Facts & Feats: New England Revolution vs Montreal Impact

SERIES FACTS & FEATS -

THE BOTTOM LINE -

Montreal has met New England Revolution 16 times since becoming an MLS club. Only two of those meetings have ended level, and each club has the same number of wins; seven. The symmetry almost stretches to the goals tally however Montreal has 22 to Revolution’s 21.

At Gillette Stadium, Montreal’s record reads, won 3, lost 3 and tied 1. Goals for 7, against 8. Apart from Stade Saputo and Stade Olympique, Montreal Impact has won more games at Gillette Stadium than at any other venue.

HIGHEST ATTENDANCE -

The record crowd for the series was set on 17 October 2015, when 42,947 turned up at Gillette Stadium to see Impact win 1-0. Nacho Piatti scored the only goal in the 55^th minute.

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WINNING STREAKS –

New England has won each of the last 4 meetings between the clubs, the longest win-streak in the series. Prior to that sequence beginning, Montreal had won each of the previous three. Montreal’s last victory over the Revs was by 3-2 at Stade Saputo on 2 July 2016, after falling behind to 2 Kei Kamara goals. Goals from Michael Salazar (2) and Ignacio Piatti sealed the comeback win!

GOALS & ASSISTS -

Kelyn Rowe has most goals in the series (6). Montreal’s joint top scorers in the series are Marco Di Vaio and Patrice Bernier, with 4 apiece.

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In assists, perhaps surprisingly, Hassoun Camara leads the way for Montreal with 3. Diego Fagundez holds top spot in the series with 5 for New England.

Fastest goal recorded in the series was by Kei Kamara (this name just keeps popping up) in NER’s 3-1 victory at Stade Saputo in September 2016. Kamara scored in the first minute. IMFC’s fastest goal scored against NER was by Andres Romero (3^rd min), in a 2-0 victory at Stade Saputo in May 2014.

The last match between the sides, in October last year provided the two latest goal times in the series. When Matteo Mancosu equalized in the 90^th minute that day at Stade Saputo, he must’ve thought he’d earned a share of the spoils for his side. But up popped Kelyn Rowe in the 6^th minute of injury time to win the game for the visitors!

The most frequently occurring score-line between the sides at Gillette Stadium is 0-1 away win. It’s happened twice.

The largest margin of victory is by three goals. NER won 3-0 in October 2016 at Gillette Stadium, IMFC won 3-0 at Stade Saputo in Sep 2015.

Montreal’s 4-2 victory at Gillette Stadium in September 2013, is the highest scoring game between the sides. Bernier (2 pks) and Di Vaio (2) were each on target for Montreal. It’s also the first of only three occasions ever, in which IMFC scored 4 times or more on the road in an MLS Regular Season game.

WHO’S TURNED UP MOST -

Kelyn Rowe (12+3 sub) and Diego Fagundez (9+6 sub), both of New England, jointly hold the record number of appearances in the series, remarkably having appeared in 15 out of the 16 fixtures played. Patrice Bernier leads the way for Montreal, with a total of 11 appearances (7 starts). Hassoun Camara has started the most games for Montreal (9).

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COACH’S CORNER -

Jesse Marsch is the only Montreal coach to have a better than 50% record over New England, winning 2 and losing 1 of his three games in charge.

For the Crew, Jay Heaps took charge of the first 15 matches (16 played so far). In the last meeting of the clubs, in October last, Tom Soehn became only the second-ever New England coach to face Montreal Impact. After all that stability, on Friday evening Brad Friedel will become the third New England coach to face Montreal in the last three meetings.

LAST LINE OF DEFENCE -

Evan Bush leads the series with 3 shut-outs (2 at Gillette Stadium). Two Revs ‘keepers have two shut-outs each: Bobby Shuttleworth and Cody Cropper. Troy Perkins (Montreal) also managed two shut-outs against New England.

Evan Bush once went 309 minutes without conceding a goal against New England, stretching over 5 matches (including 3 complete shut-outs).

Should he keep a clean-sheet on Friday evening, Evan will be the first Montreal goalkeeper to achieve three clean sheets in a row, in MLS-history. This will be Bush’s eighth attempt at turning two successive clean-sheets into three. The only Impact goalkeeper to achieve three shut-outs in a row is Donovan Ricketts stretching over 290 mins, before Reggie Lambe broke the spell in a Canadian Championship semi-final at BMO Field (2012).

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Troy Perkins holds the Impact record of 315 mins unbeaten, all in MLS-play. After conceding to Luis Silva (DCU) five mins into first-half injury time on 11 June 2014, the next goal he conceded was by Erick Torres (Chivas USA) in the 90+4^th min at Stub Hub Center on 5 July 2014. Evan Bush needs a clean sheet on Friday, plus no goals conceded in the first-half of his next match to equal the record.

Bush is the goalkeeper with most starts in the series (8). Bobby Shuttleworth (NER) has also appeared 8 times, including one as sub after Matt Reis was dismissed after 5 mins, in Montreal’s 4-2 win at Gillette Stadium in Sept 2013.

DISCIPLINARY –

Four players have seen red, Krzyzstof Krol, Hassoun Camara and Marco Donadel (all IMFC), and Matt Reis (NER).

Andres Romero and Marco Donadel have each picked up 4 yellow cards in the series, while the highest offender for New England has been Lee Nguyen (3).

Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images