MONTREAL – When the New England Revolution visit the Montreal Impact on Saturday night, they’d love to replicate the start they had on their last trip to Stade Saputo.
But this time, they’ll be looking to finish the job.
Kei Kamara scored a pair of first-half goals to hand the visitors an early 2-0 lead the last time New England traveled north of the border in early July, but the Impact responded with a vengeance, scoring once before the break and twice afterwards en route to a 3-2 victory.
It’s a performance that offers a valuable lesson for the Revs, even two months later.
“We’ll remember that and we’ll take the clips from that game and learn from it,” said Scott Caldwell. “We just know that we’ve got to continue to start strong in these games, but then we’ve got to hold on and really continue to play and not fade off as the game goes on.”
“If you get a lead on a team, you’ve got to be able to play better and not give in,” added head coach Jay Heaps. “I think there was about – after watching the film again – 15 to 20 minutes where we stopped playing and it cost us the game.”
The Revs have opened the scoring in each of their last three games – all through Juan Agudelo – and they turned those early leads into league victories over the Colorado Rapids and New York City FC. They weren’t, however, able to build on Agudelo’s sixth-minute opener as they fell to FC Dallas in the U.S. Open Cup final on Tuesday night.
The biggest difference in recent weeks – compared to that July meeting with Montreal – is the way the Revolution are setting up. While they deployed the familiar 4-2-3-1 in their last meeting with the Impact, the Revs have been using a 4-4-2 with a diamond in midfield for the past five games.
“Last time, we were a different team,” said Diego Fagundez. “Now we have a different formation and we’ve been doing well. We’re getting more of the ball and we’re attacking more, and defensively I think we’re solid.
“I think we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing and if everything goes the right way and everybody’s doing the right job, we can definitely get the three points.”
