Montreal Impact reveals MLS jersey for 2012

After a long wait we finally have our MLS kit for next season and therefore our jerseys, home and away.



When most of us expected a replica of Inter de Milan, black and blue vertical stripes, what the team presented Thursday night was the continuation of last season jersey with certain very particular details.


Details

2011 (2nd division) NASL jersey

One might see a different shade of blue on the new one when compared with 2011 jersey, also the white details are set differently. The added details are the new logo, new sponsor (BMO), different make (Adidas), MLS logo on the right sleeve, canadian flag on the left sleeve, different white details on the sides, two silver lines representing the rivers around the island of Montreal and the most special part, the Mont Royal cross made out of embossed fleur de lis in the front. 

MLS 2012 jersey

MLS 2012 Secondary jersey

Closer look to the
embossed fleur de lis.

The cross in the front is what really stands out from this new design and is what makes this shirt special 

I am not the most thrilled person on the planet with the new design, honestly I expected more black on the uniform and even a mixture with the stripes as per the logo and the scarf presented months a go. But when you analyse uniforms in the MLS we are the only ones using royal blue and white, specially when Sporting Kansas City  moved to pale blue last year with the re-branding. Only New England use blue shirt as a first option but not the same shade, being this darker and mixed with grey. 

The sponsor

Toronto FC shirt

Celtic (green and white) and Rangers (blue). Big rivals in Scotland. 

BMO (Bank of Montreal) as a sponsor is another issue for me. Being Toronto our closer true rival is not ideal  for Montreal to also have it on the shirt. In this case is only money what matters so I guess Joey Saputo found the most lucrative one. Being this the best for the club I have nothing else to add on this matter. 

Also when you see much bigger rivalries like Rangers and Celtic in Scotland or Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina also sharing sponsor on the shirt you realize there are more important issues in football to worry about. 

Boca Juniors jersey

River Plate jersey.

Video for the reveal. 

For more on the night of the jersey reveal you can watch the video.

What do you think about the new MLS kit?

MLS and the playoffs structure

MLS has always been a controversial league, a football league built differently and therefore target of polemic opinions. People still remember it as the one with countdown clock and games decided in
shootouts instead of penalty kicks. Nowadays, after several changes in the league operations, it is still criticised for the salary cap on the teams, player ownership by the league, no promotion / relegation,
non-aligned FIFA calendar and Playoffs format to decided the champion. 

The way professional sports are designed in North America has made the people to give little importance to regular season performance and all the importance to the playoff elimination style at the end of the
season. This is where the MLS cup playoffs are criticised when compared with Europe, where the team with most points earned all year long wins the league.

The most recent Playoff format was designed to give the Supporter's Shield winner home field advantage in every series to make its way easy to the MLS cup final compared with the last seed qualified so the
league. As an example you can see how it turned out for LA Galaxy so far, beating the Red Bulls with the 2nd leg and decisive game at home and beating the single elimination match up against Real Salt Lake at
home too to advance to the MLS Cup Final.

Another addition to the new format is the wild card playoff game which gathers the last 4 qualified teams (of the 10 playoff teams in total) to play single elimination game and make their way to the conference semifinals. So the 7th team receive at home the 10th team and the 8th team receive at home the 9th team. This has been
also created polemic conversations around how the league is encouraging mediocre performances throughout the season awarding so many playoffs spots.

In my opinion playoffs are an exciting way to end a long season. Playing elimination match-ups leads teams and players to rise their competition level generating more memorable  sports moments. I’ve been
following Italian and Spanish leagues since I was 10 years old and very few seasons have had exciting endings and when that happens it depend on other’s team performance to win the league. One of the most
exciting league endings was the 2006-2007 La Liga last match day of the season where  Barcelona had to beat Gimnastic and wait if Real Madrid tied or lost its game against Mallorca to win the league, and
again, it was exciting but in  this situation teams like Mallorca or Gimanstic has nothing to win or lose and there is when corruption plays an important role, specially when a powerful and wealthy team
like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus or AC Milan are involved. When you have playoffs you avoid many of this situations and competition is more direct.

About the wild card games I also think are the right way to go on this league, I totally bought Commissioner Don’s Garber idea when he explained that the fan base needs to be created in order to grow the sports popularity in North America. It is exciting for fans to have playoffs expectations at the end of the season and the
opposite of this is the Major League Baseball where 8 teams out of 30 reach the playoffs and you can see a team in July knowing they have no chance to participate in October’s playoffs. It is the case of the
Toronto Blue Jays since they are in ultra competitive American League East division (Yankees and Red Sox) they have almost 2 decades without a playoff game and therefore a hard way to maintain their fan base
motivated. Whereas In leagues like NBA and NHL, 53% (16 out of 30) of the teams reach a playoff spot. The ratio in MLS is 55% (10/18), as explained, I really don’t have any problem with it.

The only problem I really see with the MLS Cup Playoffs current structure is the fact it is divided by conferences (east and west) but the calendar is balanced so you play 2 games with each team. In my
opinion is either one or the other, but you can’t have a balanced schedule and have playoffs fixture divided by conferences making unfair matchups like Seattle (2nd best record overall) vs Real Salt Lake (3rd best record overall) eliminating themselves in early rounds and Sporting Kansas City (5th best record overall but first in the
east) treated like 2nd best team in the league arriving easily to the eastern conference finals. This makes absolutely no sense to me and has to change soon. Last update from Don Garber last week announced the calendar will be unbalanced and therefore conferences will make more sense. 

Montreal vs Puerto Rico, today at 2:30pm.

