Impact geared up for Red Bulls grudge match
New York Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch stopped short of calling Saturday’s game against the Impact (7:30 p.m., TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio) a revenge match, but he said his players are aware that this is the first meeting between these teams since the Impact bounced the Red Bulls from the MSL playoffs last fall.
“It’s back there (in our minds) and we were frustrated by the result and how things turned out,” Marsch told reporters this week. “But we’ve had good results against them in the past and we’re confident going into this game.”
The Impact is riding its own wave of confidence. After a slow start to the season, the Impact has scored four goals in each of their last two games at Saputo Stadium with a 4-1 MLS win over Portland and a 4-2 win over Vancouver in the second leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal. That gave the Impact a 5-4 win on aggregate and a place in the final this month against Toronto FC.
“I think they want to show they’re better than us,” said Montreal midfielder Marco Donadel. “Every time they come here, they play hard. At the end, we’re two good teams that compete. It’s a high-speed game and it’s fun. For us, we have to be careful because they have good players like (Sacha) Kljestan and they can change the game with a good pass. We have to be focused and be aware of their top players.”
The top players include Kljestan, former Impact midfielder Felipe and Bradley Wright-Phillips, who leads New York with six goals.
Felipe said he was looking forward to returning to Montreal, where he was a fan favourite, but said that it has been more than two years since he played here and he’s trying to treat it as just another game.
Donadel said the most important thing for the Impact is to look at the big picture and find the right pace. He noted that there is an urgency in playoff situations, where you win or go home, while the regular season is about working to get better with each game.
Donadel said the team is starting to come together with newcomer Blerim Dzemaili joining him, Ignacio Piatti and Patrice Bernier in the midfield, while Dominic Oduro and youngsters Ballou Tabla and Anthony Jackson-Hamel provide speed and a scoring touch up front.
But there is no doubt that points have become important. The Impact are last in the Eastern Conference standings with 13 points and a 3-4-4 record, but they have also played only 11 league games, the fewest in the conference. The Red Bulls hold the sixth and final playoff spot in the conference with 20 points from 14 games.
After Saturday’s game, the Impact play their next three MLS games on the road, but Donadel said he didn’t view that as a problem.
“We are a team that can take points on the road and we’re not scared to go to Kansas City or Atlanta or Columbus,” he said. “We’ve showed that we can play well everywhere and we can also play bad at home. We’ve showed that.”
Coach Mauro Biello said his biggest concern is the game next week in Kansas City because the Impact will be missing seven players due to international call-ups. Laurent Ciman (Belgium), Dzemaili (Switzerland) and Ambroise Oyongo (Cameroon) are playing in World Cup qualifiers, while Canada has called up Bernier, Jackson-Hamel, Wandrille Lefèvre and Maxime Crépeau for a friendly against Curaçao on June 13 at Saputo Stadium.
The loss of Ciman, Lefèvre and Oyongo will leave Montreal thin in the back, but it gives Kyle Fisher a chance to solidify his spot in the starting 11. An injury to Victor Cabrera provided Fisher with an opportunity and he has held on to the spot even after Cabrera’s return.
“We have depth and we’re constantly pushing each other,” Fisher said prior to practice Friday. “We have to perform and do what you can to make the coach’s decision tough.”