The Montreal Impact finished its initial MLS season with a meagre harvest of nine points on the road. The team returns home after this season’s first two matches on the west coast with six points in pocket, having already matched 2012’s total of a pair of wins on enemy turf.

The Montreal Impact walked onto the pitch at Seattle’s Century Link Field and, in front of almost 39,000 of the most rabid fans in MLS, handed their hosts a 1-0 defeat, signalling to the rest of the league that the sophomore version of the club might bear very little resemblance to last season’s inaugural edition.

“We’ll be playing one of the best teams in MLS (Seattle) and there’ll be 50,000 people cheering against us but we’ve done everything we can. We showed during the matches in Florida that we were a good team but Saturday is another story.”

“We’ll see what it evolves into,” Abrams continued. “It’s also a process of learning about teams and the great players of the past. This phase of it is sort of a tribute to these players. They are important cultural figures for our time. There’s a beauty in their movements and in the colours that they wear and what it represents to us as we’re watching.”

“I think we’re a little bit tired of playing each other already. We’re ready to go out and play some games and kick someone else for once,” Valentin said before commenting on the results of the past three weeks. “I think you can see progression with the coaching style and everyone’s getting used to that."

“We can’t forget that games are often decided after the 70-minute mark,” Schallibaum continued. "I saw some good things out there today but also a few not so good, perhaps because of fatigue, but we still have time to work on them.”

“Blake Smith was our second choice. From all the reports and all the work that has been done by our staff and the feedback we got from different coaches in college, we’re extremely happy with the pick,” said Impact Sporting Director Nick De Santis.

"The idea is to move up with an eye to picking Bekker but it won’t be easy,” De Santis concluded.

“I would like to thank Joey and Nick. Who have shown confidence in me,” Schallibaum began. “When you receive something you have to give something back so it is up to me to now do everything needed to ensure the team has success."

"While we have the same long-term objectives for this organization we realized over the past few weeks that we do not share the same philosophy on how to get there.”