Montreal Impact Kick of their season In florida.

PRESS RELEASE: April 8, 2011

MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact will fly to Florida this afternoon to start the 18th season in club history Saturday against FC Tampa Bay at Al Lang Stadium (7pm, fctampabay.com) “It will be a tough match but we are confident to start the season on a good note,” declared Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos. “We had a good training camp and the players had the chance to know our system of play. A great chemistry is already in place. We have players with a lot of character and who want to win.”

Since the Impact’s debut in 1993, the team has a lifetime record of six wins, seven losses and four draws in 16 season openers (18GF – 17GA).

The Impact has not won its first game of the season since 2004 (0-2-4). Last year, the team was shut out 2-0 in Austin.

“We have a solid team, maybe better technically than last year. We can’t go there with the fear to lose.  said defender Philippe Billy, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the team in 2010.


“We spent a lot of time together during the past couple months and we are ready,” said striker Ali Gerba, who scored nine goals in 13 regular season games in 2010. We are motivated. Personally, I don’t give to much attention to the opponent we face. The important thing is to play well and do our work.”

This is the first of four matches between both teams this season. The Impact will face the FC Tampa Bay again for its home opener on April 23. Both teams will match up again on May 21 in Tampa Bay and on August 10 at Saputo Stadium.

Defender Hicham Aaboubou (thigh), midfielders Leonardo Di Lorenzo (thigh) and David Testo (ankle), as well as forward Reda Agourram (thigh) will not travel with the team to Florida due to injuries.

Defender Richard Pelletier will serve the first of a six-game suspension, following incidents after the second leg of the semi-final series in Carolina. Aaboubou is serving a three-game suspension.

Defenders Amine Meftouh and Karl Ouimette, midfielder Kevin Luarca and forward Mircea Ilcu, all from the U21 Academy, will travel to Florida.

Simon Gatti’s next game will be his 100th match played with the Impact. He will become the 17th player in club history to reach this mark. Nevio Pizzolitto (276), Antonio Ribeiro (131) and Leonardo Di Lorenzo (120) are the other active players who have also reached 100 games with the Impact.

FC Tampa Bay closed out its preseason schedule with four wins and two draws, including shutouts in each of its last four exhibition matches.

The Impact will only play two games on the road prior to its home opener at Saputo Stadium, on April 23 again versus the FC Tampa Bay at 2:30pm.

OTHER FACTS
• The Impact is playing its last season in second division in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The club will join MLS in 2012.

NEXT MATCHES
• Saturday, April 16 – IMPACT @ Carolina – WakeMed Soccer Park – 7 pm
• Saturday, April 23 – Tampa Bay @ IMPACT – Saputo Stadium – 2:30pm (home opener)
• Wednesday, April 27 – Vancouver @ IMPACT – Saputo Stadium – 8pm (Nutrilite Canadian Championship)