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Nakajima-Farran, Piette the only real surprises on Canada roster

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/17/2012

Issey Nakajima-Farran, with Canada back in 2010, PHOTO: CANADA SOCCER

Canadian men’s national team coach Stephen Hart had been stating over and over not to expect too many surprises when he unveiled the roster for a June 3 friendly against the United States and two World Cup qualifiers to follow.

So, we shouldn’t be surprised that we weren’t surprised. For the most part, it’s a squad very similar to what we saw through the first phase of World Cup qualifying, which saw Canada eliminate St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Puerto Rico.

Of the 22 men named to the roster, only two — teenager Samuel Piette and veteran Issey Nakajima-Farran, who plays in Australia — would be considered eyebrow-raisers.

Piette, at 17, was a major part of Canada’s team at last year’s U-17 World Cup and the recent U-23 squad that came within one game of securing a berth at the London Olympics. He is reportedly close to a deal with Fortuna Dusseldorf, who earlier this week secured its return to the Bundesliga.
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Vukovic gets three more months to try and impress Impact

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/14/2012

Stefan Vukovic

The Montreal Impact announced Monday that forward Stefan Vukovic will have three more months to try and impress the club.

Vukovic, who led the CSL in scoring last season as a member of TFC Academy, and was in training camp with Toronto FC in 2012, was cut by the club before the start of the regular season. With TFC having no real academy program for players older than 18, there was no place for Vukovic to go if he didn’t get a contract from the big club.

Vukovic was also on the roster of coach Nick Dasovic’s preliminary U-20 squad that held camp late last year.
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Ricketts’ goalkeeping heroics against his former team allows Impact to draw Galaxy

By
Mike Wyman
– 05/13/2012

Davy Arnaud: Opening goal

A new Canadian record crowd for pro soccer turned up at Olympic Stadium for this afternoon’s match against the MLS reigning champs, with very few of the 60,860 leaving the park unsatisfied with the spectacle .

The teams fought a tough, physical battle with the home side dominating the opening 45 minutes, scoring their goal early and the visiting LA Galaxy evening the score in the second half, with keeper Donovan Ricketts providing the biggest reason that his old club left town with a single point rather than handing the Impact its first MLS defeat in Montreal. Final score: Impact 1, Galaxy 1.

The first half saw the Galaxy holding a decided edge in possession time as well as the both the number and proportion of passes completed, but ended with the home side a goal up.

The Impact marker came in the eighth minute of play, the result of a sortie that began with a long Nelson Rivas pass out of the defensive zone that found Bernardo Corradi. The Italian striker moved it up to captain, Davy Arnaud, normally a midfielder but starting up front today, who put it easily behind Galaxy ‘keeper, Brian Perk, making his first start of the season.
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10-man TFC eliminates listless Impact from the ACC

By
Mark Polishuk
– 05/10/2012

Reggie Lambe scored the opener

No matter how the teams may sit in the MLS league table, Toronto FC simply has the Montreal Impact’s number in the Amway Canadian Championship.  TFC scored its first victory of any sort at BMO Field this season, beating the Impact by a 2-0 score to send the Reds into the Voyageurs Cup final and handing Montreal another disappointing result in the national tournament.

With the Impact entering the game on a 288-minute shutout streak and an impressive 2-0 result in Kansas City on Saturday, the expansion side had to be considered the favourites, even on the road.  The Reds are on a record eight-game losing streak to begin the MLS season (a streak that included a loss at Montreal on April 8 and, after a 0-0 scoreline in the opening leg of the tie, the Impact could have advanced with a win or even a draw, provided they could score just one goal.
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New CSA president Montagliani strikes conciliatory tones

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/08/2012

Victor Montagliani

Victor Montagliani sounded a lot like a man who had just won a political-party nomination.

In his first telephone media conference after being elected president of the Canadian Soccer Association, he spoke about building relationships, about working with the people who had voted against him. Really, it was no different than hearing a new leader reach out to the camps of the other candidates in an effort to bring a political party together after a divisive campaign.

And, of course, there was unbridled optimism: Talk of being able to double the CSA’s operating budget in eight years, about working with the pro clubs, that the reform process is moving along, a promise to do what it takes to make the national teams better.

