Montreal Impact vs. Chivas USA | MLS Match Preview

MONTREAL IMPACT vs CHIVAS USA
STADE SAPUTO, Montreal, Que.
July 7, 2013 (WEEK 19, MLS Game #174)
7 p.m. ET (TVA)

The Montreal Impact return home looking to snap a two-game winless slide when they play host to Chivas USA on Sunday evening at Stade Saputo. The Impact were hit for multiple goals again at midweek, though they stormed back for a 3-3 draw at Toronto FC. Chivas USA had their winless run extended to 12 games in league play, but played to a second straight draw in a scoreless result Thursday at FC Dallas.

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REFEREE: Allen Chapman. AR1 (bench): Jason Cullum; AR2 (opposite): Scott Kachmarik; 4th: Mathieu Bourdeau
MLS Career: 23 games; FC/gm: 21.1; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 4; pens: 5

DISABLED LIST: CHV: Daniel Antunez
SUSPENDED: none
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: none
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: MTL: Dennis Iapichino, Hassoun Camara, Felipe Martins, Jeb Brovsky ... CHV: Mario de Luna, Bobby Burling, Carlos Alvarez, Gabriel Farfan
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CHV: Steven Purdy (ESV)

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (1 meeting): Chivas USA 1 win, 2 goals ... Impact 0 wins, 1 goal ... Ties 0
AT MONTREAL: First meeting.

LAST MEETING (MLS)
6/20: CHV 2, MTL 1 (Moreno 14; Angel 82 -- Martins 42)

• The teams are meeting for the only time this season in league play.
• A late goal from Juan Pablo ¡ngel gave Chivas USA a 2-1 victory last June 20 in Carson in the only meeting all-time between the clubs.
• Coaches record: Marco Sch‰llibaum vs. CHV: first game ... Jose Luis Real vs. MTL: first game

MONTREAL IMPACT
The Montreal Impact put together a late comeback to snatch a point from their arch-rivals, reaching a 3-3 draw with Toronto FC on Wednesday evening at BMO Field. The Impact lead the Eastern Conference with 30 points from 16 matches.

LAST MATCH

• ï The opening goal came only 23 seconds into the match -- the fifth-fastest in league history -- when Andres Romero took advantage of a defensive error by TFC captain Darren O'Dea and hammered home a shot from inside the penalty area.
• ï TFC answered back five minutes later when Jeremy Brockie hit a well-placed shot through in traffic in the Montreal box. The Reds then took the lead in the 21st minute when Brockie delivered a cross that central defender Steven Caldwell powerfully headed past Montreal goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
• ï Toronto FC made it 3-1 three minutes later when O'Dea latched onto a return pass and made a forceful run into the Impact box before blasting a powerful shot into the bottom right corner.
• ï But the Impact stormed back to tie the game with two goals less than a minute apart. In the 69th minute, Hassoun Camara chased down a bouncing ball in the box after heading down a long pass and put it past Toronto 'keeper Joe Bendik. Then a minute later, Felipe found a hard-charging Marco Di Vaio making a run to the far side of the box, and the Italian striker buried a shot past Bendik.
• ï Impact head coach Marco Sch‰llibaum made one change to the team that lost 4-3 to the Colorado Rapids at Stade Saputo. Davy Arnaud came into the side in place of Andrea Pisanu.
• ï MONTREAL IMPACT (4-1-3-2): Troy Perkins - Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Jeb Brovsky - Patrice Bernier (Collen Warner 66) - Andres Romero, Felipe Martins, Davy Arnaud (Sanna Nyassi 61) - Daniele Paponi (Blake Smith 86), Marco Di Vaio.

