Another round of Major League Soccer action comes to Montreal this weekend as the Montreal Impact welcome Seattle Sounders FC in a game that both teams will not want to drop points in. The Impact and the Sounders both lost their openers and will not want to move even further back from the top of their conferences with another loss.

Hassoun Camara will be unavailable due to suspension for the Impact | Source:
Hassoun Camara will be unavailable due to suspension for the Impact | Source: impactmontreal.com

The Impact will want a first home win to jump-start their season

After traveling to the west coast and drawing a blank in a loss to the San Jose Earthquakes, the Impact will want to give their fans a rousing home win in the home opener of 2017. The Impact was unimpressive last week and head coach Mauro Biello will want a better performance from his charges this weekend, even if they will be without the services of French defender Hassoun Camara for this match up.

The front three of the Impact will also want to perform better as they were unable to help their team register a single shot on target against the Earthquakes, and for someone of Ignacio Piatti's quality, that should not be the case. Piatti ended up on the 2016 MLS All-Star team after finishing last season with 17 goals and six assists, helping the Impact reach the semi-final stage of the MLS Playoffs. If anyone can win games for the Impact, it will be the 32-years-old.

Clint Dempsey's return will boost the Sounders chances | Source: soundersfc.com
Clint Dempsey's return will boost the Sounders chances | Source: soundersfc.com

The reigning champions want to do better this time around

The Seattle Sounders were also not at their best against the Houston Dynamo last weekend in their 2-1 loss and the number of turnovers in dangerous positions was an example of that. Head coach Brian Schmetzer knows that if they want to win in Montreal, those types of turnovers will not be acceptable.

The key story about this matchup, however, will be the performance of Harry Shipp, should the midfielder see any minutes against his former team. Shipp did not settle well in Quebec and after his trade to Seattle spoke out about his time there in a manner that was not well-received by the Impact fans. Shipp, on his day, is one of the more dangerous players in the MLS and should he be slotted to start with the likes of Nicolás LodeiroClint Dempsey, and Jordan Morris, Shipp could finally show the form he exhibited in Chicago during his rookie season.

Prediction

If the Impact look to the Houston game as a way to defeat the Sounders, then they will play on the counter and look to capitalize on any errors by the Sounders midfield, however, as they are at home, the Impact could look to control the game and use the turf at the Montreal Olympic Stadium to their advantage. As previously noted, Piatti's form will be key and if Dominic Oduro can also bounce back from last week's performance, the Impact will trouble Seattle. The Sounders will look to their offense to seal the three points and they should as the quality in that attack is one that most MLS teams would envy. Dempsey's goal-scoring return will also help the Sounders coaching staff feel that their attack can find a way to score enough goals to hand them their first win of the season.

Montreal Impact 1, Seattle Sounders FC 2

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