Samuel Piette said it will be important for the Impact to score the first goal in Wednesday’s second leg of the round of 16 CONCACAF Champions League against Deportivo Saprissa at Olympic Stadium (8 p.m., TSN5, RDS, TSN 690 Radio).
“If we can score that first goal we’ll be more confident playing with the lead,” Piette said Tuesday before the team’s final training session. “If we concede that first goal, it will be very difficult for us. At least we’re playing at home. We know Saprissa is going to come out hard, but to kill them with that first goal would be massive for us.”
The Impact scored the first two goals in the opening leg of the competition last week in Costa Rica , but the momentum changed after the Impact lost defender Rudy Camacho and striker Orji Okwonkwo to injuries. Saprissa scored twice in the second half and had a 2-1 edge in possession as they salvaged a 2-2 draw.
“We were disappointed to lose these two guys, Rudy and Orji,” Piette said. “In the first half, I’m not saying this is the same thing that’s happened in years past, but to lose two players before the 30-minute mark, it’s obviously difficult to deal with. We were more disappointed because we thought they could bring something to this team. We saw Orji score that first goal and Rudy was solid.”
The Impact knows exactly what it has to do to advance to the quarter-finals. They move ahead if they win and they are eliminated if they lose. A 0-0 or 1-1 draw will do the job for Montreal and if there’s a 2-2 draw, the competition will be decided by penalty shots. A 3-3 draw gives the series to Saprissa.
Coach Thierry Henry threw a surprise at Saprissa in the opening game when he used five defenders on his back line. He said he might employ the same strategy in the second leg, but the team is thin in the back and the injury to Camacho doesn’t help. The defender is out four to six weeks.
The injury opens up a spot for 18-year-old Luis Banks. He joined the team from the Tottenham Hotspur academy and, at 6-foot-4, he gives the Impact size they have been missing in the back. He trained with the team for several weeks before his international transfer was completed and he’s in midseason form after moving from England.
The Olympic Stadium could be the wild card in this game. The Impact is more familiar with the artificial turf. They have had four days of training on the surface and Henry said the players seemed comfortable on the surface. The Impact also opened its training camp earlier this year indoors at CEGEP Marie-Victorin.
It’s a different story for Saprissa. The Costa Rican side had a domestic game Saturday and didn’t arrive in Montreal until Monday. Their lone training session on the unfamiliar turf was Tuesday.
Related
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
