It’s been a grueling six weeks for the Union since returning from the Copa America Centenario break. On Saturday, it will finally commence before the league takes a slight break – albeit midweek – for the 2016 All-Star Game to be played in San Jose against Arsenal.
To be exact, Saturday’s match vs. Montreal (7:30 p.m., TCN), will be the 11th for the Union in 39 days – a stretch that included midweek games in five out of six weeks. While the Union’s patented run in the Open Cup carried the torch, their MLS play stumbled slightly, going 2-3-1 over that stretch. They’ll certainly be eager to get back on the right track after dropping Wednesday’s quarterfinal in penalties.
“I’m confident our guys can turn it around, even after 120 minutes, and go again against a good Montreal team,” Curtin said following the loss to New England. “Sometimes Wednesday games can make the schedules busy, for sure, but we’ve been a team that has played well in Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday and have bounced back. Hopefully we do that again against Montreal.”
The Union will have to do it without Ilsinho – who logged the full 120 against New England – who is serving a one-game MLS suspension following his red card against New York Red Bulls. Besides that, the Union are remarkably healthy despite the busy stretch and should figure to have a normal starting 11 in place.
“It’s a busy week, but we think we have a very fit team,” Curtin said. “We’ve never really changed five or six guys. We’ve changed two at the most, which we did [Wednesday].”
Those two were Brian Carroll and Keegan Rosenberry, who were replaced by Warren Creavalle and Ray Gaddis, respectively. Curtin also gave his attacking midfield trio of Chris Pontius, Roland Alberg and Tranquillo Barnetta relatively early exits on Wednesday, with none playing more than 76 minutes. All three figure to be in the equation once again.
Rotation or not, Curtin’s clearly put his team in a good position Saturday in what is shaping up to be a big game.
As for Montreal, they had the week off following a 3-1 thumping to NYCFC at home last weekend. It had to be particularly concerning for the Impact, who started Didier Drogba and Domonic Oduro together for the first time in nearly a month. Oduro was subbed off at halftime as they trailed 2-0.
Elsewhere for Montreal, Laurent Ciman – one of three MLS All-Stars – rolled an ankle two weeks ago against Portland and missed the NYC game. He’s not listed on the team’s injury report and very well could make his return against the Union.
Either way, it figures to be a huge game for both clubs, who sit second and fourth, respectively, in the Eastern Conference standings. Montreal has two games in hand on Red Bulls, and thus have the third best point-per-game mark in the East.
“Obviously they’re disappointed having lost to New York City,” Curtin said. They’ll be out with a little more vengeance. We talked to the guys – we have to be better on the road. Our only win was against Columbus, which was a long time ago. We’ve gotten some good draws, but we’ve now set a goal of getting three wins on the road down the stretch. It starts with Montreal on Saturday.”
