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MONTREAL -- While the Montreal Impact practiced ahead of a key match in the MLS playoff race, scoring leader Marco Di Vaio pedalled a stationary bike on the sidelines. Midfielders Patrice Bernier and Justin Mapp and forward Daniele Paponi also werent on the field Thursday due to minor injuries. Some of them, maybe even all of them, will be ready when the Impact play host to the New England Revolution on Saturday afternoon, but how much they can play might only be determined on the day of the game. "Right now I cant say," said coach Marco Schallibaum. "But we have a couple of days. "The good news is that Alessandro (Nesta) can play. As for Marco, Patrice and Justin, well know after practice (on Friday), but Im confident to have at least two out of three of them. But even if we dont have this player or that player I think we have enough talent to win the match." The club will also be without its two workhorse fullbacks. Jeb Brovsky, who has played all 30 games this season, is expected to miss the next three with a broken toe, while Hassoun Camara will serve a one-game suspension for accumulating five yellow cards. Schallibaum hopes Brovsky can return for the final regular-season game Oct. 26 in Toronto and be ready for the playoffs. On the plus side, Nesta is due to return after missing two games with a groin problem, and midfielder Hernan Bernardello is also back after missing more than a month with a sprained ankle. Di Vaio, who leads MLS with 19 goals, had to leave a 1-0 loss in Houston on Friday night, but hopes to be ready to face the Revolution. "It started in the warmup," the 37-year-old said. "I played because I wanted to help the team, but it was difficult and I wasnt able to continue. "But I did the physiotherapy and now I feel a lot better and Im confident I can play Saturday." Bernier sat out for the first time this season in Houston with a hip problem, but he is also looking to play. "I feel good," he said. "Im training to be ready. "I didnt play last Friday so that I would be able to play this game. Whether I come off the bench or Im (starting), I dont know. Its not my decision. But my main goal is to at least be ready mentally and physically." Bernier took the field near the end of the practice to kick the ball with for a few minutes with his teammates, but Mapp only ran laps. The injuries have the club limping into a match that could have big playoff implications. The Impact (13-10-7) are fourth in the Eastern conference with 46 points, seven points behind New York, six behind Kansas City and two behind Houston, but with two games in hand on all three rivals. But they are only one point ahead of Philadelphia and three ahead of sixth-place Chicago. The three points for a win wouldnt clinch anything, but it would put them ahead of Houston and keep their pursuers at bay. They travel to Los Angeles on Wednesday, then return home to face Philadelphia on Oct. 19. In MLS, the top three teams in each conference go directly to the conference semifinals, while the fourth and fifth-place teams face each other for the right to face the first-place team. With Brovsky out, Maxim Tissot is expected to start at left back. Captain Davy Arnaud, normally a midfielder, will likely fill in for Camara on the right side. Arnaud played some right back last season. Central defender Nelson Rivas, who has yet to play this season due to a knee injury, has finally resumed practising with the team, but is not expected to suit up. Arnaud was in the spotlight this week after the Nederland, Texas, native gave his first television interview in French. He did well, too. The 33-year-old has been studying the language since joining the Impact last season. Arnauds ancestors spoke the Cajun French of Louisiana, but he said his great-grandmother was the last in the family to speak it. Fake Jerseys . 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Fake Adidas Jerseys . The thinking at the time was Clowney could have already been promised he would be selected first overall by the Houston Texans, therefore negating any need to meet with any other teams. The plot took another twist this week.PITTSBURGH -- Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story in baseball to become something more than a novelty act. Liriano tossed seven dominant innings and the Pirates roared past Cincinnati 6-2 in the NL wild-card game Tuesday night then headed to St. Louis for the NL division series beginning Thursday. A.J. Burnett will start for the Pirates in Game 1 against Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. "He had the expectancy to win," Pittsburgh centerfielder Andrew McCutchen said. "When he showed up with his suit on, that got me hyped up." St. Louis likely wont face Liriano until Game 3 at the earliest, though Lirianos teammates believe his performance set the tone for what they hope is an extended October stay. In front of a black-clad crowd savoring its first post-season game since 1992, Russell Martin hit two home runs, Marlon Byrd also connected and McCutchen reached base four times. "Were for real," McCutchen said. "Were definitely for real." You wont hear the Reds arguing after Liriano continued his mid-career renaissance. The left-hander scattered four hits, struck out five and walked one to win his first playoff game and serve notice the Pirates have no intention of going quietly after spending two decades at the bottom of the standings. "We didnt talk about one and done, we talked about one and run," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Win one and run to St. Louis." Cincinnati starter Johnny Cueto struggled