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MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact hope lessons learned from two lopsided losses will help prevent a season sweep at the hands of Sporting Kansas City. Nike Air Max 90 Essential Hombre . The Impact were shutout twice by Sporting KC earlier this year — 4-0 on the road on Apr. 19, and 3-0 at home on May 10. The two teams meet for the third and final time this season at Saputo Stadium on Saturday. Catch the game on TSN as part of an MLS doubleheader starting at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. "Those were tough to digest," said striker Marco Di Vaio, who did not play in the 3-0 loss due to a hamstring injury. "We know that, unless we double our efforts, well lose again. We have to improve, and we have the capacity to do so. We need a full team effort to beat this team." At Sporting Park in April, the Impact (3-8-5) gave up three second-half goals, including two to KC striker Dom Dwyer, for their biggest defeat of the season. In May, Montreal was reduced to 10 men after just 17 minutes when midfielder Collen Warner, who has since been traded to Toronto FC, was shown a red card for handling the ball with his arm in the penalty box. Dwyer converted the ensuing spot kick, and added another goal in the second half. After that game, Impact President Joey Saputo took to Twitter to promise fans that changes were forthcoming. True to his word, Saputo shuffled the roster. In the last two months, the Impact traded Warner for midfielder Issey Nakajima-Farran, acquired Mamadou Danso from the Portland Timbers, signed Spanish midfielder Gorka Larrea, sent Jeb Brovsky to expansion side New York City FC, released the injured Nelson Rivas, and added Polish left back Krzysztof Krol. Most recently, after confirming Hernan Bernardello was headed to Cruz Azul in Mexico, Montreal signed Argentine attacking midfielder Ignacio Piatti as a designated player. "We made some good moves and brought in some good quality players," said manager Frank Klopas. "Its taken some time for them to jell, but were a different team. We have to continue to show that on the field." While Danso, Krol and Piatti have yet to see action for the Impact, the positive results have started trickling in. Since that 3-0 home loss to Kansas City in May, Klopas men are 4-3-3 in all competitions, and went undefeated in their final three Amway Canadian Championship games en route to the Voyageurs Cup. "The team is much better now," said Di Vaio, who has yet to score against Sporting KC in six career matches. "Were working as a team, were more confident. We hadnt been working together. Now, were more team-oriented." "We changed our personnel, and we changed our attitude," added captain Patrice Bernier. "Its up to us to prove that our two first games against them, we were a different team, and we werent at our best. Were at home, and we have to remember the last time we played against them." Since returning from the two-week World Cup break, the Impact have strung together three solid performances. The team registered a scoreless draw against the Whitecaps in Vancouver before beating the Houston Dynamo 3-0 at home. Last week, despite a solid defensive showing, Montreal conceded four minutes into stoppage time for the 1-0 loss against Chivas USA to remain winless on the road this season. Prior to the goal, the Impact had gone 315 successive minutes without conceding, the third longest shutout streak in Major league Soccer this year. The stingy defending, however, hasnt been enough to heave the Impact off the bottom of the MLS standings, where they have been for most of the year. With just 14 points from 16 games, Montreal has the leagues worst record. "Paradoxically, considering the start of the season weve had, were not that far from a playoff spot," said defender Hassoun Camara, whose team is just six points off fifth place in the Eastern Conference. "It may not have been how we wanted to start the season, but now, even in losses like last weeks against Chivas, were really bringing it on the pitch. We have to overcome adversity." To keep second-place Kansas City (7-5-5) at bay, the Impact will have to contain Dwyer, something they couldnt do in the first two encounters this season. The 23-year-old leads the team with 12 goals and a league-high 63 shots. "Hes going to work hard, hes going to make good runs in the box, hes going to fight for everything, and hes going to close down," said Klopas. "Box defending has to be good, obviously. Hes a guy that you have to be aware of for 90 minutes, because the one moment you lose focus and concentration, he can hurt you. "He has a very god mentality right now and hes playing with a lot of confidence." Like the Impact, Kansas City has only conceded once in its last three MLS games. But clean sheets may be more difficult to come by for Sporting in the near future. The team will be without goalkeeper Eric Kronberg for eight weeks after he fractured a bone in his left hand during training on Wednesday. Kronberg, whos played all 17 games for Sporting KC this season, leads the league with seven clean sheets. Backup keeper Andy Gruenebaum will likely get the start against Montreal on Saturday. Notes: On Tuesday, Klopas announced the Impact were still interested in acquiring Canadian international Olivier Occean from Kaiserslautern in Germany. … Sporting have yet to lose when they score first (7-0-4). … Karl Ouimette will be suspended if he receives a yellow card on Saturday. … Centre back Matt Besler will likely make his first appearance for SKC since returning from the FIFA World Cup. … Kansas City has only lost once in its last six MLS matches. Nike Air Max 90 Essential Baratas . "There are a lot of kids out there in my situation, probably far worse situations," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. Nike Roshe Run Mujer Baratas . Buck finished with two hits for the Indians, while starter Mitch Talbot threw 5 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks, while striking out two. Niko Gallego and Tony Abreu had RBI doubles for Arizona.Canadas Alex Harvey was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the mens cross-country sprint at the Sochi Olympics on Tuesday, finishing fourth in his heat. Harvey, Canadas best hope for a medal in the event, needed to finish in the top-two of his heat or post one of the two best times out of the rest of the competitors to advance. He finished the race with a time of 3:37.89. Two Swedes posted the fastest times of the round in the third heat. Emil Joensson finished in 3:33.20 and teammate Teodor Peterson was right behind him with a time of 3:33.62. On the womens side two Canadians advanced to the quarter-finals, but couldnt get through their heats. Daria Gaiazova of Banff, Alta., finished fifth in the second grouping, and Perianne Jones of Almonte, Ont., placed fifth in the final heaat. Nike Air Max 90 Mujer. Norways Maiken Casperson Falla looks poised for a run at the gold, advancing in the first heat with the fastest time of the quarters, finishing at 2:33.23. She also had the fastest time in the qualifying round. U.S. skier Kikkan Randall, who was gunning to become the first American to win gold in cross country, made a surprising exit in the quarters after finishing fourth in the deepest heat of the round, which also sported top medal threats Denise Herrmann of Germany and Norways Marit Bjoergen, both of whom advanced. Canadian Chandra Crawford, the 2006 Olympic champion in the event, finished out of the top 30 in the qualifying round and didnt advance to the quarter-finals, placing 44th. Teammate Heidi Widmer finished just ahead of Crawford in 43rd. wholesale nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' ' |
