Ahead of Saturday's home match vs Montreal Impact, SportingKC.com caught up with Goal.com's Nick Sabetti to preview #SKCvMTL. Live coverage of Saturday's match (7 p.m. CT) is available on FOX Sports KC, FOX Sports GO, Sports Radio 810 WHB, and La Grande 1340 AM. Check out MatchDay Central for complete online coverage.
How will the Impact be affected for Saturday's match without several players due to international duty?
I think the international break comes at a wrong time for the Impact. They've just come off two consecutive wins from what's been a really slow start to the season for them. Points per game wise they are right at the playoff line but do have quite a few games in hand. The start of the season's been really slow for them after getting to the Eastern Conference Final last season. That's had to do with some injuries and Designated Player Dzemaili not arriving until May. In these last couple games now, we've seen the Impact slowly start to come along and feel like they were turning a corner a little bit but now it's halted by this international week.
One of the big things for Montreal has been defensively they've been very fragile, more so than they usually are. But the last five or six games, Kyle Fisher at centerback has been really terrific and been the biggest surprise this season. He's really partnered with Laurent Ciman well. One of the problems Montreal have had is a centerback who can really partner well with Ciman but Kyle Fisher has really done that this year. One of the things going into the Kansas City game is how Kyle Fisher does without Laurent ciman next to him. Victor Cabrera will probably start next to him. The other story would be Tabla, the youngster out of the Impact academy. He's a right winger and attack minded, a bit like Piatti. International week comes at a bad time and they're going to have to make a lot of adjustments but they still have Piatti.
What were the expectations for the Impact going into this season and how would assess where they are heading into Saturday's match?
I think the expectation for them was to make the playoffs, which would be a third year in a row. They expected things to be difficult, especially in the early stages because they didn't make very many moves in the January window. I think the schedule in beginning was particularly difficult with quite a few games on the road, so the slow start they had is not entirely unexpected but I don't think they expected to have started this slowly. The worry for them has been that that there's been so much inconsistency and struggled to put together a 90 minute performance. There was one game against Seattle at home where they let the lead slip at the end. There's one game against Columbus where they were down 2-0 at half but managed to recover and almost get a result. There's a lot of character on this team but they're just missing balance and consistency in midfield. It did seem like this week with Dzemaili coming over things were starting to stabilize. This team is still very much a work in progress. There's a lot of talent but they just don't have all the right ingredients yet.
Who are a few players to watch who could get an opportunity with regular starts away on international duty?
I think there's certainly an opportunity in midfield. We could see Adrian Arregui. He's a offseason acquisition from out of Argentina and has mostly come of the bench. He hasn't done that well but this could be an opportunity for him to get some minutes. We could see David Choiniere, a bright academy player who's an attacking winger, that might not start the game but could come off the bench. The other player to keep an eye on Ballou Tabla, who did pick up an injury and could be a doubt for the game. He's 18 years old but one of the brightest talents in Canada and a very unique player in terms of his skillset. His speed and dribbling 1v1 is very impressive and with his he's not afraid to take on players. That's one player to definitely keep an eye on as one of the more promising younger players in MLS.
With Sporting KC dominating possession this season at Children's Mercy Park, will the Impact look to absorb pressure and counter?
I think this is a game for the Impact where they'll understand they are underdog and probably be content with a draw, although a win would be great. Without Bernier and Dzemaili in the middle, its going to very difficult for them to keep the ball for a very long period of time. They still got a lot of pace in front with Dominic Oduro, Piatii, and Tabla that can definitely hurt Kansas City on the counter. I expect them to try and be very compact and organized but not to sit too deep and try to score on the counter. I think it's inevitable that Kansas City's going to have a lot of the ball and Impact are forced to more of a defensive posture for most of the game. With that being said, with the players the Impact have (Oduro, Piatti, Tabla) they are one of the better teams on the counterattack.
