MONTRÉAL IMPACT vs D.C. UNITED
STADE SAPUTO, Montréal, Que.
August 17, 2013 (WEEK 25, MLS Game #222) 7 p.m. ET (TSN/RDS; CSN-DC)
The Montréal Impact and D.C. United meet for the second time in three weeks when the Eastern Conference clubs face off Saturday evening at Stade Saputo. At RFK Stadium a fortnight ago, United broke out of a long slump with a 3-1 win against the Impact. Montréal returns home following back-to-back defeats, last a 2-1 loss at the Chicago Fire. United remain on the road following a 2-0 loss at Philadelphia Union last weekend.
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REFEREE: Ismail Elfath. AR1 (bench): Peter Manikowski; AR2 (opposite): Scott Kachmarik; 4th: Silviu Petrescu
MLS Career: 18 games; FC/gm: 24.6; Y/gm: 3.0; R: 5; pens: 7
DISABLED LIST: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: MTL: Matteo Ferrari … DC: Perry Kitchen
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: MTL: Hassoun Camara, Felipe Martins, Jeb Brovsky, Davy Arnaud, Patrice Bernier … DC: Daniel Woolard, John Thorrington, Chris Korb, Kyle Porter
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (4 meetings): Impact 1 win, 5 goals … United 2 wins, 7 goals … Ties 1
AT MONTREAL (1 meeting): Impact 1 win, 3 goals … United 0 wins, 0 goals … Ties 1
- The teams are meeting for the second time in three weeks. United broke out of a scoring slump with a 3-1 win Aug. 3 at RFK Stadium, behind goals from Luis Silva, Conor Doyle and Jared Jeffrey.
- The teams evenly split their three matches in the Impact’s inaugural MLS season. Each team won 3-0 at home; the teams played to a draw in the first meeting ever between the clubs, also at RFK Stadium.
- Coaches record: Ben Olsen v MTL: P4 W2 L1 D1 … Marco Schallibaum vs. DC: P1 W0 L1 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS)
8/3: DC 3, MTL 1 (Silva 19; Doyle 68; Jeffrey 93+ -- Brovsky 52)
- United opened the scoring after just 19 minutes, again through Luis Silva. Nick DeLeon had his shot blocked, but the ball bounced directly to Silva. He then held the ball in the box before blasting a right-footed shot that hit the far post and bounced in.
- The Impact leveled the score in the 52nd minute on a nifty give-and-go by Jeb Brovsky and Davy Arnaud, the fullback neatly finishing from inside the area.
- But United regained the lead in the 68th minute. Defender James Riley flighted in a perfect cross and Conor Doyle finished off a strong run with a flicked header past Montreal goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
- Then, in stoppage time with the Impact pressing for the leveler, Doyle and Jared Jeffery broke toward Perkins on a 2-on-0 and Doyle set Jeffery up for the empty net tap-in.
- D.C. UNITED (4-4-1-1): Joe Willis - Chris Korb, Daniel Woolard, Dejan Jakovic, James Riley - Kyle Porter, Perry Kitchen, Jared Jeffrey, Nick DeLeon (Collin Martin 76) - Luis Silva (Sainey Nyassi 69) - Dwayne De Rosario (Conor Doyle 64).
- MONTREAL IMPACT (4-1-4-1): Troy Perkins - Dennis Iapichino, Matteo Ferrari, Hassoun Camara, Jeb Brovsky - Patrice Bernier (Daniele Paponi 70) - Sanna Nyassi (Blake Smith 69), Andres Romero (Felipe Martins 74), Davy Arnaud, Justin Mapp - Marco Di Vaio.
MONTREAL IMPACT
The Montréal Impact went down to their second consecutive defeat, falling 2-1 to the Chicago Fire on Saturday evening at Toyota Park. The Impact are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 35 points from 22 matches.
LAST MATCH
- The Fire took the lead in the sixth minute. A deflected ball fell to Joel Lindpere just outside the penalty area, and he drove a shot goalward that deflected off of forward Daniele Paponi and beat Troy Perkins inside the near post.
- A persistent effort from Dilly Duka gave the Fire a 2-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Duka gathered the ball 40 yards away from goal and dribbled to the corner of the box, where the ball was poked away and deflected back to the Fire midfielder, who then rolled the ball into the lower corner.
- The Impact pulled a goal back in the 57th minute when substitute Felipe scored from just outside the penalty area, driving a pass from Sanna Nyassi first-time into the lower corner from outside the area.
- Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum made three changes to the team that lost 3-1 to D.C. United at RFK Stadium. Hassoun Camara came into the back four for Dennis Iapichino, Hernan Bernardello started in midfield for Andres Romero, and Daniele Paponi came into the attack for Marco Di Vaio.
- MONTREAL IMPACT (4-3-3): Troy Perkins - Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Jeb Brovsky - Davy Arnaud (Marco Di Vaio 55), Patrice Bernier, Hernan Bernardello (Felipe Martins 55) - Justin Mapp, Daniele Paponi, Sanna Nyassi (Andres Romero 74).
