MONTREAL

The Montreal Impact remain a work in progress, but the expansion team has assembled the pieces to be a force in MLS.

Marco Di Vaio was signed as a designated player and debuted late last month. Fellow ex-Italy international Alessandro Nesta joined the Impact on July 5 to add a veteran on defense. And young Swiss defender Dennis Iapichino made his debut over the weekend.

Coupled with the pieces Montreal already had in place, the future looks good - if Impact coach Jesse Marsch can get all of them on the field.

Montreal (6-12-3) hosts the New England Revolution (6-8-4) on Wednesday at the Stade Saputo, but Nesta has yet to make his debut, and four other key players are injured.

Defenders Matteo Ferrari and Nelson Rivas, and forwards Bernardo Corradi and Andrew Wenger were sidelined Saturday in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union. All four remain unlikely to play this week.

Marsch, frustrated after the loss to the Union, would love to have them back.

"The way we lose this game leaves me speechless," Marsch said. "It's unable to describe, because it's happened too many times. We had the better chances in the game.

"We have to figure out how to get over the hump. We can't seem to figure out how to take good performances and turn them into results."

Montreal will have to rely on the comfort of home, where it has accumulated 17 of its 21 points this season playing at Olympic Stadium and the Stade Saputo.

But overall, the Impact have lost four of their last five matches and seven of their last 10. The most recent, against Philadelphia, came on a stoppage-time winner from the Union.

With a solid 5-3-2 mark at home, and New England among the worst squads on the road, the table is set for Montreal to pick up a win and a spark. But it needs a better defensive effort, as it has allowed a league-high 38 goals this year.

New England visits with just one win in eight road games this season, and has never won in Canada in seven games against Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Toronto FC. The Revs hold a one-point cushion over Montreal in the bottom-half of the East.

The Revolution had their five-game unbeaten streak snapped over the weekend at home, a 1-0 loss to Toronto.

"You can't come out and start slow, and unfortunately that's kind of what we did," said Revs forward Blake Brettschneider.

New England also lost Stephen McCarthy to injury early in the match, and coach Jay Heaps said Monday "it's a little too early to tell" if he'll be available.

Forward Jerry Bengtson will miss the match due to Olympic duty with Honduras, and his absence will hinder the Revolution as they try to exploit the worst defense in the league.

Regardless, Heaps said this was an important match as the club starts a three- game road trip and the club needed a good performance in Montreal.

"We really need to get some points and starting in Montreal," Heaps said. "I know that's going to be a huge game for us to start off this three-game road trip."