Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - The Philadelphia Union enter this weekend's
action as one of Major League Soccer's hottest teams, and they will look to
continue that roll Saturday when it heads to the Stade Saputo to face the
Montreal Impact.
Philadelphia was floundering in the Eastern Conference, sitting second from
bottom for much of the season.
But the turning point came when Peter Nowak was relieved of his head coaching
duties, allowing for interim manager John Hackworth to pick up the pieces.
The Union have won four of their last five league games, three of which have
come against Eastern Conference adversaries.
In their most recent outing, the Union came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory
over the New England Revolution thanks to a 90th-minute winner from Jack
McInerney. It was the third time in the Hackworth era that Philadelphia has
earned three points from a game in which the game-winning goal came in the
90th minute or later.
"Proves our team has fight. It's going to be a fight the rest of the season.
Those are the kind of games we need to win," said defender Sheanon Williams.
"Those are games maybe in the beginning of the season that maybe didn't go our
way and now are starting to fall our way. So we'll take all the points we can
get right now."
Philadelphia enters Saturday's clash trailing Montreal in the Eastern
Conference table by four points, a misleading position given the fact that the
Union hold five games in hand.
But things could be starting to come together for Montreal, which defeated Red
Bull New York 3-1 last time out for its third consecutive home victory.
Italian striker Marco Di Vaio opened his MLS scoring account in the win while
his defensive compatriot, Alessandro Nesta, made his highly-publicized debut.
"Everything that you see in him is that he is real," Impact head coach Jesse
Marsch said of Nesta. "The way he sees plays to the way he talks to his
teammates. His leadership and the knowledge of what it takes to win will help
this team. He showed as the game went on that he was getting stronger."
Saturday's tilt is the second meeting of the two clubs this season.
Philadelphia won the first contest on July 14 by a score of 2-1 with all three
goals coming in the final eight minutes.
The Sports Network