MONTREAL - FC Montreal faces the Rochester Rhinos this Saturday on the synthetic turf at Stade Saputo, at 4pm.
For a second time this season, FC Montreal will host an former club rival. In the first game, the Bleu-blanc-noir lost 3-0, finishing the game with 10 men after getting a red card in the 64thminute.
“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to play a really good USL team only three weeks after facing them,” explained head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “Three weeks later, we can see where we are and evaluate the progress. We hope the the result will be different.”
“I see this as extra motivation,” said defender Mitchel Bringolf. “We are the underdogs, so they expect to win. Even if we lost the last game against them, we were not dominated. We continue to play according to our principles and we show progress on the field.”
Rochester sits at the top of the USL standings on par with Richmond, with 14 points in six games - still undefeated. Alex Dixon is their top scorer with three goals this season and teammate Christian Volesky found the back of the net twice against FC Montreal in the first meeting.
On Montreal’s side, Philippe Eullaffroy’s group have not won this season and still haven’t score in front of their fans. Louis Béland-Goyette scored the only Bleu-blanc-noir goal in Harrisburg in a 2-1 loss.
“Players know what is expected from them,” said Eullaffroy. The atmosphere is positive and the energy is still good because they know what they have to do. Yes, there is additional pressure, but the morale and determination level is still high. The players don’t give up and I think it will be like that all year long, whatever the result is, because they know the performance is more important then the result. It’s clear that we are disappointed not to score more goals, that’s why we work on that more often these days.”
FC Montreal will have five Impact players available for the game. Defenders Wandrille Lefèvre and Eric Miller, midfielder Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé and forwards Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Romario Williams will be eligible against the Rhinos.
Admission to the game is free and the game will also be available online live at www.impactmontreal.com/fcmontreal.
