Montreal Impact Kick Off Preseason With A Win

The Montreal Impact kicked off their pre-season schedule with a win Sunday afternoon in Florida. The Impact are in Florida for the Disney Soccer Classic as they get ready for their 2014 season.

Head coach Frank Klopas used two completely different lineups for either half in the 2-1 win against Orlando City SC. The Impact rode two second half goals by newcomer Santiago Gonzalez in the 56th minute and Andres Romero 10 minutes later. Maxime Crepeau played the entire game for the Impact in goal. Romero’s goal came shortly after Orlando tied the game.

Gonzalez’s goal came in his debut just days after joining the Impact. He played forward with Marco Di Vaio who set him up for his goal and if that is a sign of things to come, it would be a welcome sight for the Impact. Last year, a lot of criticism came because the team depended too much on the Italian veteran to lead their offence. The hope is that the youngster will help the Impact get on the scoresheet.

Klopas started the game in a 4-5-1 arrangement with Andrew Wenger playing forward. In the second half he went to a 4-4-2 with Di Vaio and Gonzalez playing forward. It would seem to be the way he will start the season as he tries to create some chemistry between scorers old and young.

“Playing a game like this to get things started is good because we get to shake out all the cobwebs,” said defender Karl Ouimette on the Impact’s website. “The second half was a little better and we need to use games like this to get back into the rhythm. Now we continue to work.”

The Impact will play their next game on Wednesday at 8 p.m. against Fluminense U23 FC in the Disney Soccer Classic where the Impact are set to defend their title from a year ago. The game will be streamed live on impactmontreal.com and MLSsoccer.com.