The Impact is wary of the Fire of Chicago

Photo: Paul Chiasson, The canadian Press
“Chicago, this is a great team,” said the midfielder of the Impact Ignacio Piatti, earlier this week.

The Montreal Impact will want to be wary of his opponent on Saturday, even if the Fire of Chicago is in free fall.

Two teams going in opposite directions collide iron at Stade Saputo. The Impact (10-9-6) saw his winning streak be constrained to four by Toronto FC last weekend. The recent success of the team, however, were allowed to return to the heart of the race series and the Blue-white-black can be found in the seventh rank of the association Is, with the same number of points as the Atlanta United (10-8-6). The latter is found in the sixth and last place giving access to the series by virtue of the tiebreaker.

During this time, the Fire (12-9-5) has suffered four defeats in a row and wish to stop its nosedive in the standings in the East.

“Chicago, this is a great team,” said the midfielder of the Impact Ignacio Piatti, earlier this week. Yes, they have not won the last few games, but they have quality players. It will have to be focused in defensively, and take advantage of the spaces when we have the ball. “

The two teams crossed the iron on the 16th of August last year, when the Impact had won 3-0 at stade Saputo.

Piatti, who has been named the outstanding player of the month of August in MLS, had then scored a brace, while the stars of the Fire, including the former captain of the national team of Germany Bastian Schweinsteiger, who had been rather discreet.

“It was a convincing victory and they are going to want revenge,” said goalkeeper Evan Bush. The final score was 3-0, but they had the advantage in possession. The match could have been different if they had taken advantage of their opportunities. It is a good team, but they have just lost another home game. We must take advantage of where they are mentally, hoping that they are a little discouraged. But we can’t let our guard down. “

When the Impact has been in trouble in the first half of the campaign, Biello has often modified its eleven leaving and even used different tactical schemes. The camp montreal admits that it is difficult to anticipate what the Fire is going to present on Saturday.

“We expect to see changes as they have not had favourable results recently, has recognized the assistant coach Wilfried Nancy. From our side, we will try to repeat what we had done well against them. They like to control the ball, but they may be more cautious, as we have done badly on the counter-attack. “

“Maybe they will change their staff or their scheme tactics. We need to be ready for anything, ” said Bush. The other hand, we must have confidence in our ways and apply what we want to accomplish. If we have the right approach, I believe that we will be able to have success. “

The task of the Impact will, however, be complicated by the absence of many important elements that have been recalled by their national team. The spine of the team will be affected as defender Laurent Ciman (Belgium), the defensive midfielder Samuel Piette (Canada), midfielder Blerim Dzemaili (Switzerland) and forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Canada) will be notably absent.

On the side of the Fire, midfielder Dax McCarty (United States) is the only absentee for the national team.

“There is a good dynamics in the group and the players have proven in the past that we have a supportive group, said Nancy. No matter who plays, we’re going to have 100 % confidence in them. We repeat often, but there is a good competition between the players, and it is up to them to burst on-the-ground to bring this victory. “

Despite the many absences in the camp montreal, the good news for Biello is that all the rest of the group is healthy, except-sided defender Ambroise Oyongo. Midfielders Ballou Tabla, Marco Donadel and Andres Romero as well as defender Deian Boldor should be in uniform and could get minutes of the game.