Today at 2:30 PM, FC Tampa Bay travels to its first road game of the year ahead of the MLS-bound Montreal Impact. Montreal, in the midst of their traditional slow start, has lost its first two games (one of them against this same FCTB squad) ahead of today's home opener.
Montreal looks to garner its first win of their 18th season as they return to Saputo Stadium, ahead of an expected sellout crowd of 13,000+. Goalie Bill Gaudette looks to steady himself after a shaky opening to the season, allowing a late goal in the first game against Tampa Bay, and allowing two quick goals last week against the Carolina Railhawks.
FC Tampa Bay, suffering from a series of misfires in front of goal last week against the Puerto Rico Islanders, looks to right the ship and form a cohesive attack. Outshooting the Islanders 23-10 but unable to break through for a goal, FCTB gets a boost in the spine of its defense with the season debut of former Minnesota captain Andres Arrango. Arrango, having finished his two game suspension for receiving a red card in the final game of last year's campaign, will look to provide stability in a defensive line that suffered from two critical mistakes last week.
Arrango, however, will be tested at the outset by Montreal forward Ali Gerba. Gerba was largely shut down last week by Carolina and was contained by Tampa Bay two weeks ago, but remains lethal if given a clean look at net.
Today's game at Saputo Stadium begins at 2:30 PM and is available via live video streaming from FC Tampa Bay's website. FCTB's next game will be a return to Al Lang Stadium next Saturday against the Atlanta Silverbacks.