Impact shuffles its roster
Trades Wahl to Colorado Rapids
The Impact continues to make changes to its roster as it enters a crucial point in its first season in Major League Soccer.
The club dealt American defender Tyson Wahl to the Colorado Rapids Friday morning in exchange for an international roster spot in 2014.
Wahl, who started 11 of the 20 games Montreal has played this season, was shipped out on the eve of an important meeting with the Union in Philadelphia on Saturday (7 p.m., TVA Sports).
It’s the first of six consecutive games against Eastern Conference opponents, which will weigh heavily in terms of the Impact making the MLS playoffs.
The transaction came on the heels of two roster moves made Wednesday when forward Justin Braun was sent to Real Salt Lake for a conditional pick in 2014 while the club signed 21-year-old Swiss defender Dennis Iapichino, who made the trip to Philadelphia and could see action Saturday.
Dating to the July 5 signing of Italian Serie A veteran defender Alessandro Nesta, the club has made six roster moves, including loaning U.S. midfielder Bryan Arguez to FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League and trading American defender Bobby Burling to Chivas USA for an international transfer spot in 2013.
Burling had refused to join the club after he was taken by Montreal in the MLS Expansion Draft in November after he was left unprotected by the San Jose Earthquakes.
Wahl apparently became expendable with Iapichino’s arrival from FC Basel of the Swiss first division. He attended a tryout with the Impact here in June.
Head coach Jesse Marsch answered “Yes and no,” when asked if Wahl’s departure was related to the addition of Iapichino.
“We like our group. We do. I like our group,” Marsch said. “You’re always trying to figure out ways to keep the group moving forward and find ways to add to it and then also, in the end for Tyson, I think it was something where he felt maybe it was time to move on as well.
“We worked through this carefully and it’s never easy,” Marsch continued. “I think Tyson was great to have here. The same with Justin Braun. But in the end, for both parties, the situation didn’t seem right.
“(Tyson) didn’t ask for a trade, but once we started talking to him about different areas I think he understood that logically it made sense.”
Marsch spoke with players before practice Friday, reminding them that the recent run of personnel changes were key to improving the club.
“I told them we like the group and that even though we’re making some changes, we don’t want to breed insecurity within the team,” he said. “We try to communicate with guys with where they stand, what things look like, that we like our group, that the guys have come together in a good way and that there’s really good camaraderie even in some tough moments this season.
“Any time you have a team you’re trying to figure out things. How to get better, that’s personnel-wise, but also on the field and what we’re doing every day,” Marsch said. “Certainly we’re not looking to dismantle anything. We feel good about a lot of pieces here.”
The Impact is coming off an impressive 2-1 comeback home-field victory over the Columbus Crew Sunday where the team was without starting mid-fielders Felipe and team captain Davy Arnaud. Both were serving a one-game suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
The duo will be back in the lineup against Philly, which is in ninth place at 16-5-9 and trails the 6-11-3 Impact by four points in the conference standings (21-17).
While the Impact has lost three of its last five games, the Union has won three of its last five.
Montreal returns to face the sixth-place New England Revolution at Saputo Stadium, 8 p.m. Wednesday, and then it’s off to Houston to face the fifth-place Dynamo next Saturday.
“This (coming) week is extremely important and especially coming off our last result,” Arnaud said. “If we can go on a little bit of run here and have a good week against teams that we’re battling for a playoff spot, it can really do a lot for us in terms of where we’re at in the table.
“These are kind of games you prefer to being, against the teams right around you,” Arnaud said. “It can directly affect their results as well at the end of the day. That’s what we want. We’re hoping to have a good week.”