Marc Dos Santos quits Impact coaching job By Steven Sandor Posted on June 28, 2011 2 0 840 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Marc Dos Santos Marc Dos Santos quit before he was pushed. The Montreal Impact announced Tuesday that Dos Santos has resigned his post as the team’s head coach. Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at FC Edmonton marked left the Impact with a shocking 2-7-3 record, good for second-last in the NASL. Sporting Director Nick De Santis takes over as interim head coach. He’ll be in charge when Montreal faces Puerto Rico on Wednesday. Montreal moves up to MLS next season. Dos Santos has one Div.2 championship on his resume, and finishes with a career mark of 26-25-16 in league play. He was winless in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. “I’ve accepted Marc’s resignation, because the team is having a difficult and unacceptable sequence,” said club president Joey Saputo in a release issued by the club Tuesday. “This is too important of a year to let it go like this. From the start of the season, I said it was important to finish our journey in second division on a positive note in order to start MLS on a high. Our goal today hasn’t changed, we want to make the playoffs and get as far as possible. “Following Marc’s departure and after analyzing our current situation as a club, this is our best short-term option. Additionally, being with the team everyday, Nick will get the chance to evaluate the group. I am confident that our coaches will straighten up the situation.” After Sunday’s loss at Foote Field, the Impact’s dressing room stayed closed long after the game. FC Edmonton players were out signing autographs for fans, and they were out and available for interviews before Dos Santos finally came out to speak to the media. Montreal has scored just 11 times in 12 matches. Seven of those goals came in the Impact’s only two wins of the year, over FC Edmonton. In the other 10 matches, the team has scored just four times. Because Toronto FC was expected to struggle this year and the Whitecaps are in their first year in MLS, their poor records aren’t surprises. So, the Impact, struggling in its last year of Divison-2 soccer, is clearly the most disappointing club in Canada. In the first half of Montreal’s most recent loss, it was impossible for the observer to tell what formation the club was playing. The players were disorganized and pass after pass went astray. The Impact’s plan to import French players, from the recently released Kevin Hatchi, to the ineffective Idriss Ech Chergui, to Hassoun Camara — who looks absolutely out of place in Div. 2 — has been a failure. French striker Anthony Le Gall hasn’t added any threat to the Impact’s attack. Of the French players, only Philippe Billy looks like he belongs. And, when so many French players take away jobs from local players, there is no denying the fact that the team chemistry suffers. De Santis is not blameless. Nor is Saputo.
