Montreal Impact – San Jose Earthquakes
CONCACAF Champions League
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - 8pm (ET)
Stade Saputo
TV: TVA Sports, Sportsnet
Web: illico.tv
MONTREAL, Quebec – The Montreal Impact opens the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League against the San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) at Stade Saputo this Wednesday at 8pm ET. The game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports. You can also get live updates using the Impact mobile app or by following @impactmontreal on twitter.
Some excellent tickets are still available:
Online: admission.com - until 3pm on Wednesday
Admission Network: 1-855-790-1245 - 9am-3pm on Wednesday
Montreal Impact: 514-328-3668 - Monday to Friday 9am-3pm on Wednesday
In person: Stade Saputo – Starting at 9am
Watch: Evan Bush
Head to head
The Impact and the San Jose Earthquakes faced each other once in MLS regular season this season in a 2-2 draw at Buck Shaw Stadium in California, thanks to a brace by Justin Mapp.
Montreal is currently in third spot in the Eastern Conference standings, with a record of 10-6-5, good for 35 points from 21 games played, while San Jose is currently 8th in the Western Conference with a record of 8-9-6.
Playing in CONCACAF Champions League
The Impact qualified for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League after taking home the Voyageurs Cup as the best team in Canada. The Impact won the semi-final series 6-2 against Toronto FC, losing the first leg 2-0 on April 24 at BMO Field before winning 6-0 on May 1 at Stade Saputo.
Montreal and San Jose will face off again on September 17 in California. In group 5, the Impact will face C.D. Heredia in Guatemala on August 21 and then on September 24 at Stade Saputo.
The Impact had also won the first edition of the Canadian championship in 2008, and went on to reach the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal.
Mexican club Monterrey has won the last three editions of the CONCACAF Champions League.
Earthquakes news
In its last MLS regular season matchup, Chris Wondolowski scored twice to lead the Earthquakes to a 2-0 win against Chivas USA in front of a sold out crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium. Wondolowski had missed the previous four matches while on national team duty with the United States at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
United States Men’s National Team defender Clarence Goodson and Salvadoran midfielder Jaime Alas made their club debuts last Saturday.
The Earthquakes automatically qualified for the group stage of the 2013 CONCACAF Champions League when it finished as the best team in all of MLS in 2012, winning the Supporters Shield with 66 points from 34 games played, for a record of 19-6-9.
The Earthquakes’ other group matches against C.D. Heredia are set for August 28 in Guatemala and October 23 in California.
The Quakes best performance in the Champions League was a quarter-final finish in both 2002 and 2004 (when it was known as the CONCACAF Champions Cup), falling to Mexico’s Pachuca and Costa Rica’s L.D. Alajuelense, respectively.
Upcoming games
The Impact plays its next game against the Fire in Chicago on Saturday, August 10, at 8:30pm (ET) in MLS regular season action.
The team’s next home game at Stade Saputo will take place on August 17, against D.C. United, at 7pm ET.