Next up we see San Jose Earthquakes who host Montreal Impact on the opening weekend of the 2019 MLS season. Earthquakes come into this fresh off the back of a decent pre-season and the appointment of new head coach, Matias Almeyda. Montreal will be looking to kick on and move into the play-offs this season after a very decent second half of the 2018 campaign.
Last season saw yet more disappointment for San Jose as they finished rock bottom of not only the Western Conference, but the MLS overall. They finished seven points below the next lowest team in the league. On the other hand, Montreal started the season relatively poor but they regained a bit of form and finished seventh in the East – four points away from a spot in the MLS play-offs.
MLS is back!
These two sides did face off against each other once last season in a game that saw Montreal Impact come away 2-0 victors. In total, they’ve clashed seven times over the years in MLS with Impact winning four of them, San Jose winning two and just the one draw.
As I mentioned earlier, San Jose are coming into this game on the back of a pretty decent pre-season campaign which saw them beat LAFC 3-0, Draw 2-2 with Seattle and lose 3-0 to Reno. Montreal’s pre-season was perhaps even more impressive as they remained unbeaten throughout the five games they played. They picked up wins against Nashville, Philadelphia Union and DC United before drawing with FC Cincinnati and Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Not much in the way of team news from the San Jose camp as they come into this one with a fully fit squad. Meanwhile, Montreal Impact will be without Ken Krosicki who is recovering from a dislocated elbow and Jason Beautieu who has a cist on his knee.
Prediction: Should be an interesting matchup but for me, Montreal look the stronger side. I’m going to say 2-0 to the visitors in this one.
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