Encouraging signs for team: Jack Todd
Despite 2- 2 draw against Orlando City, team showed signs of dominance
The Impact played a terrific 89 minutes of soccer in the gloomy confines of the Big O Saturday afternoon.
But the one minute when they were caught running around the box like commuters trying to grab the last seat on the métro? That one hurt. The superbly gifted Kaka — the Brazilian who won the Golden Ball Award as the best player on the planet as recently as 2007, when he played for AC Milan — was kept bottled up by the Impact through the first 20 minutes and most of the second half. But in a one- minute sequence midway through the first half, Kaka flashed gifts the average Major League Soccer player can only dream of while leading his Orlando City team to a 2- 2 draw.
“I don’t feel like we won a point today,” former Impact captain Patrice Bernier said afterward. “I feel like we gave two points away.”
Perhaps. But the Impact also showed more sizzle in this one match than last year’s version produced in an entire season. Except for a stretch in the first half when the team sagged back too far and gave Kaka and his Brazilian running mate, Pedro Ribeiro, room to run, the Impact had the better of the ball and was the dominant team on the day.
OK, that and $ 5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but it was an encouraging performance, especially so because with lanky striker Cameron Porter hobbling around the venue on crutches, it was a chance for Jack McInerney to show why the Impact traded for him in the first place.
McInerney did not disappoint. After Ignacio Piatti put the Impact up 1- 0 with a penalty kick following a hand ball in the 14th minute, McInerney gathered in a long ball from Bakary Soumaré and scored with a deft chip over towering Orlando City keeper Donovan Ricketts to give the Impact a short- lived 2- 0 lead.
With the Ultras rocking and a crowd of 25,245 almost enough to make the Olympic Stadium seem warm and human, it appeared the Impact was on its way to a thorough thrashing of the visitors.
It wasn’t to be. Kaka wandered into the box and, as he was being dragged down, managed to dish the ball to Ribeiro for the first Orlando goal and then scored himself a minute later to even the match while dazed Impact defenders were left to curse the soccer gods.
The result might have been different had newly acquired central defender Laurent Ciman not been away playing for his native Belgium in Euro qualifying, but both clubs were missing players on loan elsewhere. ( Belgium, incidentally, romped over Cyprus 5- 0.)
It was still a far more exhilarating performance than last season’s home opener, one of the dullest contests I’ve ever witnessed in any sport. It’s far too early to say how the Impact will fare in MLS following the early successes in the CONCACAF Champions League — but at the very least, this team will be more exciting.
With a bit of luck, the Impact could easily have scored at least two more goals against Orlando. McInerney also tried a hard bicycle kick in the 71st minute that was stopped, and the speedy, blue- and- black mohawked Dominic Oduro was a thorn in Orlando’s side all afternoon and should have won a penalty after he was hauled down in the box.
The only disappointment was that we didn’t get a look at Romario Williams, the club’s other dynamic young striker ( with Porter) who didn’t get the widely expected turn as a substitute.
Still, this is a different bunch from 2014 and the feel is very different. Bernier, the local favourite who may have drawn the biggest hand of the day when he came on as a second- half substitute in place of newly minted captain Nigel Reo- Coker, said the attitude is upbeat.
“There’s good solidarity, good team spirit,” Bernier said. “Maybe the Champions League results helped a bit. Everyone understands that you have to work for the prize if you want to get a good result. We have 12 new guys. I’ve never seen a team with so many new guys, but so far the feeling is very good.”
Despite the early Champions League success that was the best possible kickoff to the season, Bernier said the team doesn’t want to rest on its laurels after the dazzling, Porter- led comeback to oust the Mexican side and the 2- 0 win over Costa Rica’s Alajuelense in the first leg of its CONCACAF Champions League semifinal.
“The job’s not done,” Bernier said, looking ahead at the second leg against Alajuelense in Costa Rica on April 7. “We want to go as far as we possibly can.”
No matter what happens in Costa Rica, the Impact has already gone some distance toward reassuring fans and reigniting a passion for the team. But this has to be a multi- level effort, and the team’s media relations ( and by extension, its relations with the wider community) leave something to be desired.
Veteran reporters and photographers who regularly cover the Impact complain it is one of the tougher beats in town, with players made available one at a time in massive scrums, with practices closed and with post- game access to the coach ( as we saw after Saturday’s match) limited to a few quick questions.
That approach might work for Chelsea or Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris St. Germain — but Joey Saputo and his people are trying to sell the game in a chancy market. I love the game and I very much want to see it work here, but to accomplish that, the Impact has to try to be as user- friendly as possible. In that department, there is still work to be done.
Ultimately, of course, it’s about winning and playing exciting soccer on the pitch. In that sense, the 2015 Impact is already about a parsec ahead of the 2014 version and the season has barely begun.