New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact | MLS Match Preview

MLSsoccer staff

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION vs. MONTREAL IMPACT
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
October 17, 2015 (WEEK 33, MLS Game #325)
7:30 p.m. ET (TSN2)

One of the biggest matches in the Eastern Conference playoff race is ahead when the New England Revolution play host to the Montréal Impact on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. By the time the teams kick off, both could already have clinched their berth in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs – but if not, the clubs also know that a win in Foxborough will secure their postseason places (a tie will also get the Revolution in). The Revs saw their winless run stretched to three games in a 3-1 loss at the Chicago Fire last time out, while the Impact snapped a two-game losing skid with a 1-0 win at the Colorado Rapids last weekend.

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REFEREE: Mark Geiger. AR1 (bench): Brian Dunn; AR2 (opposite): Matthew Nelson; 4th: Silviu Petrescu

MLS Career: 144 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 34; pens: 45

SUSPENDED: NE: Teal Bunbury (caution accumulation; through Oct. 18) … MTL: Laurent Ciman (caution accumulation; through Oct. 18)

WARNINGS:

SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: MTL: Nigel Reo-Coker, Donny Toia

SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: NE: Juan Agudelo, Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Jermaine Jones, Lee Nguyen, Scott Caldwell, Chris Tierney … MTL: Calum Mallace, Dominic Oduro, Bakary Soumare, Andres Romero, Johan Venegas

DISABLED LIST: NE: Darrius Barnes … MTL: Cameron Porter, Kenny Cooper (season-ending injury)

INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD

ALL-TIME (10 meetings): Impact 5 wins, 15 goals … Revolution 3 wins, 9 goals … Ties 2

AT NEW ENGLAND (4 meetings): Revolution 1 win, 4 goals … Impact 2 wins, 6 goals … Ties 1

2015 (MLS)

3/21: NE 0, MTL 0

9/19: MTL 3, NE 0 (Venegas 5; Drogba 60; Duka 76)

The teams are meeting for the third time this season. Didier Drogba scored a goal and set up another as Johan Venegas and Dilly Duka also tallied in a 3-0 Impact win Sept. 19 at Stade Saputo. The teams reached a scoreless draw March 21 at Gillette Stadium.
The Impact have won two of the last three meetings in Montréal; the Revolution had won two games in a row in Montréal before last year’s Impact victory in the first matchup. Last year’s Revolution victory is their only win at Gillette Stadium vs. the Impact in four meetings.
Coaches record: Mauro Biello vs. NE: P1 W1 L0 D0 … Jay Heaps vs. MTL: P10 W3 L5 D2

LAST MEETING (MLS)

The Impact opened the scoring a mere five minutes into the first half. Ignacio Piatti spotted Eric Miller’s run down the right flank off the ball, but instead left the ball behind to Venegas who was sitting just outside the box. His shot took a deflection off of a Revolution defender and flew past Bobby Shuttleworth and into the net.
Didier Drogba added the Impact second 61 minutes in. His direct free kick took a wicked deflection off of Kelyn Rowe’s head, and Shuttleworth's dive to his right was powerless to stop the redirected shot from hitting the back of the net.
The game could have turned in the 72nd minute, when referee Ricardo Salazar showed Marco Donadel a straight red card after crunching into Andrew Farrell feet-first.
But it was the Impact who extended their lead. A long punt from goalkeeper Evan Bush reached Drogba, who turned to face the New England defense. Drogba slipped the ball to the onrushing Dilly Duka, who casually lifted the ball over Shuttleworth as he went down to challenge.
MONTREAL IMPACT (4-2-3-1): Evan Bush – Eric Miller, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia – Calum Mallace (Nigel Reo-Coker 54), Marco Donadel (ejected 72) – Johan Venegas, Ignacio Piatti (Kyle Bekker 77), Andres Romero (Dilly Duka 71) - Didier Drogba.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-2-3-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Jeremy Hall (Juan Agudelo 70), Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney - Steve Neumann (Scott Caldwell 61), Jermaine Jones - Teal Bunbury (Diego Fagundez 61), Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe - Charlie Davies.