BIG CHEESED OFF
Saputo not happy with his team as Impact prepares for red-hot rival Toronto FC
For Impact Big Cheese Joey Saputo, last year's playoff run — and heart-wrenching defeat — was his club's “greatest” accomplishment.
Montreal's head honcho sat in front of cameras last December and boldly stated an aggressive timeline to win MLS Cup by the year 2021.
Saputo's five-year plan didn't seem that far-fetched back then. Lofty, sure, but not completely unreasonable given the Impact was a goal from reaching MLS Cup.
Nine months later — two years since that memorable playoff game at Saputo Stadium — Montreal's top boss couldn't have imagined he'd be apologizing to fans.
He called this season “trying” following an embar- rassing 3-2 home loss to expansion team Minnesota United, one of the worst sides in the league.
“Our team's latest performance has clearly fallen short of our expectations,” Saputo said in a statement. “Rest assured that this message has been conveyed to the technical staff and the players ... At the beginning of the year, we presented a timeline with some very clear objectives as to where this club wants to be in the next five years.”
In other words, Montreal's five-year plan has moved to six or more, with more questions than answers entering Wednesday's match in Toronto — and many more in the off-season.
Coach Mauro Biello is on the hot seat following a devastating, TFC-initiated fourgame losing skid that has seen Montreal's playoff odds dwindle to single digits.
“I think they're in an allor-nothing scenario,” said Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney, who was well aware of the wrath Saputo unleashed earlier this week.
Asked if top-down pressure amid a playoff push is helpful to sides embroiled in a series of bad losses, TFC's bench boss said the response is negative more times than not.
“Nobody can walk into an office and give you the confidence you need to win games or turn a season around,” said Vanney, referring to Saputo's words as a “short-term nudge.”
All the while, Toronto FC supporters are basking in Montreal's continued misery — much of which their Reds have inflicted on their biggest enemy.
They laughed during Didier Drogba's extended Qatari preseason – and when the washed up Chelsea star abandoned his team late last season.
They howled further during last year's playoffs amid a field lining fiasco at the Big O and a crushing comeback for the ages that saw TFC host MLS Cup.
Toronto FC supporters thoroughly enjoyed watching the Reds stun the Impact in this year's Canadian Championship – and late last month in a much-anticipated 3-1 win at Saputo Stadium.
The Impact were on a roll until Toronto FC put an end to their four-game winning streak, the origin of a fourgame losing streak Montreal is unlikely to recover from.
“This is an opportunity for us to maintain momentum and really try to make any resurrection of their season come to an end,” Vanney added ahead of Wednesday night's match.
The Impact's abysmal form has made this week's meeting somewhat anti-climactic.
While the Impact need to win, it likely won't matter if it does.
Toronto FC is going to win the league and have homefield advantage throughout the post-season.
It could very well be the best team in MLS history.
Meanwhile, the Impact's upper echelon are rethinking everything they said at the end of last season, when an MLS Cup appearance didn't seem so far away.
It turns out Montreal's “greatest” accomplishment won't be topped for some time — and most likely not within five years.
At this point, the Impact appear to be going backwards.