“We didn’t get too much history on Canada growing up in Mississippi but I’ve enjoyed my time here so far and I’m trying to learn as much about it as I can,” he said after practice last week. “It was pretty cool playing in the Canadian Championship and seeing how passionate all the fans are. Our fans especially, and in Toronto and Vancouver as well. They’re very passionate about the Cup.”

“We were second best the first 20 minutes,” said captain Patrice Bernier. “We played with fire. It’s uncharacteristic of our team. Normally, we’re very hard to play against and today, we seemed to be spread out and not be the same team from the last few games.”

The provincial premier, who leads the separatist Parti Quebecois, stated Tuesday that the Canadian Soccer Association had no right to suspend the QSF, and that the provincial soccer federation has the dominion over the provinces’s footballing affairs.

The newly crowned Canadian champions founds out Monday that they will face the San Jose Earthquakes and a to-be-decided Guatemalan league qualifier in CCL Group 5. The Impact could not have asked for a kinder draw.

In a match that featured the eruption of Mount Schallibaum, the expulsion of Alessandro Nesta and a controversial officiating decision that led to a Kansas City goal, the Montreal Impact did what its done since the beginning of the season. The team found a way to win, its 2-1 victory placing it atop the MLS Eastern Conference ladder.

“I think Andy got picked,” Knighton said. “Camara is going to make that 99 per cent of the time – it’s unfortunate, because without the block Andy had 20 seconds before that, sprinting 40 yards and sliding in and knocking it out for a corner – it was fantastic.

Two hat tricks highlighted this past weekend's MLS action. Marco Di Vaio scored three in the first half as the Montreal Impact defeated the Philadelphua Union 5-3 on Saturday. Robbie Keane got three as the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the Seattle Sounders 4-0 on Sunday.

“We showed a will to win, to play through difficult circumstances. This is a team that is willing to run for each other and to run for the team. We played well in the cold with 17,000 fans here to support us. We’re certainly on the right track,” declared head coach Marco Schallibaum in his post-game comments.

“I feel like on the road we’ve been a little bit too open. At times we’ve played quite well but our results haven’t been as good as I would have liked on the road so I felt we should become more difficult to play against,” Rennie opined. “I think the players did their jobs tonight. They made the game more compact and we weren’t as open and easy to play against.”

“That’s a reason I like this team, they never give up,” said head coach Marco Schallibaum. “Today we played against a really good team and with our program the last two weeks (six games in 18 days) it’s amazing what they did on the field and their will to do well. They can play good football or they can play good football and also have lots of character. They showed that again today.”