Can the Impact recover to take on congested schedule, Canadian championship? By Steven Sandor Posted on April 30, 2015 2 0 1,077 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter It was a little bit of a surreal experience. Marc Dos Santos, former Montreal Impact coach, was stuck in the Clarke Stadium press box. Now the coach of the Ottawa Fury, he was suspended for the second leg of his team’s Amway Canadian Championship series against FC Edmonton, so he was stuck in the booth next to our broadcast position. There was still a little less than an hour to go before the kickoff of the Canadian Championship match. In the tiny press box’s tight hallway, I fired up my laptop, perched it on a ledge, and logged into my Sportsnet account so I could watch the second half of the CONCACAF Champions League final. Dos Santos came out and joined me; we hunched over the computer screen and watched Club America’s four-goal second half rampage, as the Mexican giants went on their way to a 4-2 second-leg win. Argentine Dario Benedetto got a hat trick for America, but the story was how the Mexican giants simply exploded in the second half. It was like when you were a kid, and the one player who was so much better than everyone else warns “OK, I am really gonna try, now.” It felt as if Club America were instructed to play possum through the first leg and the second leg’s first half; for the good of CONCACAF, please keep it close. Then, well, in the final 45, go ahead an illustrate the gulf in talent between a bottom-table MLS side and an elite Liga MX club. The Impact and MLS did all they could do; surgery was conducted on the Impact’s domestic schedule so the club would have weekends off leading up to and during the CCL final. The Impact had bye weekends, while Club America had no such advantages. While the Impact spent the weekend prepping for the second leg of the final, Club America had a Sunday match against its fiercest rival, Chivas. That gave the Mexican side little time to get to Montreal and get used to the turf. Didn’t matter. As Club America started raining down goals, Dos Santos simply said “the stronger team wins.” He pointed to Carlos Darwin Quintero now wearing Club America’s blue road kit. Five years ago, Quintero was the scorer of the two extra-time goals that allowed Santos Laguna to complete a stunning comeback that knocked the then-second-division Impact out of the CCL. Dos Santos said, in a game that counted, he’s never been involved in a game against a more dynamic player. Sure, there have been better players who come over when the big European clubs do their bloated North American summer tours, but in terms of CONCACAF and games that matter against MLS or other Can-Am opposition, Quintero was the best game-changer he’s seen. Club America’s final 45 showed just how much work leagues in Canada and the United States have left to do. Ironically, maybe the worst thing to happen to the Impact last night was to score an early goal. The game opened up after Andres Romero scored, and the Impact looked more and more willing to try and trade chances with the opposition than at any other time in its CCL run. Sure, having 61,000 home fans boosts the adrenalin but, from a tactical viewpoint, it meant nothing to America to concede the first goal. The Mexican side, 1-1 after the leg at Azteca Stadium, knew that, to survive, it needed to score. At 1-0 or 1-1, it didn’t matter. America could allow the first goal and continue with the game plan. But, by opening up, the Impact — who were always going to be under pressure — allowed more space, more gaps, than a team trying to nurse a lead should. And once that first Benedetto volley screamed past Impact keeper Kristian Nicht, the dam was broken. At the same time, it needs to be said that the Impact’s success in the CCL — including previous triumphs over Mexican and Costa Rican sides — came from a defend-and-counter stance. Basically, the Impact bunkered and hoped for outlets to the speedy Dominic Oduro. And, it’s a tactic a team employs when it knows it’s outgunned. The Impact’s playing style truly emphasized the gap that remains between MLS and Mexico. When the Impact got away from that style, on Wednesday, the curtain was lifted. That’s not a criticism of the Impact, by the way. Actually, coach Frank Klopas has answered a lot of critics by finding a system that allowed the Impact to have the best chance at success. But now, Klopas has a doozy of a job ahead of him. With all the added bye weeks, the Impact now has the most congested MLS schedule of all. The Impact’s Canadian Championship quest begins next week. There is no time for the Impact to emotionally recover from the loss; and we’ll see if the agony of defeat gives the Impact the anger needed to win games in the next few weeks, or if the emotional toll will lead to this team being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of games it will need to play.
