Montreal Impact vs. Chicago Fire
2017 MLS Regular Season
Stade Saputo - Montreal
Wednesday, Aug. 16 - 6:30 p.m CT
WATCH: CSN Chicago
The Chicago Fire and Montreal Impact are on two different trajectories heading into Wednesday night's match at Stade Saputo.
The same Fire side that was the league's biggest bounce-back story in early July, leading the Supporters' Shield standings and riding an 11-match unbeaten streak, have won just one of their last five — and have lost three of their last four following Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Columbus Crew SC.
Nemanja Nikolic has gone scoreless over those five matches and is still on 16 goals, now trailing New York City FC's David Villa by two in the Golden Boot race.
The home side, meanwhile, have won their last two to climb to within one spot of the playoff line in the Eastern Conference — with at least one game in hand on all but one of the teams ahead of them. The Impact have also picked up a key defensive midfield contributor in Canadian international Samuel Piette, who recorded six tackles in a memorable MLS debut as Montreal blanked Philadelphia 3-0 over the weekend.
Montreal Impact
Suspended: None
- Suspended next yellow card: M Hernan Bernardello, F Matteo Mancosu, F Ballou Tabla
- Int'l duty: None
- Injuries: OUT: D - Ambroise Oyongo (right knee surgery 6/13, out 6 months) - READ
Projected Starting XI (4-3-3, R-L): Evan Bush – Chris Duvall, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Daniel Lovitz – Patrice Bernier, Samuel Piette, Blerim Dzemaili – Dom Oduro, Matteo Mancosu, Ignacio Piatti
Notes: The Impact have won five of their last six home league games (1L) and have outscored the opposition 12-5 during that run. The Impact have scored in 15 straight home league games, one off tying the franchise record (set between August 16, 2014 and August 5, 2015). ... Blerim Dzemaili’s brace against Philadelphia last weekend makes him just the 12th player in the Impact’s MLS history to score multiple goals in a single league game. Only four Impact players have more than one multi-goal MLS game (Ignacio Piatti – 7, Marco di Vaio – 5, Didier Drogba – 4, Patrice Bernier –2).
Chicago Fire
- Suspended: None
- Suspended next yellow card: M Bastian Schweinsteiger
- Int'l duty: None
- Injuries: OUT: M - John Goossens (right ankle surgery 3/4, out 5-6 months) - READ, GK - Jorge Bava (left elbow injury), D - Brandon Vincent (quad strain), M - Daniel Johnson (left MCL injury)
Projected Starting XI (4-2-3-1, L-R): Matt Lampson - Patrick Doody, Joao Meira, Johan Kappelhof, Matt Polster - Dax McCarty, Bastian Schweinsteiger - Luis Solignac, Michael de Leeuw, David Accam - Nemanja Nikolic
Notes: Chicago has lost three straight MLS road games, their second three-game road losing streak of the 2017 season. The Fire have only won two of their 12 away league games this year (6L-4D). Only five teams have won fewer road games, and four of them are currently not in the playoff positions. ... Michael de Leeuw has goals in consecutive games and three in his last six MLS regular season appearances. Prior to that, he had seven goals in 34 appearances, including a 16-game MLS scoreless streak that began on opening day of this season.
All-Time Series
This series has been evenly matched, with the Impact owning one more win than the Fire. The two sides played to a 2-2 draw at Toyota Park in April in Bastian Schweinsteiger's first MLS game.
- Overall: Montreal 5 wins (19 goals) ... Chicago 4 wins (22 goals) ... Ties 5
- At Montreal: Montreal 4 wins (11 goals) ... Chicago 1 win (9 goals) ... Ties 2
Referees
Referee: Nima Saghafi
Assistant Referees: Joe Fletcher, Logan Brown
4th Official: Robert Sibiga
VAR: Silviu Petrescu
