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Montreal Impact: 2020 Preview – Canadian Champions again?

By Matt Coles

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 18: Montreal Impact midfielder Saphir Taider (8) celebrates Montreal Impact midfielder Ignacio Piatti (10) goal during the Toronto FC versus the Montreal Impact game on September 18, 2019, at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 18: Montreal Impact midfielder Saphir Taider (8) celebrates Montreal Impact midfielder Ignacio Piatti (10) goal during the Toronto FC versus the Montreal Impact game on September 18, 2019, at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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MONTREAL, QC – SEPTEMBER 18: Montreal Impact midfielder Saphir Taider (8) celebrates Montreal Impact midfielder Ignacio Piatti (10) goal during the Toronto FC versus the Montreal Impact game on September 18, 2019, at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

With less than a month to go until the start of the 2020 MLS campaign, we are taking a look at how each team has evolved since last year, and their chances this term. This time, we look at the Montreal Impact.

Once again, the Montreal Impact missed out on the playoffs in 2019, and it was the third successive season that they failed to make it to the post-season, and the fifth time in the last eight years that they have finished below the red line come to the end of the regular season.

Montreal did have some success though, as they took the Canadian Championship crown for a fourth time, after beating Toronto FC in the final, earning a berth in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.

Related Story. Montreal Impact - Best-rated Starting XI of 2019. light

Here is how things are shaping up for the Montreal Impact ahead of the 2020 season.

MONTREAL, QC – SEPTEMBER 29: Montreal Impact midfielder Saphir Taider (8) runs in control of the ball during the Atlanta United versus the Montreal Impact game on September 29, 2019, at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC – SEPTEMBER 29: Montreal Impact midfielder Saphir Taider (8) runs in control of the ball during the Atlanta United versus the Montreal Impact game on September 29, 2019, at Stade Saputo in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Best Performers

Only one of the side’s best XI for the 2019 campaign, which was one of the only sides in the league to include a back five, was able to average 7/10. Saphir Taider scraped over that mark with a 7.05/10 rating for the term, as he scored nine goals and added seven assists in his 32 appearances in the regular-season.

The club’s best defender only managed an average rating of 6.84, and that was Frenchman Bacary Sagna, the former Manchester City and Arsenal full-back. The other four defenders, in Victor Cabrera, Zakaria Diallo, Rudy Camacho and Daniel Lovitz, all averaged at least 6.65, in what was, rating-wise, a solid defensive line, but they conceded 60 goals across the league campaign.

Montreal’s best front two last year were Maxi Urruti and Orji Okwonkwo. The Argentinian only managed to score four times over the course of the 2019 term, but he did tally six assists as well. Meanwhile, Okwonkwo spent the season on loan from Bologna and stood out with eight goals in 28 appearances, second only behind Taider.

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