Harry Novillo to travel with Montreal Impact for NYCFC game

Harry Novillo will be traveling with the rest of his Montreal Impact teammates for Saturday’s game against New York City FC. Novillo had lost his passportbefore the team left for Kansas City and did not play in last weekend’s 7-1 loss.

Head coach Remi Garde said that the process of applying sanctions are still ongoing within the club. However, Garde mentioned that the team may not divulge publicly what Novillo’s sanctions will be. 

“I think the situation [is] clear now inside the group and if we decided to tell you what kind of sanctions Harry had, we will tell you but maybe not,” Garde said. 

With the necessary paperwork in hand, Novillo is “one of the candidates” to take over the left wing in replacement of Ignacio Piatti according to Garde. The Argentine will miss a second straight game after suffering an injury during the Impact’s 3-1 win to Orlando City SC. 

Piette: Yankee Stadium will be “a battlefield”

After suffering the worst loss in franchise history, the Impact will travel to play NYCFC in Yankee Stadium, one of the most peculiar places to play in MLS.

“I think the first thing is the size, it’s really small,” Samuel Piette said. “We’re a team that wants to play out of the back and want to play with the ball and it’s harder on a pitch like that. I think it’s going to be a battlefield and it’s up to us to put our effort and win our duels.”

Despite the obstacles, Piette said playing on NYCFC’s home pitch “comes at the right moment” for the team’s current situation.

“After a game like [Kansas City], you need to double your effort, you need to be more physical, more intense,” Piette said. “Yes there will be technical errors because of the pitch, but it’s about putting your body on the line and giving your all for 90 minutes.”

Garde and his coaching staff have been doing drills without using the full width of the team’s training pitches. 

“Yes there are players that haven’t played there before, but I think that the staff and also the players have warned each other of what will happen on Saturday,” Piette said. “I think that everyone is ready and it’s more on the physical level and in terms of effort.” 

Piatti may miss next two games

All signs point to Piatti missing the remainder of the Impact’s season-opening road trip. Confirmed to miss Saturday’s NYCFC matchup, Garde remained doubtful that Piatti would travel for Tueday’s game at DC United.

“On the day-to-day, Nacho is better, but it’s not enough for him to train with us,” Garde said “We have our fingers crossed, but I think that even for Tuesday’s game we won’t have Nacho.”

Ken Krolicki is inching toward a return to full training. The former Michigan State midfielder suffered a dislocated elbow during the preseason. 

“It’s going very well for the moment. Ken has a strong mental toughness,” Garde said. “He needs to meet with his surgeon shortly to get the green light to rejoin the group. I think that right now, it’s a matter of a week or 10 days.”

Midfielder Mathieu Choniere picked up an injury during the warm-ups of last week’s game at Sporting Kansas City. The club is still monitoring the 20-year-old’s injury. 

“He felt a muscular pain and since he is a young player that doesn’t know himself well, he hesitated between muscular fatigue and pain,” Garde said. “We dealt with that, he is on the road to recovery, but if it’s muscular, we need to be careful because they don’t really know the gravity of what they feel.”