May 27, 2016
Drogba, Cole, Gerrard all in action as Impact host Galaxy
The contrasting fortunes of the East and West conferences come face-to-face Saturday night when the Impact welcomes the LA Galaxy into Saputo Stadium. TSN's Noel Butler looks ahead to a match that will feature international stars Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, and Steven Gerrard.
By Noel Butler
The contrasting fortunes of the East and West conferences come face-to-face Saturday night when the Impact welcomes the LA Galaxy into Saputo Stadium.
Where the Impact are desperate to put an end to their current six-game winless funk, the Galaxy have only lost once all season. L.A. was beaten by the league-best Colorado Rapids way back on March 12, and are looking to extend their unbeaten streak into double digits. Remarkably though both Montreal and Los Angeles sit in fifth spot in their respective conferences.
As the Impact has not been able to sustain the pace which rightfully placed them atop of the Eastern Conference at the beginning of the month, they face the reality of ending May out of a playoff position.
Playing against a club that has the talent, star power and pedigree of a Los Angeles was always going to represent one of the more difficult of challenges at home this season. Then add the Impact’s current plight to the equation and the fact Mauro Biello is experiencing his first extended spell of adversity as head coach and their task Saturday has become incrementally far more difficult.
L.A. head coach Bruce Arena must be chomping at the bit. Even the hot, humid, muggy Montreal weather is cooperating.
Both clubs will be missing key players Saturday evening as they are with their national teams for EURO 2016. Apparently neither Martin O’Neill nor Marc Wilmots possess the same mindsight or thought patterns towards Major League Soccer as Antonio Conte does.
In fact if truth be told Robbie Keane has very much seen his stock rise since making the leap to MLS back in August 2011. His career in the BPL was floundering beyond repair as he idled his time away at White Hart Lane where he had returned in 2009 after an unsuccessful stint with Liverpool.
Captain of club and country Robbie Keane has been everything the league, and his club need and require of a Designated Player. A striker who goes about his craft as a ruthless destroyer and who turns into a congenial MLS diplomat and ambassador off the pitch.
LA’s loss Saturday evening is certainly the Impact’s gain. Especially when factoring in the fact that current MLS defender of the year Laurent Ciman jumped on a plane to Switzerland this past Monday to meet up with his Belgian teammates.
With injuries to Toia and Cabrera making them unavailable to Biello, and with Oyongo away on international duty with Cameroon, 21-year-old Kyle Fisher is set make his debut in an Impact shirt. The 2016 MLS Super Draft first-round pick, who is a central defender ordinarily, will move into the right back slot as Biello pairs Lefèvre and Camara in the middle of his defence.
Fisher doesn’t appear fazed at the prospect of Giovani dos Santos running at him at full pelt. The Mexican international assumes a very pivotal role up front for the Galaxy over the next month or so as Zardes too is unavailable to Arena. The young striker is away with the U.S. team in preparation for June’s Copa América Centenario.
Both teams are far from full strength with the stronger-looking Galaxy squad on paper looking to have the comparative advantage - but as we all know football matches are won on the pitch. After starting the season so strong, the last thing the Impact will want desperate to avoid is to be out of a playoff position when this weekend’s slate of league fixtures has been completed.
At least the club and supporters will welcome Didier Drogba back who is fit to return after missing last Saturday’s encounter in Orlando. The Impact striker had traveled to London last week for treatment and to spend some time with his family after picking up an injury to his hip flexor during the Impact’s previous match at Saputo Stadium, a 1-1 tie with the Philadelphia Union a fortnight ago.
Drogba will get to face his ex-Chelsea teammate and fellow European Champion Ashley Cole, who signed with the Galaxy in a non-designated player role in the off-season. The podium of ex-BPL players on display at Saputo Stadium Saturday evening will be completed with Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard, who is reported to be returning back to Liverpool in a coaching capacity.
Gerrard, like New York City FC’s Frank Lampard, have not fitted well with MLS since their arrivals in 2015. Gerrard is hardly recognizable in a Galaxy jersey as that dominant midfielder who strode so majestically up and down the Anfield pitch ever since he made his Liverpool debut back in 1998. You can be sure though even with talk of a Liverpool return swirling around Gerrard will give it his all for his club Saturday.
Although the standings tell us the Impact has lost the same number of matches as they have won this season, what those statistics don’t tell us is those defeats have occurred for marginal reasons. The set piece continues to haunt the Impact as it has done since the opening match at BC Place in early March. In none of the defeats have the Impact been overwhelmed. Last Saturday’s late marker conceded to Orlando is so typical of the bad fortune that can inhabit a club when results do not go in line with performance.
The Impact’s defence, which most likely will see Tissot play left back, need to be at their disciplined best and not allow the Galaxy to lull them into giving away any cheap free kicks. Same holds for each and every Impact player when out of possession. As Johann Cruyff said, football is played with the head more so than with the feet. Added to their task, no club in MLS has scored more goals than the Galaxy this season.
The Saputo Stadium crowd Saturday evening will have its part to play too. They will be buoyed to welcome back Marco Di Vaio, who along with members of Bologna’s Technical Staff including head coach Roberto Donadoni have been in Montreal recently and will all be in attendance.
Donadoni was appointed back in October after the Serie A club started the season very poorly and were odds-on favourites to face immediate relegation. The ex-Italian head coach eventually led the Rossoblu to mid-table respectability. Having his wealth of experience at the Impact’s technical staff’s disposal will have been invaluable to a club whose morale and confidence will be at a low.
Saturday evening represents a gilt-edged opportunity for certain players to step up their game. None of them will want to go into the upcoming three-week break out of a playoff position - the ultimate price to pay if they allow their opponent to extend their unbeaten streak to ten matches.
Montreal Impact vs. Los Angeles Galaxy can be heard live on TSN 690, Saturday at 8pm et/5pm pt.