3215_dukadilly_isi_mlsack091314106 Andrew Katsampes/isiphotos.com
CONCACAF Champions League

Duka, Mapp, Montreal Look to Defeat Pachuca

Two of the Impact's key players talk to American Soccer Now about Tuesday night's vital home game against the Mexican powerhouse in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League battle.
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
March 02, 2015
4:51 PM
COULD THE MONTREAL IMPACT pull off the first big shock of the 2015 North American soccer season?

Last week, the squad went to Mexico as the heavy underdog against Pachuca in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League. The team walked away with a 2-2 draw, setting up an unexpectedly huge game Tuesday night(8pm; Fox SPorts 2) in Montreal.

The Impact could be in an better position after New Jersey native Dilly Duka staked his club to a two-goal lead, but Pachuca rallied in the second half to tie the fixture.

“I don’t know if we lost momentum,” Justin Mapp said. “We knew that in the latter stages they were going to push since we were up. With form, fitness, and lack of games on our end, we knew the end of the game was going to be tough. They fought their way back. In the end we were happy with the result but we felt that we could have gotten out of there with a lead going into the second leg. So there are kind of mixed feelings but we’ve put that behind us and treating like it is 0-0 with a winner take all.”

Duka, 25, knew that the game was going to be an uphill climb from the start given that Montreal was still in preseason and Pachuca is already eight games into the Liga MX Clasura. The difference in form was point of emphasis heading into the first leg.

“We knew that going in and we talked about it,” the forward said. “We knew going in that we were not going to be up to Pachuca’s fitness so we just put a huge emphasis on defending and sitting in. It worked well as we went up 2-0. As the game went on, our legs started getting tired and they caught up.”

“It is huge disadvantage for MLS teams in this competition just because of our offseason taking place during the quarterfinals. I am sure if it is vice-versa, MLS teams would have a better record.”

Despite the lack of fitness, the team enters Tuesday night's game with an advantage due to its two away goals. Montreal will advance with a win or a 0-0 or 1-1 draw. There is also tremendous buzz in the city for the game as over 30,000 tickets have been sold for the Olympic Stadium so Montreal should have a passionate home-field advantage.

Even with a draw potentially all that Montreal needs, Mapp is adamant that the Impact will need to be aggressive from the start and look to take the opening goal to take any talk of momentum away from Pachuca.

“You can’t really sit back and look for a tie,” Mapp said. “If it is late in the game and we are in a position where it is 0-0 or 1-1, maybe that is in the back of our mind and we adjust accordingly knowing that will get us through. But you definitely can’t sit back for 90 minutes—especially against a team like that. At first we are going to have to be aggressive.”

It's surprising that Montreal, a team that finished with an MLS-worst 28 points in 2014, is still in contention for the continental championship.

“Anytime you’re representing MLS outside of league play, you want to do well not just for your team and city but for the league,” Mapp said. “We feel that we can hold the banner for the league and take this thing as far as possible. Most people would view it as an upset given how poor of a season we had last year. But the team is very different this year. We don’t look at is as an upset because we know the quality of the players we brought in and what we are capable of.”

Tuesday’s game will be the first for Duka at Olympic Stadium, and he considers this series to be the two biggest games he has played.

“Pachuca is a well-known team in this part of the world,” Duka said. “For me personally, I am not thinking about past games between MLS and Mexican teams. We’re just looking at it like we want to go far in this tournament and this Mexican team is basically standing in our way.”

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