MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact hosts Toronto FC on Thursday, at 7pm (RDS, TSN, 98.5FM , CJAD 800), at Stade Saputo, in its first ever home playoff date in MLS, with the winner of the Knockout Round game booking its spot in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Ticket sales have been going fast for the club’s first ever MLS Cup Playoffs home game, so don’t wait. Some good tickets are still available via ticketmaster.ca or by calling 514-328-3668.
With the luxury of having just played the Reds, IMFC can look to its performance last Sunday versus TFC to prepare for this huge matchup.
“They were good in transition, especially in the first half,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “The minute they won back the ball, they looked for Altidore and Giovinco. We have to be better in our defensive transition. They have a lot of quality players, like Giovinco, who can unbalance a team on his own, and Altidore, Bradley, Cheyrou. They have all played in big moments, but we have to worry about what works for us and what will make us successful. We are expecting a difficult game, where we have to be ready from the first whistle and we have to keep our focus all the way through.”
Despite the importance of the matchup, the Impact will look to its big game experiences from Champions League to settle its nerves.
“We’ve been in pressure situations before, in Champions League, and hopefully those experiences can help us in this phase of the season,” added Biello, who has led his side to a 7-2-2 record since taking over the coaching duties. “Playing in front of 100,000 people at Azteca is something that you take with you and will hopefully prepare you for a game like this.”
Toronto FC (15-15-4, 49 pts) has qualified for the postseason for the first time since joining MLS in 2006. This is the second postseason appearance for the Impact (15-13-6, 51pts) in just four seasons in the league – its first appearance coming in 2013.
“This is a completely different game from the last,” said Laurent Ciman. “A draw could have helped them last game, so they didn’t pressure as much. Now it’s a one game knockout, so we have to be sharp on the little details. Winning the last game was important in order to be able to host this game at home, and we showed how hard it is to play against us at home in the second half.”
Thursday’s game has the making of an exciting contest, with some of the most exhilarating players in Major League Soccer on both rosters in this Canadian rivalry, starting with their respective goal-scoring leaders.
Toronto FC has the MLS Golden Boot winner on its side, Sebastian Giovinco, who scored 22 goals and added 16 assists in his first season in North America. The bleu-blanc-noir’s Didier Drogba has taken the league by storm, scoring 11 goals in 11 games since joining MLS during the summer transfer window, and has won two straight MLS Player of the Month awards.
With a win, the Impact would face the Columbus Crew SC in the semifinals, with the first leg set for only three days later, on Sunday, November 1, in Montreal. The second leg would then be in Columbus on Sunday, November 8, with kick off times yet to be determined.
