VANCOUVER, BC – New Vancouver Whitecaps FC striker Fredy Montero won’t play in leg one of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, but he’ll “definitely be involved in the second leg” at BC Place, head coach Carl Robinson confirmed on Sunday.
Montero, whose last game action came in October, has only trained twice since joining the team late last week. While it may have been tempting to throw him into action considering the magnitude of Wednesday’s match, Robinson is looking at the big picture.
“He’ll spend a couple of days here,” Robinson said of Montero, who will continue to work up his fitness in Vancouver. “For one game, I won’t rush him.”
Robinson also confirmed that he’ll be without the services of attacking midfielders Christian Bolaños (knee), who has yet to train fully this preseason, Nicolas Mezquida (hip), and Yordy Reyna (foot) on Wednesday night at Red Bull Arena.
“Obviously we’ve got a few injuries in there but we’ll put the best team out to try and win that series over two legs,” Robinson said.
“It’s the first time in history our club has been this far in this tournament and we want to try and take advantage of it. But it’s going to be a very tough game. We know that. It will probably come down to a little bit of a fitness at the end of the game, so hopefully we’ll be right on.”
Kickoff for Wednesday's match is set for 5 p.m. PT at Red Bull Arena (watch live on the CONCACAF Facebook Page). Whitecaps FC will then host the decisive second leg on Thursday, March 2 (7 p.m. PT at BC Place – get your tickets today).