TEAM NEWS
- The Impact have won just once in their last eight league games, after a second consecutive defeat in the loss to Chicago.
- “We believe we can win until the end and at every game that we can come away with points to make the playoffs. We have a good position but we needed more points today,” said Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum. “ That’s a good thing; we have enough games to make this game up.”
- After the games of July 7, the Impact led the Eastern Conference. They now sit in fourth place in the division, two points ahead of fifth-place Houston.
- “If that had been the last game, and we weren’t in the top five, I couldn’t do anything about it,” Schällibaum said. “But there are enough games left for us to react.”
- Felipe came off the bench for a second consecutive match and scored his fourth league goal of the season, his first since June 19.
- “[Scoring] was important, because after a long time when I didn’t play so well with many ups and downs, it’s been good to come back,” Felipe said. “And I think that if I can be the Felipe everybody knows again, it can be a good thing for the team in order to make the playoffs. I know that it’s not just about me, but for me, if I start to play well again, I can help the team a lot to make the playoffs.”
- Marco Di Vaio was out of the starting lineup for the second time in the last four league games, coming off the substitutes’ bench for the final 35 minutes.
- “He played Saturday, Wednesday, and I spoke to him yesterday and this morning and he was tired. He’s not the youngest player,” said Schällibaum. “It’s better than this because I don’t want to lose him because he has a problem. He was just out because he was tired.”
- Hernán Bernardello made his MLS debut, starting in the midfield and playing 55 minutes.
- “I still thought we have some decent possession in the first half. But in second half we had the possession [of the match]. Plus we were dangerous,” said midfielder Justin Mapp. “We pulled a goal closer, but we couldn’t quite get the second one to tie it up. … Sometimes possession doesn’t necessarily get you goals, which is ultimately what you need. On the score sheet, they scored two and whether or not we had possession, that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United went down to another loss, falling 2-0 to Philadelphia Union on Saturday evening at PPL Park. United are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 13 points from 23 matches.
LAST MATCH
- Union opened the scoring in the 35th minute. Right back Sheanon Williams sent in a high-arching cross that Sebastien Le Toux flicked on to the foot of Conor Casey, who managed to control the ball between defenders and poke it past D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid in one motion.
- Casey then sealed the win in the 75th minute when he calmly slotted home a cross from the left flank from Fabinho, who had been freed on the edge of the area from a pass by Le Toux.
- United head coach Ben Olsen made six changes to the team that rolled to a 3-1 victory against the Montréal Impact at RFK Stadium. Bill Hamid came in between the posts for Joe Willis, Conor Shanosky and Ethan White started in central defense in place of Daniel Woolard and Dejan Jakovic, and Collin Martin, Taylor Kemp and Conor Doyle came into the attack for Nick DeLeon, Luis Silva and Dwayne De Rosario.
- D.C. UNITED (4-2-3-1): Bill Hamid - Chris Korb, Conor Shanosky, Ethan White, James Riley - Jared Jeffrey, Perry Kitchen - Kyle Porter (Dwayne De Rosario 46), Collin Martin (Michael Seaton 76), Taylor Kemp - Conor Doyle.
TEAM NEWS
- United were shut out for a 13th time this season in their 2-0 defeat by Philadelphia Union on Saturday evening. It’s tied for the sixth-most offensive shutouts in a season in league history; D.C. United holds the record with 17, in 2010.
- “We knew it was going to be a tough task tonight, we were hoping for a bounce to go our way and to come out of here with some kind of result,” said United head coach Ben Olsen. “… It’s a learning experience for a lot of people out there, a lot of guys.”
- With an average age of 23 years, 78 days, United started the youngest lineup in the club’s history. In the second half, all five of the club’s Homegrown Players were on the field. The youngest team to start a game in MLS history was the MetroStars, vs. LA Galaxy, on June 19, 2004. The average age was 22 years, 138 days.
- Homegrown Player Collin Martin made his first MLS start, playing 76 minutes in the center of midfield.
- “It felt good to get a start, it was an amazing atmosphere,” Martin said. “It was fun to be out there with that group of guys. In the end though it doesn’t really matter because we lost. That was disappointing. You take each milestone and you build on it – I am excited to get back to work and improve on this start.”
- “I think he is one of the guys on the field that, at least from a confidence standpoint, doesn’t care what type of game he’s in. He’s calm on the ball, he has ideas,” said Olsen. “The problem with Collin going forward is we have to find him a position, but I love his starting point. He’s a great soccer player and I was happy that he had a pretty good performance today.”
- When Michael Seaton came on in the second half, he became the first player born after the league was founded to play in an MLS match (date of birth: May 1, 1996).
- “He is doing great with his development,” Olsen said. “He has a ways to go but our relationship with Richmond has been perfect for him. He has gone there, he has scored goals and gotten valuable minutes in a real league, real games, and he comes back. His growth from the time we saw him in January to now is pretty impressive.”
