

Posted by

Kamal Hylton ,

February 19, 2014 Email

Kamal Hylton

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@KamalHylton

A Sanna Nyassi goal in the 18th minute saw the Montreal Impact kickoff their Disney Pro Soccer Classic title defence with a 1-0 win over Brazilian side Fluminense's U23 squad.



Hassoun Camara collecting a deep ball in an advanced position on the right wing, driving past a few defenders, put a strong effort on goal, leaving the keeper little option than to parry it into the path of the Gambian midfielder.



Starting their preseason with a 2-1 victory over Orlando City SC, this was another good step in the right direction and the Brazilian side provided a unique set of challenges for Montreal's new head coach Frank Klopas.



Two areas that were tested immediately were defensive awareness and work rate in specific areas of the field. Fluminense made a concerted effort to establish ball control and work combination play throughout the midfield, forcing Montreal to play counter attacking soccer and make use of the wide areas.



A new wrinkle that looks to be a staple within Klopas' new identity for the club is high pressure on the opposition’s defensive unit. This was displayed in a variety of ways, from playing a right back in Camara right on top of his opposite fullback, Andrew Wenger dropping back to a deeper position and Felipe helping the likes of Hernan Bernardello.



Speaking of the Argentine DP, his ability to clog the midfield, stay compact and not roam too far from his position on the field caused the Fluminense youngsters all sorts of problems, so much so that at times it forced the coaching staff into a change of formation to a 3-5-2 in order to get more numbers forward and attempt to stretch the field with wide play.



The Brazilian giants were clearly more comfortable in the second half, getting meaningful chances on goal and finding gaps within a team that was at this point in the game made up of Montreal Impact Academy products with the exception of its veteran Italian leader in Marco Di Vaio. Getting a good amount of playing time for young talent looked to be a key goal for Klopas, in particular his newest signing in Uruguyan forward Santiago Gonzalez, who played the final thirty minutes but was unable to make an impression or add to his goal tally started in the aforementioned 2-1 win over Orlando CIty.



The next game for the Montreal Impact in the Disney Pro Soccer Classic is February 22, 2014 vs. New York Reb Bulls at 3:00PM and can be seen either on www.impactmontreal.com or mlssoccer.com.