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AT THE COMPASS ...
BBVA Compass Stadium has been one of the Impact’s least favorite venues. They’ve lost 6 times in 7 MLS visits and never won. There was also a 0-3 Play-off defeat when Marco Di Vaio and Andres Romero each saw red. Impact has scored 4 goals (Nyassi, Duka, Piatti and Salazar) in the “away” series and conceded 15. Ricardo Clark and Gilles Barnes (3 goals each) top-score for Houston in the fixture.
RECENT HOME FORM - DYNAMO
In their last 9 MLS matches at the BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston have managed only 2 victories, and scored more than 1 goal on only three occasions. They have not been able to shut any opposition out during that sequence and conceded multiple goals four times.
RECENT AWAY FORM - IMPACT
The Impact in their last 9 away games have been blanked by the opposition on 3 occasions and managed to score multiple goals 4 times. In their last 15 road fixtures Evan Bush has managed to keep a clean sheet only once. They have conceded multiple goals in 9 of those 15 games.
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GOALS
Home and away, Marco Di Vaio is top-scorer in the series with 4 goals. Three Dynamo players are on the 3-goal mark: Gilles Barnes, Ricardo Clark and Will Bruin.
Mauro Manotas, Houston’s 23-year-old Colombian striker needs one more goal to reach his half-century in MLS.
SHUT-OUTS
Troy Perkins and Tally Hall share the series record for Shut-outs on 3 each. Should Evan Bush blank the Dynamo tonight, he will draw level with the other two.
APPEARANCE MILESTONES
Should he play this evening, midfield stalwart Samuel Piette will become the first Impact player to start 40 consecutive games since the club elevated into MLS in 2012.
Should he play this evening, Ignacio Piatti will be making his 150th appearance (all competitions) in Bleu/Blanc/Noir. Since 2012 and MLS, only Bernier, Bush and Camara can top that. The maestro has scored 73 times.
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BACK TO BACK …
Tonight, Montreal Impact will be attempting to win back to back road games in the West for the first time since March 2016, when they defeated Vancouver 3-2 at BC Place. Their previous game in the West had been at the end of the previous season when they won 1-0 at Colorado Rapids. The only time they have achieved the feat in the same season was when they defeated Seattle Sounders 1-0, and Portland Timbers 2-1, during Marco Schallibaum’s unbeaten start to the season, in March 2013.
LAST SEASON
Montreal Impact finished 7th in the East, their 4th best finish since joining MLS in 2012. Houston could only finish 9th in the West, one place better than their worst-ever 10th place finish in 2016, and 11 points away from Play-off contention.
A WORD ABOUT THIS EVENING’S REF ….
Ismail Elfath has controlled 10 previous Impact matches. The Montrealers have won 5, drawn 2 and lost 3. He’s yellow-carded 20 Impact players and 19 from opposition teams, red-carded two Impact men (Rivas and Cabrera) and 5 from opponents, the last being Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Stade Saputo in 2018.
AND FINALLY ….
Montreal Impact has played 11 MLS fixtures in the state of Texas, against both Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas. One of those games ended in a draw. The other 10 were lost. Impact has scored 7 times in those games and conceded 24. Hopefully recent arrival from FC Dallas, Maxi Urruti can help the Quebecers feel more at home in the Lone Star State this evening.