NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION vs MONTRÉAL IMPACT
GILLETTE STADIUM, Foxborough, Mass.
Sept. 8, 2013 (WEEK 28, MLS Game #252)
7:30 pm ET (CSN-NE; TVA)
A pair of teams desperately trying to maintain their places in the MLS Cup Playoffs race meet on Sunday evening when the New England Revolution play host to the Montréal Impact at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are still hanging on to a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference and the final playoff spot, after their 1-1 draw at Toronto FC last weekend. The Impact find themselves in a tie for the top spot in the division following their scoreless draw at Philadelphia Union a week ago.
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REFEREE: Sorin Stoica. AR1 (bench): Daniel Belleau; AR2 (opposite): Claudio Badea; 4th: Robert Sibiga
MLS Career: 17 games; FC/gm: 27.8; Y/gm: 4.4; R: 4; pens: 7
DISABLED LIST: none
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: NE: Lee Nguyen, Dimitry Imbongo … MTL: Patrice Bernier
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: NE: Juan Toja, Kelyn Rowe, Andrew Farrell … … MTL: Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Felipe Martins, Jeb Brovsky, Davy Arnaud, Marco Di Vaio
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: NE: Jerry Bengtson (Honduras); O’Brian Woodbine (Jamaica) … MTL: Maxime Crépeau, Zakaria Messoudi (Canada U-21)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (3 meetings): Revolution 1 win, 2 goals … Impact 2 wins, 3 goals … Ties 0
AT NEW ENGLAND (1 meeting): Revolution 0 wins, 0 goals … Impact 1 win, 1 goal … Ties 0
RETURN MATCH: 10/12: Montreal Impact vs. New England Revolution, 2:30 p.m. (TSN, RDS)
LAST YEAR (MLS)
7/18: MTL 2, NE1 (Bernier 28; Nyassi 67 – Nguyen 44)
8/12: NE 0, MTL 1 (Nyassi 61)
10/27: MTL 0, NE 1 (Soares 88)
• The Impact won the lone meeting in New England between the teams in the Impact’s inaugural campaign, a 1-0 win on Aug. 12. The teams split their two meetings in Montréal, including a 1-0 Revolution in the last encounter, Oct. 27.
• Coaches record: Jay Heaps vs. TOR: P3 W1 L2 D0 … Marco Schällibaum v NE: first game
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution stretched their undefeated streak to three games, playing to a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC on Saturday evening at BMO Field. The Revolution are in a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points from 26 matches.
LAST MATCH
• The Revolution opened the scoring in the second minute. A penetrating run by Kelyn Rowe lead to a fortuitous deflection off TFC defender Richard Eckersley that allowed Rowe to set up Diego Fagundez for an easy tap-in from close range.
Highlights: TOR 1, NE 1
• The equalizer came in first-half stoppage time. A free kick swung in from the right led to a mad scramble in the Revolution area, the ball finally ending at the feet of Andrew Wiedeman who blasted the ball past Matt Reis.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made no changes to his team for a second consecutive match, maintaining the group that strolled to a 5-1 defeat of Philadelphia Union at Gillette Stadium.
• NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Matt Reis - Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney - Scott Caldwell - Chad Barrett (Dimitry Imbongo 59), Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez (Charlie Davies 89) - Juan Agudelo (Saer Sene 78).
TEAM NEWS
• While the Revolution saw a two-game winning streak come to an end, they have taken seven of their last nine possible points.
• “I was a little disappointed with the performance overall – not the points, but the way we played,” Revolution coach Jay Heaps said. “… Toronto worked their tails off. They didn’t give us anything. Fortunately, we started very well. Then, about 20 minutes into the game, it started to slip away from us. It then became more about energy, fight and passion, rather than a football game.”
• For the first time since taking over as head coach for the start of the 2012 season, Heaps ran out the same starting team for a third consecutive game. The Revolution had not had the same first XI in three straight matches since May 14-28, 2011.
