Mar 16, 2018
Desperate Impact looking for first league win since last September
Montreal is hoping to snap losing streak as Toronto FC comes to town for the first 401 Derby of the MLS season.
By Noel Butler
As his team goes through final preparations ahead of Saturday’s home opener and the much-anticipated visit of MLS Cup champions Toronto FC, defeat in the first two games of the 2018 season has heaped pressure on Rémi Garde’s new-look Montreal impact.
When factoring in how the 2017 season descended into utter chaos as Montreal lost their final five games, last Saturday afternoon’s cruel defeat to the Columbus Crew meant the Impact equalled their worst ever run of consecutive defeats since joining MLS.
For the last time the Montreal Impact actually won a league match you have to go all the way back to Sept. 20 of last year. Against almighty odds a misfit and misfiring Impact smashed five goals past a hapless Alex Bono as they handed Toronto FC its lone home defeat of the 2017 season.
The Impact will be desperately keen to finally get back to winning ways come 3 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day afternoon. It doesn’t come any bigger than beating Toronto FC.
Teams always seem to raise their game when up against the champions. Then factor in the immense rivalry which has grown over recent seasons between the two clubs. Toronto FC will arrive looking to make immediate amends following their surprising defeat to open their 2018 MLS campaign.
For the Impact to stand any reasonable chance of emerging victorious they will need key performances from a number of players. The Impact’s discipline must be exemplary as they try to suffocate the most dangerous attacking threat in MLS.
Toronto FC can sucker punch you on the counter attack and are fully capable of creating havoc on any MLS defence in the final third of the pitch. The Impact must organize their entire team in the most effective manner to fully minimize TFC’s opportunities from the wide areas. Do I need to mention Jozy Altidore? The Impact's defensive shape and structure has to be exemplary for the full 90 minutes.
Right now, a culture of finding new ways to lose and conceding the first goal haunts the Impact at every turn. Not even a side as good as Manchester City or Barcelona can afford to go a goal behind in every match.
Giving away two preventable penalties as they did in Columbus a week ago is a recipe for disaster, even in a game where their opponent was far from at their best. The Impact’s response to going down 2-0 early is utterly meaningless. The history books don’t record how impressively the team responded to pull it back to 2-2 with just minutes to go. To throw it all away like they did tells you that although the players might be physically fit, their football intelligence and mindsets are not.
If the Impact believes they can take advantage of TFC's Champions League rigorous schedule and travels they would be foolish. Forgetting for a moment that Toronto FC will be buoyed by emerging victorious in the CONCACAF quarter-final this is a derby match of the very highest MLS order.
Even a tired Toronto FC will be up, ready and prepared for the occasion.
TFC lost their season opener at home two weeks ago, so they will certainly not want to begin their defence of the Supporters’ Shield with two straight defeats. The MLS Cup champions will be even more motivated to make sure that doesn’t happen at the hands of their biggest rivals.
Not that any of the Toronto FC players need further motivation, but another defeat would mean the Impact start their 25th anniversary season with three straight defeats and already playing catch up so very early on in 2018.
If that happens, questions about Garde’s decisions in his rebuilding of the Impact will only grow.
Saturday’s game also represents the very first time VAR [Video Assistant Replay] will be deployed at Olympic Stadium for an Impact-TFC matchup. Let’s just hope it’s the fabulous football and incredible atmosphere we are talking about following the final whistle.