MONTREAL – Plenty about the Montreal Impact has changed since their dismal 2014 season.
But despite a more talented roster and a CONCACAF Champions League runner-up finish under their belt, one thing still remains the same. And last Saturday’s 3-0 loss at the Chicago Fire was a cruel reminder of their road woes of last season, when they picked out just five points out of a possible 51.
That’s why captain Patrice Bernier called a team meeting earlier this week, paving the way to a 2-1 defeat Wednesday of the Vancouver Whitecaps at home.
“Patrice’s message was clear: He didn’t want us to have another season like last year, especially on the road,” left back Maxim Tissot told reporters on Friday morning. “He was saying that the Chicago game reminded him of the games we used to have on the road. We have to address this, and we can address this a week later, only a few days after the meeting.”
They’ll get another chance to right their wrongs on the road – they haven’t won an MLS match away from home since Sept. 8, 2013 – Saturday at Columbus Crew SC. Impact players say it’s just a matter of applying on the road the grit and discipline they showed in their last home victory.
“It’s all talk until you go out there and do it,” striker Jack McInerney said. “We've said a hundred times before that, to get to the playoffs, we need to get away wins. We haven't done it. I think that we put a good performance this week. We got a win. We're playing a tough team that’s coming off a loss, as well. They’re going to come out there to get three points. If we go out there, put in the effort and defend as a team, we’ll be all right.”
For McInerney, the first 20 minutes will be the hardest against Columbus. Crew SC’s last win was on May 9, at home against the Seattle Sounders. The Impact, McInerney said, will have to “ride out the storm” early on if they want to keep a first road clean sheet since their 0-0 tie at New England on March 21.
The shutout, McInerney recognized, is what Montreal should look for first and foremost, especially considering it was their defensive, counterattacking style that paid off with such success in CCL.
“Away from home, we’ll wait for them a little and try to catch them on the counter,” Tissot said. "It works well for us. We did it in Champions League, and it worked well. I think that’s what we’ll do on Saturday.”
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This will be Montreal’s third game in eight days. After rotating the squad against Vancouver, head coach Frank Klopas will want to add some freshness, but carefully so after a good win.
Klopas will be forced into a change at right back, as Ambroise Oyongo has left the team for international duty with Cameroon. Victor Cabrera may be back, but Klopas was uncertain, on Friday morning, of whether he was at 100 percent. Dilly Duka, for his part, is still showing concussion symptoms after a ball struck him in the face last Saturday.
“You can’t make too many changes, but I think you have to, to freshen some guys,” Klopas said. “[Friday]’s the second day after a game. We’ll see how some guys are. It was a good performance, but it’s important to freshen up the team a little bit, which we need to, in certain areas. We’ll see, depending on how some guys recover, and we know that there's a history, how it is for certain guys within three days.”
