It’s been a month since the Impact last played a game, following the team’s elimination in the 16-of-16 of the MLS is Back tournament.
And when the team traveled to Florida for that festival in July after the championship game was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, they lost 3 of 4 games.
As Montreal prepares for its next phase of competition, even rookie manager Thierry Henry can’t say for sure what to expect.
“Nothing is better than a game. But you also have to be prepared to play. The game will give you the most productive answer you want to know about your team, ”Henry said in a conference call Monday afternoon. “We had more than two days to prepare. It allowed us to have extensive education sessions to make sure our boys will be in good shape.
The Impact kicks off a six-game series exclusively opposed to the Canadian festival on Tuesday night, while entertaining the Vancouver Whitecaps at Stade Saputo (8 p.m., TSN 1, TSN 4, TVA Sports, TSN Radio-690). Although 250 spectators will be allowed inside the establishment, due to the regulations of the Quebec public fitness authorities, the MLS becomes, however, the first professional game to resume its activities in front of the fans in the country.
No enthusiasts were allowed to the MLS is Back tournament. The Impact was eliminated through Orlando City SC, losing 1-0 on July 25. It was the moment in four games when Montreal had no goals. The team returned to Canada the next day, after which players and training staff were quarantined for 14 days, giving the team about two weeks to train.
Henry believes his players are physically better prepared now than they are in Florida. He said that if they were 60% physical power last month, now it has advanced between 75 and 80%. But, of course, everything is relative if the team fails to get results.
The Impact is seventh in the Eastern Conference, with a 2-2-1 record. This to seven points. Columbus (5-0-1, 16 points) and Toronto FC (4-0-3, 15 points) begin to separate from their rivals.
“The organization, if they allow the entrance of the enthusiasts, I would like to think that everything is in order or it may not happen,” said Henry. “I know it might not be much, but if you have fans in the stadium, it can make us play better and harder. I like to think that everything has been done in terms of quality for everyone in the stadium.
“It’ll make it less empty,” he added. “It’s much bigger than having no one. The (amateurs) love us and push us to the end. It’s only 250, but that doesn’t mean that if there’s no one in the stadium, you don’t have to play.”
“It’s more important to me as a player to have fans. We have (yet) paintings to be made. Does it make things bigger? Yes, we’d like to think so. “
However, Henry will have to see that the intellectual state of his players has taken a step forward now that they have returned home, settled on a regime and can at least be reunited with their families.
“We’re home. You get out of education and with your family,” he says. “Kids can see their children. You can have some kind of routine. In Orlando, it wasn’t mentally simple. Here, at least, we’re home.”
This six-game series will also determine which of the 3 clubs will qualify for the Canadian championship, where you will meet a Canadian Premier League representative.
The Whitecaps are ninth in the Western Conference after losing five out of seven games. Vancouver ends a three-game road after being eliminated 3-0 and 1-0 through Toronto last week. The Whitecaps have failed to score in three consecutive games and four of their last five.
The game gives a homecoming for Vancouver head coach Marc Dos Santos of Montreal. The 43-year-old was hired through Impact as an assistant coach, under the direction of John Limniatis, in November 2008. The following May, Limniatis fired and Dos Santos appointed interim coach. The interim name was retired later this season and he remained in the workplace until June 28, 2011, when he resigned from the suffering team.
He appointed the Vancouver head coach after the 2018 season.
The Whitecaps will be without front Fredy Montero, the team’s most sensible scorer in 2017. Dos Santos said Montero was not physically in position to play when games resumed. Henry said two or 3 of his players had persistent injuries, but he declined to identify them.
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