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Bootsmann
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| Posted: 15 August 2018 at 07:52 | IP Logged
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After a nightmare of an MLS season, it was fitting, then,
that the Impact, class of 2014, break from a mini post-
season camp on the afternoon of Halloween. Like they did
at the conclusion of their 2012 season, the club would
have much preferred conducting the more meaningful post-
season tour - most likely, following Joey Saputo’s
considerable investment in Bologna FC, to have travelled
to what is now absolutely the club’s spiritual home -
Italy. The CBA, though, prevents any clubs in the league
from conducting post-season tours. Monday afternoon,
following their first post-season training session, the
Impact conducted their formal post mortem. This also
signalled the final time as a professional footballer
that Marco Di Vaio would face the microphone and camera
glare and spotlight. Some players used this opportunity
to defer responsibility in favour of airing excuses of an
MLS season gone pear-shaped. We heard of leadership voids
and locker room divisions. Really? Don’t buy it,
whatsoever. If leadership voids and locker room divisions
were the root causes, then the much better effect would
have been to have dealt with them as they occured.
Players could have taken the lead of Matteo Ferrari, who
hadn’t even caught his breath following the first formal
day of training camp in late January, to let the media
know his thoughts on the 2014 squad. Laying it all out,
the defensive veteran let it be known that he was of the
belief the squad was not as strong as 2013’s. Ferrari
wondered aloud why key players, who had been lost at the
end of the 2013 campaign, had not been replaced in the
off season. With long-run predictions like that, a
lucrative career in the financial and investments field
awaits the 34-year-old Italian when he finally hangs up
the boots. We all know now, of course, on an individual
player and collective team basis that the Impact were not
able to fully grasp coach Frank Klopas’s new system. A
pitiful seven-game winless streak to start the season saw
them collect only three paltry points from the 21 on
offer. There would be no recovery. The club had to wait
to the very end of April to record their first victory of
the season, a very fortuitous one at that, in a 1-0
victory at home to the Philadelphia Union. By then,
2012’s first-overall pick from the MLS SuperDraft,
Andrew Wenger, had been offloaded to the Union, his
hometown club. During the rain-sodden match, Wenger had a
gilt-edged opportunity to do what he rarely did in an
Impact shirt and for what he was paid significant
compensation: stick the ball in the back of a Stade
Saputo net. Sans surprise, Wenger once more fluffed his
lines from right in front of the Ultras. No matter who
the Impact shipped in and out during the course of the
season, the starting XI rarely played to script.
Disjointed and dispirited performances plagued the team
most of the MLS season. This all changed when a
diminutive 29-year-old Argentine showed up. Although
Ignaccio Piatti’s season was severely curtailed by
injury, which limited him to appearing in only six league
matches, his mere presence in town was enough to spread
and provide a proper buoyancy throughout the squad,
something of which had been sadly absent until the point
Piatti stepped on the pitch in an Impact shirt for the
first time in a home match against the Fire. Played on a
mid-August Saturday evening, it was no surprise Di Vaio
scored the only goal. Also unsurprisingly, torrential
rain would yet again feature at a home match. Don’t ever
let me hear again someone telling me it always rains in
London. Blue skies in the morning and afternoon, come
kick-off time, the only brightness in the sky came
courtesy of the floodlights. Ultimately, the Impact
posted only six wins from 17 home matches, hardly the
stuff to instill fear in any opponent on their Stade
Saputo travels. As for the Impact’s travels, they go
down as one of the worst road records in the league’s
entire history. With a return of only five points
gathered, all coming from drawn matches, a winless season
on the road is not something for the Impact annals. A
trick of an MLS season was more than compensated, though,
with the Impact retaining their Voyageurs Cup title. An
almost perfect record in the group stages of the CONCACAF
Champions League and a first return since 2008 to the
knockout stages provided the icing. The mere fact that a
Voyageurs Cup and passage through to the final eight of
the Champions League were achieved against the backdrop
to the 19th franchise in MLS finishing, not only bottom
of the Eastern Conference, but with the worst record in
the entire 19-club league makes these accomplishments all
the more valuable. Much credit for this must go to the
much maligned technical staff for dusting off MLS woes
and, in doing so, ensuring the players were purely
focused on the task at hand. On Monday, we also learned
the recipient of the 2014 Giuseppe Saputo Trophy and
Andrés Romero was fully deserving of his MVP Award. Week-
in, week-out, the 28-year-old Argentine wide-playing
attacking midfielder bought a guile, craft and energy to
the pitch, which was wanting so often in way too many of
his teammates. In late August, the Impact let it be known
they were keen on making Romero’s second season-long
loan from Tombense in Brazil a permanent deal. Romero,
himself, is also keen for this to happen. Another player
who should return is the currently soon to be out-of-
contract Patrice Bernier. As much as Habs fans might like
the concept of the NHL’s most-winningest team going
through the season without a captain, I’m not sure the
legions of Impact supporters will be too happy if Bernier
is not re-signed. Although Bernier did not play to his
usual high standards in 2014, when he was supported by a
proper cast, we saw more than enough evidence that there
is still much more to come from the local lad. In the
middle of the month, Bernier told TSN 690 that he
absolutely wants to be back in 2015. Just on Wednesday,
Impact technical director Matt Jordan disclosed to TSN
690 that contract discussions had indeed commenced.
