MONTREAL — A testy draw in Toronto will leave the Montreal Impact short three defenders for its Major League Soccer regular season finale against D.C. United on Saturday.
Veterans Matteo Ferrari, Hassoun Camara and Heath Pearce will sit out the match with suspensions.
Happily for Montreal, all three will be available for the match they consider most important, a CONCACAF Champions League contest Wednesday night against the New York Red Bulls.
Pearce will serve an automatic one-game suspension for taking a straight red card late in Montreal’s 1-1 draw at Toronto on Saturday. Camara was ejected in the dying minutes for being shown a second yellow card in the match, while Ferrari was cautioned in the 55th minute and will sit out a league game for yellow card accumulation.
That will leave them with a mostly inexperienced back line when they face D.C. at Saputo Stadium in Marco Di Vaio’s farewell match.
Available defenders are Futty Danso, rookie left back Eric Miller and academy products Wandrille Lefevre, Karl Ouimette and Maxim Tissot, a midfielder who can also play left back.
"We’ll try to put out a strong group to try to win the game," coach Frank Klopas said Monday. "It’s the last game of the season, but because of those suspensions, we’re going to have to make adjustments, for sure."
They will likely use Danso and Lefevre in the middle, with Ouimette and Miller on the outside, but Tissot is ready if they need help.
"We’ll need people," said Tissot, a native of Gatineau, Que. "I’ve been used at left-mid and left back. I don’t know if they’ll put me on defence, but if they do, I’ll be ready."
The Impact (6-18-9) will finish last in the Eastern Conference, but have picked up their game of late with two wins, a loss and three draws in their last six.
The tie at BMO Field eliminated Toronto FC from the playoffs, but it left Montreal winless on the road for the season (0-12-5).
It was a match they felt they could have won, with Jack McInerney hitting the bar in the second half among a handful of wasted chances.
"In the second half we played well, we created a lot of chances," said Klopas. "We were right there, but we didn’t put our chances away.
"But it’s a big difference, because in games like that at the beginning (of the season), we would have found a way to not to walk away with any points. The mentality was very good. The win didn’t come, but you felt good walking away from that game."
Klopas confirmed that designated player Ignacio Piatti will not play either match this week. The Argentine is nursing tendinitis in a knee.
As bad as the MLS season has been, Montreal has made up for it in the Champions League. They lead their three-team group at 3-0-0 and have qualified for the quarter-finals, which will be played between Feb. 24 and March 5.
A win over the Red Bulls could make them one of the top four seeds and give them the advantage of playing the second leg at home.
Di Vaio is suspended for the CONCACAF match, so he will be rested for the final game of his career on Saturday. The 38-year-old is to retire and is expected to take a job with his former Italian Serie A club Bologna.
