Zlatan Coming to Town and Garde left with Slim Pickens

The Impact back line has been a reoccurring issue and point of discussion this season and I could even go as far as saying last season as well. They traded their General away picked up the piece they assume would fill the spot in Zakaria Diallo. He was injured before the start of the season. Management picked up another player, Rod Fanni, thinking he could lead the back line, which in many ways he has.

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Now the leader of pillar of the defense might be present but one player cannot control the success of everyone. The wingbacks, Daniel Lovitz, Chris Duvall and Michael Petrasso have had more sub-par performances than the opposite. With a few positive stints from each player it has likely made it difficult for Garde to decide who gets the starter role.

On the other hand, Jukka Raitala a wingback who has played more often than not as a centerback this season has done well. He has committed a few errors which are unfortunate but are should be expected. Raitala came in as a depth piece for the wingbacks but early on was trusted with the centerback starter role.

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Now where the Impact are suffering other than the injury to Diallo are in injuries to Camacho and Cabrera. The mystery case of the whereabouts of Cabrera were resolved this week. It was announced that he was placed on the disabled list and Marco Donadel was reintegrated to the group. Cabrera was spotted on crutches Saturday and will likely be out for a while. On the otherhand the injury to Camacho seems to be more of a discomfort than anything else but one that could worsen with time. Per the information provided by the club, it seems Camacho played injured because no other options were available and now with Fanni back it is allowing Camacho to heal.

Now this leaves the Impact with five healthy defenders: Fanni, Raitala, Lovitz, Petrasso, Duvall. With the upcoming game against the Galaxy Garde will have an interesting task at hand given that Lovitz is suspended after his red card last game and that he will likely need to shuffle everything to have something to put on the field. A few viable options? Raitala-Fanni-Duvall-Petrasso or Petrasso-Raitala-Fanni-Duvall. It will be interesting to see how Garde lines up his men as the Galaxy, at least offensively are going to be a difficult task for the Bleu-Blanc-Noir. Given the way the team has played in the last two fans are very worried of what will come of the 25th anniversary game.