IMPACT RIDING HOT STREAK AS WORLD CUP FEVER HITS
Surging MLS club lets sports fans know Canadiens aren’t the only team in town
With so much focus on the Canadiens over the last couple of weeks — including the NHL draft, free agency and the surprising news on Thursday that Shea Weber had knee surgery last month — you might not be aware the Impact are on a roll.
Montreal’s Major League Soccer club has won its last three games — all by shutout — and heading into Saturday’s game at Saputo Stadium against the Colorado Rapids (7:30 p.m., TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio), the Impact are only two points out of the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 7-11-0 record.
The Impact are 4-1-0 in their last five games, with clean sheets in all four wins.
On Thursday, after the Canadiens announced Weber would be out until mid-December, I was among more than a dozen journalists who showed up in Brossard for a media scrum with Dr. David Mulder, the team’s chief physician. On Friday morning, I was one of only four people who showed up for the media availability with the Impact at Centre Nutrilait — and one of them works for the club.
It’s not easy for the Impact, living in the giant shadow of the Canadiens. However, the club is starting to give Montreal sports fans hope they might have something to cheer about that doesn’t involve sticks and pucks.
Defender Samuel Piette said Friday morning that the turning point for the Impact under new head coach Rémi Garde might have come during a recent practice.
“I think if we look back a couple of weeks ago, there was a training session where the quality was not the best and some players took responsibility to talk to other players instead of waiting for the coaches to tell us that it wasn’t good enough,” Piette said.
“Since then, I think we, the players, took more responsibilities. At the end of the day, we’re the ones playing, so we wanted to change the attitude and a couple of things. Now, we’re trying to control more what we can do instead of waiting for the coaches.”
Whatever they’ve been doing, it’s working, with the Impact outscoring the opposition 7-0 during their three-game win streak with goalkeeper Evan Bush only needing to make seven saves during that span.
During the Impact’s last defeat — a 2-0 road loss to FC Dallas on June 9 — Bush had to make six saves.
“This is not an excuse, but the first couple of games (this season) we had a lot of injuries, suspensions, red cards, whatever,” Piette said. “So we never really had always the same starting lineup. Now, our starting lineup hasn’t really changed. We’ve had the same back line for the last three, four, five games … having a little bit more stability there helps out a lot.
“Obviously, some offensive players have improved their game,” Piette added. “I think Nacho had a rough time at a certain point. Now, he’s back at 100 per cent and he’s performing well and getting us some goals, so it’s huge for us.”
Nacho is Ignacio Piatti, the Argentinian midfielder who has scored four goals in the last three games and has a team-leading nine for the season. Only six players in MLS have scored more goals.
Soccer fever is about as high as it can get in Montreal these days with the World Cup taking place in Russia and sports bars around the city packed with fans cheering on countries they or their families originally come from.
On Tuesday afternoon, I watched England beat Colombia in penalty kicks in a Round of 16 game in a large Brossard sports bar that was packed, with about 95 per cent of the fans wearing yellow Colombian jerseys. I thought my eardrums were going to explode when Colombia scored late to tie the score 1-1. That was followed by stunned silence and tears after England won the match in dreaded penalty kicks.
If you have never watched a World Cup game in a sports bar, I highly recommend it — even if you’re not a big soccer fan. Watching the passion of the fans can be even more entertaining than the game.
It will be interesting to see if World Cup fever and the Impact’s recent success can fill the stands at Saputo Stadium Saturday night.
“Soccer’s not the main sport here,” said Piette, who is from Repentigny and is a member of the Canadian national team. “We’re trying to change that. But I think there’s more interest in this sport now than before. Now, with the announcement of the World Cup in 2026 (coming to Montreal), it’s huge. I hope it will change the culture in the country.
“But it’s fine,” Piette said of being overshadowed by the Canadiens. “We just have to accept it and try to turn things around.”
The Impact have started to do just that.
At the end of the day, we’re the ones playing, so we wanted to change the attitude ...