MONTREAL — The Montreal Impact will have to improvise at the left back position with Ambroise Oyongo and Daniel Lovitz both out with knee injuries.
Right back Chris Duvall will move over to the left side for a game Saturday at Columbus, but Duvall and midfielder Marco Donadel will sit out the second leg of the hotly disputed Canadian Championship final in Toronto three days later with one-game suspensions for yellow card accumulation.
Who will play on the left side in that match is anyone's guess.
"It changes a bit for sure because everyone had his position and now we have to switch," said defender Hassoun Camara, who will take Duvall's spot on the right side. "As a professional, you have to deal with that. We'll be ready."
Oyongo's season ended two weeks ago when he tore ligaments in his right knee while playing an international match for Cameroon.
His replacement Lovitz was carried off on a stretcher with a deep knee gash a half-hour into Montreal's 1-1 first-leg draw with Toronto on Wednesday night. The former TFC player got the worst of a pileup with teammate Laurent Ciman and Toronto's Steven Beitashour on the play in which Jozy Altidore scored the tying goal.
Coach Mauro Biello hoped at first that it wasn't serious, but he said Friday that Lovitz will be out for two to three weeks.
"It's right at the joint where the knee bends," said Biello. "It'll be opening up the minute he starts to run and bend the knee, so right now they need to make sure is knee is straight, the knee heals and there's no infection.
"Once that solidifies then he'll start to run, I'd say in a week to 10 days."
The Impact were looking for help on the left side when Oyongo went down. Now the search will intensify.
"Things are happening fast here," said Biello. "We're obviously looking to bring in someone.
"At the moment, Duvall will be on the left side to try to help out the team and when the (transfer) window opens hopefully there'll be someone coming in."
Trades or international signings can only happen in the transfer window July 10 to Aug. 9.
Duvall is ready.
"I've played there before," he said. "Everyone at this level should be able to use both feet so I think I'll be fine."
He'll need to be against a hungry Columbus side. The Crew (7-9-1) are 1-4-0 in their last five games, but won the only home game in that stretch 3-0 over Seattle.
With a win, the Impact (4-4-6) can move only one point back of Columbus, which currently holds the sixth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference. Montreal has three games in hand and is unbeaten in its last four away games.
But MAPFRE Stadium has been troublesome for Montreal, with one win and two draws in eight previous visits. It was where the Crew ousted the Impact from the 2015 Conference semifinals, and it was also the scene of one of the Impact's wildest matches in six MLS campaigns.
Last season, Montreal was down 4-1 there but roared back to tie it after Crew stars Kai Kamara and Federico Huguain had a tussle on the field over which of them should take a spot kick. Kamara was traded shortly after.
The Crew got them back on May 13 at Saputo Stadium when, after the Impact erased a 2-0 deficit, Justin Meram completed a hat-trick in stoppage time to give the visitors the win.
"We're like the 1983 Edmonton Oilers — there's been a lot of exciting games for fans," Biello joked. "For a coach it's a little tough to sit through those games but we're a team that can unbalance (opponents) with the players we have and sometimes when that happens you concede other things.
"We're working on solidifying that and being able to close out games."
He also has to think ahead to the second leg of the Canadian Championship, which clearly both teams want badly to win. Both started most of their usual first 11 in the first leg and, injuries and suspensions permitting, likely will do the same again with the Voyageurs Cup on the line.
He'll have choices at other positions with the recent return from injury of striker Matteo Mancosu and midfielder Andres Romero. Midifielder Ballou Tabla returned from an ankle problem against TFC while forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who missed the game with stomach trouble, said he is fit to play.
Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press