For those hoping that Montagliani would kick off his presidency with angry ultimatums to the MLS over Canadian-import quotas or some angry words for remnants of the old guard who remain in the CSA, well, that was never going to happen.
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Impact rests many regulars, then enjoys most impressive 90 minutes of the season

By
Steven Sandor
– 05/06/2012

Felipe: Goal of the Week candidate

If there was ever a no-pressure game for the Montreal Impact, this Saturday’s date against Sporting Kansas City was it.

After all, the news about the Impact this week has dealt with the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal against Toronto FC and the impending arrival of Italian striker Marco Di Vaio, who has got the offer from Montreal and is likely to leave Bologna for MLS.(Stress “likely,” here. Years of covering Toronto FC and hearing management promise surefire DPs or high-profile signings who never materialize has made this writer cautious about reporting MLS deals until pen is put to paper)

A match against SKC? Sure loss, right? Wrong. The Impact won its first ever road game, 2-0 over the hosts and, frankly, put together the most impressive 90 minutes in the club’s short MLS history.

Now, coach Jesse Marsch has a pleasant problem on his hands.
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TFC gets stalemate at Olympic Stadium

By
Mike Wyman
– 05/03/2012

The TIFO at Olympic Stadium might have been more engaging than the 0-0 draw. MIKE WYMAN PHOTO

Playing to a draw is usually the best a road team can hope for. Toronto FC came out of the first leg of its Amway Canadian Championship encounter with the Montreal Impact having achieved its objective, playing to a scoreless tie and setting the stage for next Wednesday’s second game.

“It was pretty clear what their intentions were in coming here,” declared Impact head coach Jesse Marsch in his post-game remarks.

“I think we had some good moments in the first half that could have led to a goal but we weren’t able to pull off a play,” he continued. “They came here and sat back and didn’t want to give anything away and they did it. I expected them to show a little more fight and energy in the midfield … As the second half went on, because we didn’t have a lead they were able to pack it in even more which made it more difficult for us to find a way to break them down.”
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Corradi blows kisses to mom and dad after scoring decisive goal for Impact

By
Mike Wyman
– 04/28/2012

Bernardo Corradi

The Montreal Impact came away from this afternoon’s game having achieved a number of new firsts. Today’s 2-0 triumph over the visiting Portland Timbers stretches the club’s unbeaten home streak to three games and gives the team its first clean sheet in MLS play.

Beginning his remarks to the media in French, head coach Jesse Marsch pronounced himself happy with the team’s performance Saturday, saying that the next month is an important one for the Impact, with a lot of crucial games on the calendar.

“We felt all along that the team is coming together in a good way,” he continued in English. “We knew that we can still get better, and this is no disrespect to Portland, because they have a good team despite a difficult start, but today was a good performance and a dominating performance from start to finish.”
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FC Edmonton boasts 55 per cent of the Can-con in the Canadian Championship

By
Steven Sandor
– 04/27/2012

FC Edmonton accounts for 55 per cent of the domestic content in the upcoming Amway Canadian Championship.

The four teams involved in the ACC submitted their rosters Friday, and the NASL Eddies boast more Canadians in their lineup than Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto FC combined. The three MLS teams together have 14 Canadian players on their rosters, total. FCE has 17.

For purposes of registering domestic content, the Canadian Soccer Association differs from MLS. While MLS counts Alain Rochat (the Whitecap was born in Canada, but grew up in and represents Switzerland) and Eduardo Sebrango (the Impact forward played internationally for Cuba before coming to Canada) as domestic players, the CSA does not include them in the Canadian counts.
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Impact V.P. addresses weekend ticket deal, Saputo Stadium progress

By
Mike Wyman
– 04/27/2012

Richard Legendre

Things are going well with the Montreal Impact although there is still some tweaking to be done to enhance fans’ enjoyment of the games at the cavernous Olympic Stadium, at least as far as Richard Legendre is concerned.

The team’s executive vice-president dropped by practice Thursday morning and spoke about the team’s temporary home as well as preparations for the unveiling of the enlarged Saputo Stadium, scheduled for mid-June.

Asked about the sales of tickets for Saturday’s game against Portland, he said that they were going well, standing at a little over half the capacity of the lower bowl as he spoke.

“When we get close to the 20,000 capacity of Saputo Stadium, above the average capacity of the league, we feel pretty satisfied,” he said.
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