Vancouver’s French-speaking players popular with Quebec media

Sebastien Le Toux

The Vancouver Whitecaps are determined not to repeat their 2011 performance when, in their initial MLS campaign, they finished dead last and failed to win a single game away from home.

New coach Martin Rennie, late of the Carolina RailHawks of the NASL, has imported a number of new faces and has tried to put his stamp on the team by fostering confidence and positive thinking. Perhaps as a gesture to the members of the Montreal media, Sebastien Le Toux, Alain Rochat and Eric Hassli were made available.

Le Toux, who played for Philadelphia in 2011 and was coveted by several sides for this season, including both Montreal and Vancouver, where he ultimately signed, is looking forward to tomorrow’s curtain-raiser.

After commenting that it was nice to get the chance to show that he still spoke French, even if it is with a bit of an English accent, he talked about how he felt going into his first game with the Vancouver side.

“I’m very excited, I can’t tell you, and there’s nobody in the stands today. Tomorrow is going to be a full house with the fans going crazy. I’m really looking forward to the game,” he said.

Qualifying this year’s edition as a “super team,” Le Toux also said that success will be a function of effort, declaring “We have to keep working. After last season, which was not a good one, we are determined to do better.”

Eric Hassli scored twice in last season’s opening match but cannot promise to repeat the exploit although he is hoping the team that has gone more than a decade without losing a schedule’s initial confrontation continues the streak.

“I just want to win the game. Who scores is not important,” he said. “It will be a difficult match. It’s the first game. We’re ready to fight.”

He also addressed last season, saying, “Last year was last year and this is a new season.”

Mentioning the 3-0 victory over the Impact in the Orlando preseason tourney Hassli said, “It was only a friendly. Tomorrow is a serious game and Montreal is a good team.”

He is expecting bigger and better things from his team this year is a result of having a year’s worth of MLS hostilities under their belt as well as what he sees as an upgrade in the head coaching role.

“He’s (Martin Rennie) great for everybody. He treats everybody on the same level and gives everyone great confidence. Last year was bad, just bad, “ Hassli said. “He brings a lot of confidence, great organization and great football knowledge. The players know exactly what is expected of them on the field.”

Coach Rennie, who has brought more than a few of his former team with him to Vancouver, is looking forward to the opening match, saying, “I’m sure it’ll be intense. It’s Montreal’s first game in MLS and the people involved with the team have a lot of pride. It’ll be a hard-fought game and we’ll be ready for that too.”

“There has been a rivalry just because they’re two Canadian teams that fought very hard at the top of the second division for many years and I’m sure the rivalry will continue. At the same time with the east and west split there’s not as many games between the teams that so that might take away from it slightly but tomorrow there’ll certainly be that rivalry there but most importantly teams are just focused on their first game and doing as well as they possibly can.”