Schallibaum Scolds Montreal Impact Before Chicago Fire Date

After this week’s 2-0 loss to Toronto FC in Amway Canadian Championship play, the Montreal Impact could only look forward to Saturday’s home date with the Chicago Fire. That’s because there was literally nothing positive to take from that loss. The Impact, without striker Marco Di Vaio and veteran defender Alessandro Nesta, looked completely lost in a scoreless first half before looking even worse in conceding twice in the second frame.

“Toronto deserved to win, they wanted to win,” Impact head coach Marco Schallibaum told reporters in his postgame press conference. “We made a lot of mistakes. The players will learn from this. I think it was even in the first half, and in the second there were too many mistakes. In the Cup, it’s more than a fight. And Toronto was better.”

That loss puts Montreal in a bad spot for the second leg of the ACC date with Toronto, now needing at least two goals to pull even. But after a loss like Wednesday’s, the Impact (-111 at Sports Interaction) are looking to Saturday’s MLS match with Chicago to get back on track at Saputo Stadium. The Fire sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with seven points from seven games, but they have also won consecutive matches and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

“We’ve been getting better and better every game,” Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson told reporters. “You see players growing into roles and people have been stepping up. It’s a positive for us going forward into Montreal.”

Teams are starting to get a better idea of how to plan for the Impact. Montreal’s strength is down the middle of the pitch, so opposing sides are clogging up the middle, forcing Schallibaum’s into longer passes to the wings. So far at least, that has resulted in decreased possession time and more turnovers. “Teams are going to try to come out of here with a draw,” assistant coach Mauro Biello told reporters recently. “They’ll try to reduce space in the middle, and we have to find space on the sides and in deep.”

Getting Di Vaio back in the fold will help track down those long crosses, but the pressure will be on Hassoun Camara and Jeb Brovsky. Those two, likely holding down the wings at the back in the starting lineup, may need to spark the counterattack. If they can quickly get the ball out of trouble consistently, the Impact should be able to generate some chances. Montreal would also be wise to get recently added Daniele Paponi back in the mix as well.

Prediction: Montreal Impact 1, Chicago Fire 1.