TORONTO, Ontario – The Impact faces Toronto FC in the second leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinals at BMO Field this Wednesday night, at 7:30pm (TVA Sports, Sportsnet), after taking the first leg 1-0 at home last week.
“It’s never easy to play in Toronto,” said Patrice Bernier. “I expect them to come out like lions in the first 15 minutes to try and tie things up [aggregately]. We are going to have to weather the storm and then try to push for a road goal to make it even harder for them. We’ve been pretty good at finding goals on the road in cup play.”
The best way to do that, according to the Impact’s starting keeper for Wednesday night’s matchup, is to play well without the ball.
“They need to score at least one goal, so for us, defence will be priority number one,” explained Eric Kronberg, who earned his first shutout with the squad against the Reds in leg one. “I have a feeling it’s going to be fairly open on their side, pushing forward because they need to score, so hopefully we can catch them on the counter.”
TFC will have a few more options on the offensive side of the ball as DP’s Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco are expected to join Michael Bradley in the starting lineup, after staying behind in T.O. for the first leg.
“Altidore is more of a physical guy and looks to get in behind [the defence], while Giovinco plays between the pockets,” said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. “But I think we have to worry about our team. We have a 1-0 lead, so we need to be good on the ball and defend well, [especially] on set pieces.”
IMFC striker Jack McInerney has been able to find his own space in recent weeks, scoring three goals in his last five games, including one against TFC in the first leg, and is tied for the tournament all-time goal-scoring lead with four.
Hitting the road in cup play has been good to the Impact, finding a result or an away goal in all three road matches in the recently concluded Champions League knockout phase.
The Impact will play its next game on Saturday at 4pm EDT against Real Salt Lake at Stade Saputo (tickets: ticketmaster.ca). Head coach Frank Klopas will miss the game due to a suspension imposed by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for entering the field in the 90th minute against Portland, last Saturday.
