things, combined with a lot of parity in the league, it’s going to be hard to get results on the road.”
But with two consecutive wins and a new-found scoring touch, Klopas’s men are brimming with optimism.
Montreal (2-3-2) convincingly thumped Real Salt Lake 4-1 at home two weeks ago, and the club held on for a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas last Saturday. After scoring only three goals in its first five matches, the Impact has six in its last two.
“We feel like we’re in a good way right now,” said Bush, who’s 1-0-1 against Chicago in his career. “In this league, you have to take advantage of the times when you’re in good form. We’re going to go into this week with a lot of confidence.”
Sitting eighth in the Eastern Conference, the Fire (3-5-2) is winless in its last four matches.
The team’s high-profile off-season signings — namely designated players Shaun Maloney and Kennedy Igboananike — have failed to produce offensively. The Scot and Nigerian have combined for only one goal so far this season.
With three goals, Chicago’s leading scorer is centre-back Jeff Larentowicz. Speedy winger David Accam, also acquired this winter as the team’s third designated player, has scored twice.
Absent from the Fire lineup will be former league MVP Mike Magee, who underwent hip surgery last September. Though he has recently begun training with the club, Magee will not see any action against the Impact.