Sounders FC Visits Montreal in First Road Match of Season

Seattle Sounders FC hits the road for the first away game of the 2014 campaign on Saturday afternoon against the Montreal Impact. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. PT at Olympic Stadium.

Saturday’s match will be televised locally on Q13 FOX and regionally on ROOT Sports with Ross Fletcher and Kasey Keller on the call, and can also be heard on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM. The match can be heard in Spanish on ESPN Deportes Seattle with Rene Aleman and Noe Menendez calling the action.

Sounders FC (1-1-0, 3 points) dropped its first match of the season last Saturday with a 2-1 home loss to Toronto FC. Clint Dempsey scored his first goal of the campaign, and has recorded points in the first two games of the season after serving the game-winning assist against Sporting Kansas City on Opening Day.

Saturday’s match at Montreal marks the first road contest of the season for Seattle, and the team will play four of the next five games away from CenturyLink Field, logging an estimated 10,000 air miles over the next four weeks. Saturday’s match will be the club’s first-ever visit to Olympic Stadium.

The Montreal Impact (0-2-0, 0 points) are searching for the first win of the season after falling on the road in Texas the opening two weeks. Montreal will be without the services of leading scorer Marco Di Vaio, who is serving the final match of a three-game suspension.

The matchup will be the third all-time meeting between the two sides in MLS play as Seattle will look to earn its first-ever points against the Impact.

Sounders FC will return to Seattle for a match against the Columbus Crew on March 29. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. The team will then play three straight road matches, beginning with the first Cascadia Cup clash of the season onApril 5 against the Portland Timbers.

Tickets for Sounders FC home matches are available now at www.SoundersFC.com and 1-877-MLS-GOAL. The 6-Match ticket package is also available now with expanded seating to include the upper bowl at CenturyLink Field.

Competition Schedule (All times Pacific; subject to change)

March 22, 1 p.m. – Sounders FC at Montreal Impact, Olympic Stadium

March 29, 7 p.m. – Sounders FC vs. Columbus Crew, CenturyLink Field

April 5, 12 p.m. – Sounders FC at Portland Timbers, Providence Park

April 12, 5:30 p.m. – Sounders FC at FC Dallas, Toyota Stadium

April 19, 7:30 p.m. – Sounders FC at Chivas USA, StubHub Center

April 26, 1 p.m. – Sounders FC vs. Colorado Rapids, CenturyLink Field



goalWA.net Local Soccer News is sponsored by Pro Roofing Northwest, Kirkland, Bellevue, Seattle, Redmond, Woodinville, Federal Way, Everett, Snohomish, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Bothell, Edmonds Washington roofing company.

Flurry of Road Games

Saturday’s match at Montreal marks the first road contest in a flurry of games away from CenturyLink Field as Seattle will play four of the next five games away from home. Seattle has played four of five games on the road on four occasions in club history, going 9-6-5 with a plus-two goal differential (27/25). Sounders FC has also had stretches of seven of nine games on the road (May 26 to July 28, 2012) and five of six games on the road (March 23 to May 8, 2013). Seattle will have a lengthy road stretch later in the season when it plays four-straight games on the road from June 7 to July 5.

10,000 Miles and Counting

With the upcoming stretch of road games, Sounders FC players and coaches will begin racking up the air miles. The trip to Montreal will be one of the longest of the season at 4,614 miles round trip, though Seattle will have longer trips later this season to Foxborough, Mass. (4,990), Washington, D.C. (4,708), and Harrison, NJ (4,844). Over the next four weeks, Sounders FC will travel an estimated 10,132 air miles.

All-Time Road Openers

The first road match of the 2014 campaign comes earlier in the season than four of the previous five road openers, and it will be the fourth time that Seattle’s first road opponent is an Eastern Conference team. Overall, Seattle is 1-2-2 in the first away game of the season, and is level in goal differential with four goals scored and four allowed. The lone win came in Seattle’s first-ever road match at Toronto in 2009.

Record in First Road Match

Date Opponent Result Week

April 4, 2009 Toronto W, 2-0 3

April 10, 2010 Salt Lake D, 2-2 3

March 19, 2011 New York L, 0-1 2

April 7, 2012 D.C. United D, 0-0 4

March 23, 2013 San Jose L, 0-1 3

All-Time Road Record

Since its inception Sounders FC have proven solid on the road, going 29-28-24 away from home over the past five seasons. The 111 points earned on the road is the second-most in MLS since 2009, bested only by the LA Galaxy’s 117 points, and the team has earned 41-percent of its total points (269) on the road. Despite a down year in 2013 – the first time in club history that the team had a below .500 road record – Seattle has posted some of the top road records in league history, including in 2011 when it became just the 10th team to win nine or more games on the road.

Several of Seattle’s road wins have been historic as the team snapped Columbus’ 22-match home unbeaten streak in 2009 and Salt Lake’s 29-match home unbeaten streak in 2011. The team also became only the second MLS team to win in Mexico with a victory over Monterrey in the 2011/12 CONCACAF Champions League, and twice clinched a postseason berth away from home with wins at Kansas City.

All-Time Road Record

Year Record (points) GD (GS/GA) Pct.

