Montréal Impact plan to seize their opportunity against Club América in CCL final

MONTREAL

On the day before the biggest game in Montréal Impact history, Frank Klopas took a moment to reflect on the difficulty of reaching this point.

Impact coach Klopas leaned on his own experiences to illustrate the magnitude of the occasion ahead at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night. He played for teams with plenty of talent and watched as their dreams of dynasties crumbled for one reason or another. He underscored the temporal nature of these opportunities and the impossible blend of determination, luck and skill required to procure them.

“A lot of things have gone our way,” Klopas said. “When you look at where we started and how we ended up here now, there were many moments: Cameron Porter’s last-second goal, the penalty kick. There are a lot of things that have to go your way. Regardless of how good you are, sometimes, you just never know that you’ll ever get there.”

Not a soul could have imagined the long and winding journey to arrange the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final on home soil against Club América (live, 8:00p.m. ET, FOX Sports 2, FOX Sports Go). Montréal entered this tournament as second favorites in Group 3 and started the knockout stage as rank outsiders to progress to the final. Those doubts stemmed from the Impact’s dismal form in MLS, but they dissipated along the way as the Impact improbably managed to march through nevertheless.

Montréal deserves considerable credit for giving itself every opportunity to mount this improbable run. The club reinforced the ranks with seasoned veterans during the close season and set up shop in Mexico for an extended training camp prior to the quarterfinal against Pachuca. Klopas used the time wisely to instill belief within the ranks and mold an effective unit. Those measures allowed the Impact to buckle down and scrape through the quarterfinals and semifinals with a commitment to organization, a reliance on Ignacio Piatti and a willingness to push forward intelligently on the counter.

“Starting this year, no one gave us a chance against Pachuca,” Montréal defender Bakary Soumaré said. “Then we go round after round. Next thing you know, you’re in Japan playing against, who knows, Barcelona, Bayern Munich. Listen, in terms of soccer, as a player that grew up in America and grew up dreaming about becoming a soccer player, this game doesn’t get any bigger than that. For us as players, for us as a club, for us as a city and for us as part of Major League Soccer and on a personal level, it is as big of an accomplishment that will ever come.”

There is still considerable work left to do to finish the job and secure that excursion to the FIFA Club World Cup later this year. Piatti’s early goal at Estadio Azteca provided the necessary foothold for the precious 1-1 draw in the first leg, but it does not supply a ton of cover here. Montreal must hold América to a scoreless draw or win the game outright to end the MLS drought in the Champions League era and lift this title for the first time after 90 minutes.

Montréal is capable of pulling off the feat or working through the extra time period required after a 1-1 draw, but the Impact must improve upon that creditable first leg performance to do so. The need for balance remains a priority, while the Impact must shore up the efforts in the defensive third to cope with the aerial threat presented by Oribe Peralta and sidestep the array of set pieces conceded in the first leg. The selection issues in goal (Kristian Nicht joined the team on Monday to presumably start in place of the suspended Evan Bush, though Klopas left his options open publicly) and right back (Victor Cabrera and Hassoun Camara are both in contention) complicate matters further.

América enters this second leg with fitness questions surrounding influential midfielder Rubens Sambueza (withdrawn with a hamstring injury in the 1-1 draw with Chivas Guadalajara on Sunday), but Las Aguilas boast the strength in depth to compensate. The quality within the ranks leaves the Impact little margin for error given the state of the tie.

 “I think they’re going to put their best players on the field that we have seen,” Klopas said. “I think the second half of the game, we gave them a lot of opportunities. We have to be better in our marking on set pieces. We gave them a lot of set pieces and we lost our marks. We definitely have to tighten things up. We have to be better with the ball. The good thing is that the opportunities we get, if we get two or three, you score then. I think that’s going to have to be the case here. And the goalie is going to have to make some big saves.”

There are a lot of boxes to tick, but the Impact have plenty of experience with these exacting standards by now. This group somehow staved off elimination at the last minute in the quarterfinals and survived an onslaught from Alajuelense in Costa Rica in the semifinals to make it this far. They need to summon those same principles one last time to complete this impossible job and take advantage of this fleeting opportunity before it passes for good.

“Like a great coach in Chicago said, this guy Mike Ditka, said, ‘The future is a mystery, the past is history, it’s what we do right now,’” Klopas said. “Right now, there’s a great moment in front of us. We have to go all in. I know the players will. We’re prepared. The guys are ready. They know what is at stake. I wish I could predict the future to tell you. All I know that my players will leave everything on the field to make the most important thing -- our fans and our city -- proud.”