New-look Impact Aims to win over fans
Change was warranted after team finished 11-17-6 last season, but turnover was drastic
How many players can you name on the new-look roster for the Impact?
That’s a good question to ask the average Montreal sports fan, and the response could be a concern for the Impact after an off-season that saw the departure of head coach Mauro Biello, captain Patrice Bernier and Ballou Tabla — three homegrown talents — along with fan favourites Laurent Ciman, Hassoun Camara, Ambroise Oyongo, Hernan Bernardello and designatedplayer Blerim Dzemaili.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush, the longest-serving player on the Impact, dating to 2011 — the year before the club joined Major League Soccer — was asked Thursday morning whether the team has lost some of its connection with the fan base.
“Maybe,” Bush said at the team’s Centre Nutrilait training facility before heading to Olympic Stadium for practice. “That’s for the marketing department and the media guys to worry about. It’s not something that we can worry about. Our job is to put a good product on the field and try to win games and whatever way that might happen, so be it. I think the fans will be a little bit more excited if we’re winning games as opposed to having guys around that they’ve gotten to know. Of course, if you win games then the new guys become faces of the franchise. From our standpoint, that’s what we’re worried about and hopefully we’re building a foundation right now to build toward that.”
Some changes were definitely needed after the Impact (11-176) failed to qualify for the MLS playoffs last season, one year after advancing to the Eastern Conference final.
Under new head coach Rémi Garde, the Impact are back training in Montreal for a week after spending eight days in Miami. On Wednesday, the Impact will leave for Las Vegas to continue preparations for their MLS season opener March 4 in Vancouver.
The Impact roster still includes some familiar faces, such as Ignacio Piatti, Matteo Mancosu, Dominic Oduro, Victor Cabrera and Marco Donadel, but have lost much of their local content and the star power they once had in designated-player Didier Drogba. The Impact brought in Algerian midfielder Saphir Taïder as a designated player to replace Dzemaili, who rejoined Bologna in the Italian Serie A.
Most of the eight days in Miami were spent working on conditioning after the Impact lost 10 points in the standings last season by conceding goals in the 90th minute or later.
When asked Thursday if conditioning was a problem last year, defender Daniel Lovitz said: “One hundred per cent, yeah. I think the proof is in the pudding in that respect in terms of the goals and the nature and the context of which we were giving them up last year. I think there were no real ifs, ands or buts about it ... It comes from a lack of concentration and after your body goes, your mind goes as well.”
The Impact players spent a lot of time running in Miami.
“Pushing though the last mile and a half of a seven-mile run, that’s physical, of course, but I think it’s also mental and maybe even more so mental,” Bush said. “So when we get to the 80-85th minute this year and things are tough and we’re suffering, maybe we’ll be physically fit, but we’ll also be able to think a little bit more clearly and close games out the right way because mentally we’ve been through some tough moments.”
The Impact have a tough schedule to start the MLS season, with five of their first six games on the road — where they had a 3-9-5 record last season. Their first two games are on the road in Vancouver and Columbus before their home opener at Olympic Stadium on March 17 against Toronto FC, the defending MLS Cup champions. The Impact’s next home game after that isn’t until April 21 at Saputo Stadium against the expansion Los Angeles Football Club, which is Ciman’s new team.
“There’s definitely a lot of changes,” Bush said. “A lot of turnover of guys that were prominent pieces of the team as well. It will take time, for sure. But I think, with the way that we’re working so far, it might take less time than you would maybe think it would.
“We worked extremely hard the first week (in Miami) … we were there for eight days and it felt like we were there for three weeks, and that’s not just because Oduro was my roommate,” the goalkeeper added with a smile.
“We worked very hard and I think that we’re on the right path. If we can keep the right work ethic and mentality going into the next four, five weeks, into the opening game, I think that we have the potential to surprise people with how quickly we can get this thing going.”
Winning is a great way for fans to get to know you.