TEAM NEWS

• After conceding a season-high four goals in the home loss to Colorado, the Impact allowed three goals for a second time this season, at Toronto FC. The Impact allowed a season-high seven shots on goal against by TFC.
• "Obviously there are things we must fix and improve on," assistant coach Mauro Biello said. "When you allow three goals -- seven in two games -- you've got work to do. And it's not just the defenders. It's the whole team that must defend better, and we're aware of that. We'll keep working in order to improve."
• The Impact did score three goals in a game for a second consecutive match and a third time this season; they scored a season-high five in a win against Philadelphia on May 25. The Impact lead MLS with 30 goals for the season.
• "I think we need to look at what we can do better because we conceded seven in the last two games and that's not going to get the job done. It's a collective effort, it's a group effort," said Davy Arnaud. "We scored six in the last two and that should be good enough for more than just one point. We'll get better. We need to get back to what we're about and not concede as many goals. It's an 11- man job and it needs to be better."
• Impact head coach Marco Sch‰llibaum was not on the touchline for a third time this season, suspended the day before the match in a ruling by the MLS Disciplinary Committee.
• The goal from Andres Romero after just 23 seconds was the fifth-fastest in MLS history. It was Romero's first goal since April 27.
• "Given the circumstances, after a first half that was very bad, slow and devoid of emotion, we showed a lot of character, emotion and aggression in the second half," Biello said. "We were able to catch up, and we can say a tie is good for us, considering that first half."
• Marco Di Vaio scored his 11th goal of the season to take over sole possession of the MLS Golden Boot standings heading into the weekend. Di Vaio has gone more than one game without a goal just once this season (June 1 and 15).
• Hassoun Camara has scored goals in back-to-back games for the first time in his two-year MLS career and now has three goals this season.
• "It was an excellent show of character. I think good teams are able to bounce and come back and get points on the road," said Biello. "In another moment you would probably fold being down 3-1 on the road but we were able to come back and tie this game up at 3-3 so that showed a lot of character."

CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA gained a point for a second consecutive match, reaching a scoreless draw with FC Dallas on Thursday evening in Frisco. Chivas USA sit in ninth place in the Western Conference with 13 points from 17 matches.

LAST MATCH

• The home side held the edge in possession, but failed to create many true chances. Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was called upon to make just one save -- the best chance of the game, in the 86th minute, on a firm Blas Perez header off a Jair Benitez cross.
• FCD goalkeeper Raul Fernandez made seven saves, saving the points in the 94th minute as Chivas USA's Julio Morales smashed a shot from the top of the box that forced a reaction stop.
• Chivas USA head coach Jose Luis Real made three changes to the team that reached a late 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution at StubHub Center. Edgar Mejia, Eric Avila and Jose Correa came into the team, in place of Carlos Borja, Laurent Courtois and Tristan Bowen.
• CHIVAS USA (4-1-4-1): Dan Kennedy - Marky Delgado, Walter Vilchez, Mario de Luna, Josue Soto - Edgar Mejia - Eric Avila, Carlos Alvarez (Carlos Borja 58), Gabriel Farfan, Jorge Villafana (Jose Rivera 76) - Jose Correa (Julio Morales 69).

TEAM NEWS

• Chivas USA gained a point for a second consecutive game, their longest undefeated run this season since going 3-0-1 from March 10-30.
• "The work in the past couple of weeks has been very positive. The team has been assimilating very well. They are ready and engaged in learning," said Real." The only difference that I see at the moment is that we play as a whole, as a team rather than individually."
• Chivas is still winless in 12 league games, now the second-longest streak in club history. The club record is 15 games without a win, from last Aug. 12 through the opening game this season.
• "It's a building block and you know we've been through transition. Looking at the past two games now, we're unbeaten in the past two and we still have two games on this road trip left so we need to take the confidence with us knowing we can get points anywhere," said goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. "We're taking games one at a time, you know? We got through today."
• Chivas were shut out at the attacking end for a ninth time this season, after have scored five goals over their 12-game winless run.
• "When you're playing on the road, you obviously need to make sure they don't finish off their chances. We were fortunate tonight," said Kennedy. In the second half, I thought we started to possess the ball a little bit better and had a little more run of play and limited their chances even more. They had one good chance at the end."
• It was the first shutout of the season for Chivas USA and Kennedy, the final team to record a defensive shutout in MLS this season.
• "Dan Kennedy is an amazing goalkeeper," said midfielder Eric Avila. "He's an amazing captain who keeps us in a lot of games. He's very experienced so we've got to listen to him coming into games and also during games on how to adjust quickly."
• After missing three matches while with sister club CD Guadalajara, Avila returned to the Chivas USA lineup and played the full match on the right side of midfield.
• "Avila would be a very important player for any team. He is a very high level player. He obviously was a little bit tired at the end but I believe he is going to help us a lot," said Real. "He just came back from a stint with Chivas [Guadalajara]. He came in and helped us a lot tonight and had a very good game."
• Edgar Mejia also returned to the Chivas lineup after a four-match absence to injury, coming into the holding midfield role for the first time for Jose Luis Real.