Montreal Impact vs. Orlando City SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Montreal Impact vs. Houston Dynamo
2018 MLS Regular Season - Week 16
Stade Saputo — Montreal
June 13 - 7:30 pm ET
WATCH: TVAS2, ESPN+

Two Eastern Conference sides desperate for three points before the World Cup break meet at Stade Saputo in the midweek with the Montreal Impact, who won just once in their last six games host an Orlando City SC side that have dropped five in a row.

The Impact are coming off a 2-0 loss to FC Dallas, the fifth time they’ve been shutout in their last six games, while the Lions finished with 10 men in a 5-2 loss at Vancouver on Saturday.

The Impact are unbeaten in their last three matches against Orlando (2W-1D). They were 1W-3L-1D in their first five games against the Lions, per Opta.

Montreal Impact

Montreal (4-11-0) failed to make it back-to-back wins over Texas teams, falling to FC Dallas, 2-0, after beating the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, the previous week.

Rudy Camacho replaced Jukka Raitala, who joined Finland for a friendly against Belarus, in central defense, Ken Krolicki returned in a three-man midfield and Matteo Mancosu and Alejandro Silva started in place of Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Ignacio Piatti up front.

The Impact fell behind on a Mancosu own goal five minutes in and Mauro Diaz converted an 18th-minute penalty kick for FC Dallas. Still, Garde took positives from the road defeat.

“We did not see as much difference on the field between the two teams as the ranking shows,” Garde said. “I am very disappointed for my players. We also wanted to keep the state of mind we had shown the week, and tonight the team showed it.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Samuel Piette
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Zakaria Diallo (ruptured Achilles tendon), D - Kyle Fisher (tibia injury), D - Victor Cabrera (calf injury), M - David Choiniere (ankle surgery), M - Louis Beland-Goyette (foot injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-1-4-1, right to left)
GK: Evan Bush — Daniel Lovitz, Jukka Raitala, Rod Fanni, Chris Duvall — Samuel Piette — Ignacio Piatti, Saphir Taider, Alejandro Silva, Raheem Edwards — Matteo Mancosu

Notes: Piatti is goalless in his last five games, tied for his second-longest such streak in MLS. However, he has five goals in seven appearances against Orlando, his third most against any MLS club. … Since last September, the Impact are 3W-7L-0D at home, scoring 13 goals in the 10 games. Only two teams have fewer home wins in that time – D.C. United (two) and LAFC (two).

Orlando City SC

U.S. Open Cup success did not carry over to MLS for Orlando City SC, which beat Miami United FC in the Fourth Round, but suffered a fifth straight league loss when the Lions fell to Vancouver, 5-2, at BC Place.

Trailing 1-0, Orlando (6-7-1) were reduced to 10 men when Mohamed El-Munir was sent off for his second bookable offense in the 58th minute. Sacha Kljestan leveled six minutes later, but Alphonso Davies keyed a four-goal explosion in the final 14 minutes to put the game away for the ‘Caps. The lone bright spot late was the inclusion of Dom Dwyer after missing three straight games to injury. Dwyer netted his seventh goal of the season late in stoppage time.

“We need players to step forward. We need players to say enough is enough.” Jason Kreis said. “I think that we are going to have to talk to individual players about their performance. We have to expect more, and we have to demand more. Again, it’s not to say everything is bad, because it’s not. There are a lot of positive things, but at the end of the day, we need that 10 percent.”

Suspended: D - Mohamed El-Munir
Suspended after next caution: D - Will Johnson, M - Cristian Higuita
International duty: M - Yoshi Yotun
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar (Localized Ewing Sarcoma), D - Scott Sutter (knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: D - Lamine Sane (knee injury), D - Jonathan Spector (concussion)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Bendik — Will Johnson, Chris Schuler, Amro Tarek, Donny Toia — Cristian Higuita, Uri Rosell — Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram — Dom Dwyer

Notes: In the 10 games that Yoshi Yotún has started, Orlando averages 2.0 goals and 1.9 points per game. In the 4 games he has not started, they have averaged 1.0 goals and 0.0 points per game. … The Lions have lost a franchise-record five straight MLS matches, conceding an average of 2.8 goals per game. Last weekend’s loss to Vancouver was the fourth time Orlando has conceded at least five goals in a MLS match, and first since last October.

All-Time Series

Overall: Montreal Impact 3 wins, 13 goals … Orlando City SC 3 wins, 14 goals … 2 draws
At Montreal: Impact 2 wins, 7 goals … Orlando 1 win, 7 goals … 1 draw
Last meeting at Montreal: Montreal Impact 2, Orlando City SC 1 (Aug. 5, 2017)