• “I think it is good and it shows that guys want to keep their jobs. We will have a couple days off and be in early next week to see how we plan out for next week,” said Heaps. “We need to regroup and get the bodies healed but mentally stay sharp.”
• Diego Fagundez scored for a second consecutive match and now has scored four goals in the last seven matches in building on his team lead in scoring.
• Kelyn Rowe added his team-leading seventh assist, his first since July 6.
• Matt Reis made his third consecutive start in goal and his fifth of the league campaign. He has now allowed just two goals in those five league starts.
• “We were very disappointed we did not win the game, but we are happy we are now at a level where we are disappointed about not winning games on the road,” defender A.J. Soares said. “We have taken seven points out of our last three games. If you were to offer that beforehand, we would have taken it. It wasn’t the way we wanted to play the game, but we defended well and had some good moments.”
MONTREAL IMPACT
The Montréal Impact extended their undefeated run to three games, reaching a scoreless draw with Philadelphia Union on Saturday evening at PPL Park. The Impact are now in a three-way tie for the lead in the Eastern Conference with 42 points from 25 matches.
LAST MATCH
• Impact goalkeeper Troy Perkins was credited with four saves to lead his side to a second consecutive shutout.
• Union 'keeper Zac MacMath was called upon to make just a single save for the clean sheet. MLS Golden Boot leader Marco Di Vaio found the back of the net twice for Montreal, but each time the goal was ruled out for offside.
Highlights: PHI 0, MTL 0
• Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum made no changes to his team for a second consecutive week, keeping the group that defeated the Houston Dynamo 5-0 at Stade Saputo.
• MONTREAL IMPACT (4-4-1-1): Troy Perkins - Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Jeb Brovsky - Justin Mapp, Hernan Bernardello (Collen Warner 85), Patrice Bernier, Andres Romero (Sanna Nyassi 56) - Felipe Martins (Davy Arnaud 78) - Marco Di Vaio.
TEAM NEWS
• The Impact stopped a two-game losing run on the road in the draw, but still saw their winless streak on their travels extended to six matches. They have not won away from Stade Saputo in MLS play since June 1.
• “It was a tough game, they needed the three points and we managed to fly home with a point. It wasn't a great game but we were very solid defensively,” said midfielder Patrice Bernier. “We created chances and like I said we are leaving with an important point. Our goal is to get better when we play away and we have shown that we can be a very difficult team to face.”
• Said forward Marco Di Vaio: “We have to start thinking that perhaps a point on the road is very good.”
• The Impact have kept clean sheets in back-to-back matches for the second time this season, and now have shutouts in four of their last seven games, a span which started with consecutive shutouts July 20-27.
• “Credit to Philadelphia: they conceded five in their last game [in New England], and today played a great defensive game,” Biello said. “They didn’t allow us much space. Maybe we were a bit slower than them offensively. So credit to them. They remained compact throughout. We managed the game better in the second half and kept the ball more, but their block was tight and they waited for the counter.”
• With Marco Schällibaum completing his two-match suspension, Biello again fulfilled the bench-coaching responsibilities.
• Schällibaum maintained the same first XI for a third straight game – the only times all season he’s kept the same starting lineup in consecutive games.
• “In our last five games we allowed goals and we wanted to come back and get a clean sheet, secure the midfield and keep a good shape. It was a good game, I have to give credit to the players, they had a great shape,” said Biello.
• There was some bad injury news out of the match after Hernan Bernardello came off late in the match following a left ankle sprain – an injury that seems likely to keep him out of action for 4-6 weeks.
• “He brings a lot to the team,” midfield partner Patrice Bernier said. “I don’t know the latest on his injury, but it's been going well. His play has stabilized our way of playing, of setting the tempo. The past two months, we were following the other team’s tempo too much, and it’s not our strength.”
• Then there was another injury blow in training when Adrian Lopez suffered an injury that could sideline him longer. “I’m sad for Hernán and Adrián, who can’t do their job,” Schällibaum said. “On our side, we’re clearly losing two very important players. But it’s part of football. We can’t cry over it all day. We have to look for solutions.”
