‘It wasn’t good enough’
Performed well in its first campaign, but improvements are needed
An outsider would have to view the Montreal Impact’s first season in Major League Soccer as a success.
The first-year club was in playoff contention for a good part of the season; the Impact had the third-highest attendance in the 20-team league and it racked up 42 points, more than the 35 Toronto FC accumulated in its inaugural season in 2008 and more than the 28 the Vancouver Whitecaps had as a firstyear team in 2011.
But as the team held its post-mortem Wednesday at Saputo Stadium, there was a feeling that a good season could have been better.
“I’m happy because we attained our goal of being competitive in our first year, but I’m not entirely satisfied because we are not a seventh-place team,” said team president Joey Saputo. “Our objective for 2013 will be to make the playoffs.”
Saputo said the preliminary analysis of the roster has been completed and the team plans to bring back designated player Marco Di Vaio, former Italian international defender Alessandro Nesta, local hero Patrice Bernier, defender Matteo Ferrari, captain Davy Arnaud, first overall draft pick Andrew Wenger, impressive young midfielder Felipe Martins, centre back Nelson Rivas and goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
Technical director Nick De Santis said one priority during the off-season will be to add some fire power. The team is looking for a centre or outside midfielder to work with Bernier and possibly a strik- er. Saputo said the team was open to the idea of adding a second designated player.
The team has also decided to keep head coach Jesse Marsch, despite some suggestions that some of the European players weren’t entirely happy with the rookie coach’s system.
“It’s our first year in MLS and it’s Jesse’s first year as a head coach, and I think he’s handled himself very well,” De Santis said.
Marsch said he did admit there was a challenge and it went beyond the heavy Italian influence on the roster.
“It’s trying to get everyone who comes from a different walk of soccer and now trying to put it all together and forming an identity and that takes a lot of effort,” Marsch said. “Behind the scenes, communication, on the field working on things, but for the most part it came along and we blended a lot of aspects of what makes the team that we want to be.”
Marsch noted there are areas that need to be cleaned up.
“Late in games we’ve given up too many goals, set pieces we’ve given up too many goals, but we now take the things that worked for us and add to that and take the areas that were problems for us and eliminate them.”
The Impact gave up 17 goals in the final 15 minutes of games and had serious lapses on corners and free kicks.
“It’s a results-oriented business and for me, especially considering the way the season ended, it wasn’t good enough,” Marsch said.
“There’s been a lot of positives from within but, moving forward, the expectations and demands have to be much higher, and it starts with me.”
While Marsch talked about the team’s commitment, he said he was disappointed with the way the season ended.
“Once the last couple of games came, we didn’t play our best. We have to re-tool, knowing that we have a great core and push next year, knowing the expectations are much higher.”
The commitment and competitiveness dropped in the last two games and I’m not happy about that but I look at myself first.”
DiVaio had trouble getting on track, but Saputo said that the Italian star was distracted by an investigation into match-fixing in Italy. His play picked up after he was cleared of charges that he failed to report a matchfixing incident.
“The team evolved a lot in style,” said Brossard native Bernier, who was the team’s leading scorer and most valuable player. “In the beginning, we were competing but it was mostly hard work, not so creative. Once we came to Saputo Stadium we found more fluidity in our play. Possession, movement, creating a lot of chances. And the arrival of our star players, the Italians, brought a new step to the team.”
The team’s playoff hopes were boosted by a five-game winning streak in August, but a loss in Columbus on a goal in injury time and a 3-1 defeat in Chicago ended any post-season dreams.
Montreal went 0-3-2 down the stretch.
The team continues to train and will leave next week for friendly matches against Italian Serie-A teams Bologna and Fiorentino before the off-season.
“These games boost our credibility and also give us a chance to make contacts with teams that might be in a position to loan us players,” De Santis said.
Saputo said the trip to Italy was among the unexpected expenses that led to a slight loss.
He said the team hopes to break even next year even with lower season-ticket prices.
The club averaged about 23,000 fans a game, third in the league behind Seattle and Los Angeles. The team drew 58,912 fans at the Olympic Stadium for a 1-1 draw against Chicago in the home opener on March 17 and a record 60,860 fans for a 1-1 tie against David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Team vice-president Richard Legendre said the team would likely make two more visits to the Big O next season.
“We start play in March and we’ll have to go indoors for one or two games because of the weather,” he said. “But we won’t have Beckham again because the way the schedule is set up, we go to L.A. next season.”