Matchday 12 Preview: Montreal Impact

Well this one ought to be fun. After firing head coach Alan Koch, FC Cincinnati is looking for a new identity under interim manager Yoann Damet. Montreal will be looking to keep the good times rolling, as they're currently in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference.

Form

Montreal has won three of their last five games, having lost the other two. FC Cincinnati's form is... uh... Yeah they fired their head coach and the team hasn't score a goal in a long long while.

Story Line

The main story of this game is going to be how Cincinnati responds to the coaching change. The players have all rallied behind Damet, and it's time to see how they play. Now, four or five days is not much time to come in and implement a full identity, but I do expect to see improvements on the field. One are to keep an eye on is the attack.

For Montreal, they continue to be the team everyone forgets about in MLS. Maybe it's because they speak French, maybe it's because they're Canadian, maybe it's because they're the furthest northeast team in the league. But nobody pays attention. And, while nobody was looking, they went out and did really really well to start the season. Currently sitting at 3rd place in the east, and they've been doing it without their best player.

Players You Should Know or Might Know

Ignacio Piatti
Piatti might be the best player in MLS. Period. However thanks to Montreal being the forgotten team of MLS, nobody knows about him. However, he is hurt, and will not be playing in this game on Saturday, which is good news for FCC.

Omar Browne
Am I bringing up this player because I went on twitter and told FC Cincinnati to sign him, long before Montreal was interested? No. I'm bringing him up because since joining Montreal in mid April. He was fantastic for Independiente in the CONCACAF Champions League this year, tearing Toronto apart. Technically on loan, Browne has the potential to be one of the better players in the league.

Bacary Sagna
Sagna is probably the highest profile player on this team. The French defender was on two French world cup teams, earning 65 caps for France. Fans of the English Premier League will be familiar with him as well, having played for Arsenal (213 appearances) and Manchester City (54 appearances). While he is 36 years old, he has been playing well for Montreal.

Potential Lineup

Oh boy, this is a tough one this week. For now, I'll just assume Damet is an avid reader of the blog and saw the lineup I shared earlier. This is what I'm hoping for:

Unavailable Players

Cincinnati

Corben Bone, MID (Questionable)

Greg Garza, DEF (Questionable)

Alvas Powell, DEF (Questionable)  

Jimmy McLaughlin, MID (Out)

Montreal

Ignacio Piatti, MID (Out)

Clement Bayiha, MID (Out)

Prediction

New. Manager. Bounce. FC Cincinnati wins 2-0 on a corner kick and an Adi tap in. You heard it here first.