Jordan, though non-committal on disclosing a percentage
on Bernier trotting out at Stade Saputo in 2015,
certainly sounded optimistic. On the flip side, a player
we now know will not be returning is Matteo Ferrari, with
the Impact announcing earlier this afternoon that they
would be declining his 2015 option. Even for the most
down-heartened, there is though much to be upbeat and
optimistic about in 2015 when MLS will celebrate season
20. No, I’m not counting when Chelsea legend Frank
Lampard brings his new boys in blue up from Yankee
Stadium for a visit, or possibly two, to Saputo Stadium.
For one, the Impact’s splendid-looking, brand spanking
new training facility will open its doors. A significant
investment in nurturing and nourishing future talent, the
facility will be a home for all of the Impact’s teams
from the very youngest all the way up to the senior team.
As response to the discontinuation of the MLS Reserve
League, early last month, the Impact launched FC
Montreal. Amalgamating their current Under-18 and Under-
23 sides, FCM will take its bow in the USL Pro league
next spring. Long before that, though, 50,000 and more of
the Impact brethren will congregate one frigid evening in
very early March over at the Olympic Stadium in
anticipation of replicating one of the most extraordinary
tales in club history. If you don’t know what I’m
talking about, punch the words, “Montreal Impact
February 25th, 2009” into your search engine. I suggest
you bring your F1 and Osheaga ear plugs. It’s going to
be extraordinarily loud. See you there. Click here for
Oranges @ Half-Times chat with Mauro Biello Click here
for Oranges @ Half-Times chat with Matt Jordan Click here
for Oranges @ Half-Times chat with Grant Needham
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rising tennis star during the Australian Open in January,
will be in the city for the Rogers Cup, beginning this
weekend.
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. Although Spain could still advance out of the group
stage, the game may have signalled the end of the run by
a generation of Spanish stars whose quick passing, "tiki-
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last three major tournaments.
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launched TSN GO (currently available to Bell TV and
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additional charge – just as they would watch Canadas
Sports Leader on TV at home. The following week, MLS ON
TSN is at BMO Field in Toronto to deliver live coverage
of TFCs home opener vs. D.C. United on Saturday, March 22
at 4:30 p. BRASILIA, Brazil -- Neymar lived up to the
expectations of the World Cup host nation Monday, scoring
two goals as Brazil routed Cameroon 4-1 to reach the
knockout stage as the top team in Group A. Fred and
Fernandinho added second-half goals for Brazil, which
will face South American rival Chile in the second round.
Neymar netted twice in the first half, on either side of
midfielder Joel Matips goal for Cameroon in the 26th
minute. He opened the scoring off a low cross by
midfielder Luiz Gustavo in the 17th, deftly side-footing
the ball home from close range, then restored the lead
with a low right-foot strike from the top of the penalty
area in the 35th after a pass by left back Marcelo. "If
Im not mistaken this is our best game yet," Neymar said.
"Everyone deserves congratulations for their efforts
until the end." Fred found the net in the 49th and the
substitute Fernandinho struck in the 84th. Brazil
finished Group A with seven points after two wins and a
draw. It ended with the same points as Mexico, but had a
better goal difference. The Mexicans eliminated Croatia
with a 3-1 win in Recife. Playing in its 100th World Cup
match, Brazil needed at least a draw to advance.
Elimination in the group stage would have been
unthinkable for the five-time world champions playing at
home. The only team to play in all 20 World Cups, Brazil
has advanced to the second round in every tournament
since 1970. Boosted by a crowd of nearly 69,112 at the
Estadio Nacional in the nations capital, Brazil began the
match pressuring Cameroon and created many scoring
chances early. But the African team eventually picked up
the pace and was able to keep the hosts from threatening
too much. Despite playing without Samuel Etoo bbecause of
a lingering right knee injury, Cameroon had a few good
chances, even when the match was level in the first
half.dddddddddddd "The first half was not so bad, but we
need to focus for 90 minutes, and this is not the first
time that this happened," Cameroon coach Volker Finke
said. "Some goals were not needed, three times we had the
control of the ball and we lost it." It was Neymar who
got on the board first, neatly finding the net after
Gustavo stole the ball on the left flank and sent a low
cross into the area. Cameroon equalized after a nice run
by Allan Nyom ended with Matips goal, but Neymar again
showed he is carrying the hopes of the entire nation,
running toward the area and then moving to his right in
front of a couple of defenders before firing a low shot
into the net. The 22-year-old Barcelona striker had
already been decisive in the 3-1 opening win over
Croatia, when he also scored twice while Brazil was
struggling. Brazil improved in the second half and Fred,
who had been loudly criticized for his lacklustre
performances, got his first goal of the tournament with a
header from close range after a cross by defender David
Luiz from the left. Cameroon players complained of
offsides. Fernandinho, who replaced Paulinho in the
second half, closed the scoring after Oscar stole
possession from a Cameroon defender near the area. Quick
passes by Fred and Oscar set up the midfielders toe poke
from short range. Cameroon, which hasnt advanced to the
second round since becoming the first African nation to
reach the World Cup quarterfinals in 1990, likely saw
Etoo playing in his final World Cup. The 33-year-old
striker, in his fourth World Cup, is the teams all-time
leading scorer.
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Topic: rom the left. Cameroon players
