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The Montreal Impact will look to take three points from Sporting KC on Saturday night at Stade Saputo. The game will see the return of long time fan favourite Justin Mapp to Montreal. Saturday night will mark the first MLS game at Stade Saputo since the Impact defeated the LA Galaxy back on May 28.
The last meeting between these two teams happened last July with Sporting KC taking the victory, with a 2-1 result. Ignacio Piatti scoring the lone goal for the Impact. A few big names will be missing from the game with Laurent Ciman, Matt Besler and Graham Zusi all with their respective national teams.
Mount Royal Soccer has turned towards our friends at The Blue Testament to get some perspective on the game.
1) We don't hear a lot about Sporting KC in Montreal. What is the general sense around Sporting KC so far this season? Is there a sense the team can challenge for MLS Cup in December?
This is the first time in a long time that this club has looked so bad. The last two years it was a late season drought that did them in, so fans were hopeful for most of the year. But now SKC fans are having to deal with feelings they haven't ever dealt with before. This team has been bad early in the season and not even really given too much hope that anything will get better. A lot of people are very worried about making playoffs at all, let alone winning silverware. The fire Vermes talk has already been thrown around and dumpster fire images started appearing on all the forums. But I personally do not believe the situation is all that terrible. The talent is on this team to get it together and make a run this year.
2) Justin Mapp was a huge fan favourite when he played in Montreal. Even though he has not played many minutes this season, how has he fit into the Sporting KC team?
Simply put, he has not. The poor guy has only played 22 minutes in two appearances. He started the season injured and has slowly been working his way back. But he is no longer listed on the injury report and still sits on the bench. He is older obviously and the team could be taking it easy with him, but it appears that Vermes doesn't not fancy him on his field. When he has been out there, he's been basically non-existent. He struggled to get involved and looked a step behind the pace. Honestly, this situation is really unfortunate because this team desperately needs more attacking options to help put the ball in the net.
3) Who is one player the Montreal Impact defense should pay extra close attention to on Saturday night?
Jimmy Medranda is a fan favorite here in KC who has finally started to get regular playing time. He has fancy feet with clever skills, will run relentlessly, and has the confidence to shoot from anywhere on the field (literally). He plays fullback (at the moment), but he will be ALL OVER the field. Jimmy is great at causing problems for the other team and he will do that on offense and defense. In all actuality, Medranda has been one of the team's best players. He is the only one that will get you excited when he has the ball. I feel like he is the only one on the team who could actually make something happen when he gets the ball at his feet. And not that any of this matters, but when talking about Jimmy you have to mention his personality as well because he is truly one of the happiest, friendliest, most genuine people you have ever seen.
Melia, Medranda, Olum, Opara, Abdul-Salaam, Mustivar, Espinoza, Feilhaber, Peterson, Dwyer, Hallisey
*A big thanks to Cody Bradley at The Blue Testament for taking the time to contribute to this article.