2009 5-5-5 (20 pts.) -2 (17/19) .500

2010 6-6-3 (21 pts.) -1 (18/19) .500

2011 9-3-5 (32 pts.) 7 (24/17) .676

2012 4-4-9 (21 pts.) 2 (24/22) .500

2013 5-10-2 (17 pts.) -14 (13/27) .353

Totals: 29-28-24 (111) -8 (96/104) .506

All-Time Road Leaders

Osvaldo Alonso has played the most career road games (67) for Sounders FC, logging 5,667 minutes. Chad Marshall has played the most matches (129) away from home in his MLS career, and Kenny Cooper has scored the most away goals (30). Midfielder Marco Pappa has had great success on the road, scoring 14 of his 26 goals and recording 12 of his 16 assists away from his home stadium. Head Coach Sigi Schmid holds a .462 winning percentage on the road, and his 70 road wins are the most in league history.

Against the Impact

Twelve current Sounders FC players have played the Montreal Impact, led by six appearances by Chad Marshall. Marshall and Kenny Cooper lead the team with two goals scored against Montreal, as Cooper has netted his two goals in just 359 minutes. Jalil Anibaba is the lone active Sounders FC player to have recorded an assist against the Impact, and no goalkeeper on the Seattle roster has played against Montreal.

Consecutive Canadian Opponents

Seattle’s match at Montreal marks the second-straight game against a Canadian opponent after Toronto FC visited CenturyLink Field last Saturday. Sounders FC has faced Canadian teams in consecutive weeks one time in club history, drawing Vancouver 2-2 (6/11/11) before beating Toronto 1-0 (6/18/11).

Back-to-Back Points for Dempsey

Clint Dempsey scored his first goal of the season last Saturday in a 2-1 loss to Toronto FC, marking his second-straight game with a point. Dempsey opened the season with a game-winning assist in stoppage time against Sporting Kansas City. He is one of nine MLS players to begin the season with a goal or assist in consecutive games, and it is the eighth time in his career that he has recorded a point in back-to-back games. Dempsey’s best stretch in MLS came during the 2005 season when he recorded five goals and three assists in a five-game stretch from April 9 to May 7.

Flashback to Final USL Game

Prior to joining MLS in 2009, the Seattle Sounders played their final game of the USL era against the Montreal Impact. The sixth-seeded Sounders faced the third-seeded Impact in the first round of the USL playoffs. Seattle jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first leg, but was eliminated with a 3-1 loss in the second leg, ultimately falling 4-3 on aggregate. Both teams went on to join MLS as Sounders FC played its inaugural match in 2009, with the Impact joining the league for the 2012 season.

Series Notes

With just two meetings in league play, Montreal is the only team that Seattle has not earned a point against, losing both matches by a combined score of 5-1. Despite being outscored, Sounders FC holds the advantage in total shots, 27-21, and corner kicks, 14-8.Saturday’s match will be the third location in three all-time meetings as the previous two games were held at Saputo Stadium (6/16/12) and CenturyLink Field (3/2/13).

About Montreal

After finishing the 2013 season with a Knockout Round loss to the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup Playoffs, the Impact return a largely unchanged side. Just six players from last year’s team did not return, most notably defender Alessandro Nesta (retired) and midfielder Davy Arnaud (traded to D.C. United). Saturday will be the first home game for Montreal after the team started with two road matches in Texas, falling 3-2 to FC Dallas on Opening Day and losing 1-nil to Houston last Saturday. The Impact will finish the opening month of the season with a road game at Philadelphia on March 29.

Impact Notables

Montreal will be without Italian striker Marco Di Vaio, who is serving the final match of his three-game suspension. Di Vaio finished third in MLS last season with 20 goals, including five game-winners, and led the league with 78 offsides – 36 more than any other player. Over the past two games, the Impact have used former No. 1 draft pick Andrew Wenger in his place. Wenger scored in the season opener against Dallas, and put both of his shots against Houston on frame. Montreal also has the service of one of the top set-up men in MLS in Patrice Bernier, who recorded three assists against Seattle in the 2012 matchup. The Impact midfield also boasts MLS veteran Justin Mapp, former Sounders FC midfielder Sanna Nyassi and Brazilian Felipe Martins.

On the defensive side, the Impact will be without Andres Romero, who is also serving the final match of his three-game suspension. The backline features regulars Hassoun Camara, Jeb Brovsky and Matteo Ferrari, and rookie Eric Miller. Troy Perkins has been the first-choice keeper since joining the Impact in a trade with the Timbers in 2012.

SEA-MTL Connections

Seattle midfielder Lamar Neagle spent one season with Montreal – his lone MLS season outside of Seattle. Neagle scored two goals with two assists in 23 appearances (11 starts) for the Impact, including one goal against Sounders FC. Montreal midfielder Sanna Nyassi has spent the past three seasons with the Impact after playing the 2009-10 seasons with Seattle and 2011 season with Colorado. Nyassi has scored eight goals and four assists in 51 games, including one goal in his only appearance this season. Kenny Cooper played with Heath Pearce at Dallas (2009) and New York (2012). Cooper also played with Troy Perkins in Portland (2011). Djimi Traore (2011-12) and Hassoun Camara (2006-08) both played for French side Marseille.

Throw-ins

Head Coach Sigi Schmid celebrates his birthday on March 20…Lamar Neagle has been credited with an assist on Clint Dempsey’s goal last Saturday against Toronto FC…The Montreal Impact announced that 24,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s match… On March 19, 2009, Sounders FC won its inaugural MLS match over the New York Red Bulls, 3-0…On March 25, 2008, Seattle announced that fans will have the opportunity to vote for the team name.