in his third start since coming off the disabled list last month. Cueto gave up four runs in 3 1-3 innings and appeared rattled by a raucous ballpark that taunted him by chanting his name. "He couldnt get the ball where he wanted," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "Usually he can throw that ball through the eye of a needle. Tonight he was up." The 36-year-old Byrd, acquired by the Pirates in late August from the New York Mets, celebrated the first post-season at-bat of his 12-year career -- 1,250 games -- by sending Cuetos fastball into the seats to give the Pirates the lead in the second inning. The shot sent another jolt through an already electric crowd, which began singing "Cue-to, Cue-to" in unison when Martin stepped in. "This is 20 years of waiting. Youre seeing it all come out in one night," Martin said. "Hopefully we can keep this atmosphere till late October." The catcher followed with a drive into the bleachers in left field. The Reds never recovered, ending a 90-win season with a six-game losing streak. Three of those losses came at home against the Pirates in the final series of the season that determined the site of the win-or-die game. "Its unfortunately been a bit like deja vu," first baseman Joey Votto said. "Really disappointing." Baker backed Cueto before the game, saying his ace "thrives on this environment." Maybe, but the right-hander never looked comfortable at a place where he has been nearly unhittable. Cueto, who came in 8-2 at the ballpark by the Allegheny River, even lost his grip on the ball while standing on the mound as the crowd serenaded him. A moment later, he lost his grip on the game. Martins 405-foot shot to left-centre gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead and all the momentum Liriano would require. Signed on the cheap in the off-season after a mediocre 2012 split between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox, Liriano has been reborn in Pittsbburgh.dddddddddddd He went 16-8 with a 3.02 ERA during the regular season, his devastating slider nearly unhittable against left-handers. The Reds proved no match. Votto went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Jay Bruce produced an RBI single in the fourth but Cincinnati never really threatened on a night baseball officially returned to Pittsburgh. "Its definitely a good feeling," Martin said, "but weve still got work to do." Shin-Soo Choo homered in the eighth, a drive to right field that was upheld by video review. It did little more than slightly delay a party 7,660 days in the making. Pittsburghs 94-win regular season reignited a relationship sullied by years of mismanagement and miserable play. When the gates opened two hours before the first pitch, fans -- most of them dressed in black at the urging of McCutchen, an MVP candidate -- sprinted to their seats in anticipation of the clubs first post-season game since Atlantas Sid Bream slid into home ahead of Barry Bonds throw in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the 1992 National League championship series. The victory sent the Braves to the World Series and the Pirates into an abyss that took an entire generation to escape. The first step came with victory No. 82 on Sept. 9. The next came two weeks later when a win over the Chicago Cubs assured a wild-card spot. The most thrilling yet lifted the team with the 26th-highest payroll in the majors ($73.6 million) into a showdown with baseball royalty. The Reds, meanwhile, head into an off-season that could be eventful. Baker has led Cincinnati to the playoffs in three of the last four years but the Reds failed to advance each time. They fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games -- after leading 2-0 -- in the division series in 2012 and were swept in the same round by Philadelphia in 2010. This time, they didnt even make it that far. Cincinnati spent most of the season as the third team in a three-way race with the Pirates and the Cardinals for the NL Central title. Theyll end the year as the first one heading home. "Its very difficult to come down to one game, especially the way we played," Baker said. "We got outplayed big time." Cueto, who made three different trips to the disabled list this season with a strained lat, was pressed into service when projected starter Mat Latos discovered bone chips in his right (throwing) elbow. On the surface, it seemed like an upgrade. It wasnt. The Pirates made it 3-0 on sacrifice fly in the third by Pedro Alvarez and Cueto was pulled when Starling Marte doubled with one out in the fourth. Marte sprinted home on local boy Neil Walkers double off reliever Sean Marshall and Walker scored on a fielders choice by Byrd to make it 5-1. When Martin hit a drive to left off Logan Ondrusek in the seventh, the party seemingly unthinkable for a team that lost 105 games in 2010 began. Martins long ball marked only the second multihomer playoff game in team history. Bob Robertson hit three in Game 2 of the 1971 NLCS. NOTES: Martin is the first catcher to homer for three different teams in the post-season. He previously connected for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 and the New York Yankees in 2012 ... Liriano is the first Pittsburgh left-hander to win a playoff game since John Candelaria in Game 3 of the 1979 World Series ... The Reds have lost four straight playoff games and 11 of their last 13 ... Pittsburgh is the first home team to win since the new wild-card format was introduced last season ... The Pirates went 10-9 this year against St. Louis. ... Byrd is the oldest player to homer in his first post-season at-bat, according to STATS. ' ' '