The Impact starts today its first of five games in Saputo Stadium, Montreal.

There are only 11 games left in the NASL regular season and Montreal is last in the standings and 9 points behind the last playoff qualification seed, Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

It's an uphill road from now on and we have our last chance to build up a positive momentum with this 5 games at home. The recent inclusions, Ryan Pore and Cameron Knowles to the roster reveals the management's commitment on this current situation.

Pore (#32), 4 years of MLS experience with Kansas City, 2010 Most Valuable Player in second division and 2009 golden boot, is on loan from Portland Timbers until the end of the season and can be the type of player that can boost the attack for this last half of the season. I personally remember him being remarkable good while playing against Montreal and have lots of expectations on his debut today.

Today Puerto Rico visits Saputo Stadium in 2nd place on the standings with 29 points Montreal has 12pts only) and as current champions will be a tough opponent.

Game will be on TV on the waves of Radio Canada and will be a nice chance to boost the soccer passion in a beautiful summer Sunday on Montreal while preparing our debut in MLS next year.

See you guys there!

Here are the pre-game comments.

Carolina 2 - Impact 0 ; Lets rest for a week and meditate.

source: montrealimpact.com

Contrary to previous games, Impact tried it Sunday night. I know football is not a sport where statistics are relevant, and that's the beauty of it, but in a game where you outplay the opponent 14 shots to 10, 5 corners to 2  is a little unfair to say the team is a total disaster. And even loosing 2-0 the team held the pressure being caught off-side only once and looked for the goal professionally showing and impressive fair play with 2 fouls committed in all game, that is remarkable.


Important fact is Eduardo Sebrango, a 38 years old retired forward, came back to help the injured roster this week and created most of the attacking in 2nd half. As I said in previous postings, this team needs to find a source of motivation whether it be academy player Mircea Ilcu or retired forward Sebrango.

Give the team a couple of games to adapt this new era without Dos Santos, we are half way through this season and players know is not a matter of MLS or not, is a matter of pride and to keep their value in the market, because Impact wont be keeping most of this group at this pace.

Next game on Wednesday July 13, 2011 - Saputo Stadium - 7:30pm.
See you guys there.

Impact 0 - Puerto Rico 0. You can't build a team in one day.

After two consecutive days of headlines about the Impact (not easy) we sadly ended accepting the departure of a very nice guy, Marc Dos Santos, who I met personally last week. It was an honest move after a very long streak of bad results. Apparently leading an heterogeneous group like the Impact was harder than he thought. Now is Nick's job to get the group together, yes the same players he chose four months a go.

Evan Bush - montrealimpact.com

Nick Des Santis, temporary coach, only had one day to get familiar with the team and the system before facing the current 2nd division champions, Puerto Rico Islanders.We cannot blame him, you really cannot do much in one day and what we saw Wednesday night was a team with the same old problems, so I would wait at least 2 more games before start judging.

We did have good news, in the attendance, which reached more than 10,000 seats (more than 80%). Not bad at all for a Wednesday night in a regular season match even considering kids are on vacations since last week.

On the pitch, it was Hassoun Camara who came to my attention all game long. It is a waste to use him as central back, he needs more freedom in the midfield and I would love to see him playing at least once with David Testo as double pivots. So the good news would be to see Pizzolitto back and moving Camara to midfield, but What to do with Amir Lowery? Good question. Well that is Nick's job and not mine, for the moment.

Next game will be at Cary, North Carolina when facing the Railhawks Sunday at 7pm.

Impact lost at Edmonton 1-0. Are academy players the answer?.

Montreal loses again with poor football. 1-0 was the final score in Edmonton today and could have been worst than that since Edmonton missed a penalty and hit the post, all in the first half.

NASL fields continues hurting the quality of soccer on 2nd division. I don't know what situation was worst, the one on Puerto Rico or today at Foote Field where ball bounce like a tennis court and soccer lines are blue in a American football green-white painted field, we could barely note the borders. This is the kind of situations can be discouraging for players on the road. Please don't think I am making excuses for tonight's result, but I really feel that need to be said.

montrealimpact.com

On the field the team was never close to play a decent level of football. What happened with the controlling team we used to see squaring all around David Testo like on Nutrlite cup? I know that style was not productive football either (in term of goals) but at least we were showing some character and temper on the field against a much bigger club like Vancouver.

Tonight's Impact was afraid to have the ball and could not handle FC Edmonton's pressure on the midfield. Also we where overwhelmed with Hamilton's job on Edmonton's back line (That is a guy could help Montreal in MLS) at the point Impact never attempted attacking back through the center and were forced to throw excessive amount of ineffective crosses.

Now a question to answer is what was coach's intention pulling out Testo and Di Lorenzo, such a key players for this team, and giving a chance to 2 rookies from the academy. I liked because academy players give a lot of energy and motivation, maybe that is what's needed on this team and it wasn't a coincidence watching the best Impact football in the last 15min when Wandrille Lefevre and Mircea Ilcu.

I did not like Lowery and Camara as central backs, of course is their first time together doing this and I want to see it as an emergency measure. They left so many holes in the back, they were unable to communicate at my opinion.

Next game is back at home but on a Wednesday night so, from previous experiences, don't expect much support since not even Radio Canada is broadcasting it. It seems we all wanted this season to be over but is not a mature thing to do so, remember we are not even at half season yet.

See you guys on Wednesday 7pm.

We want results, but appreciate the effort.

Before getting into details I just need to say it, we needed to win at home, especially on a sell out crowd in a beautiful sunny day like last Saturday.

Yes, we saw improvements. Great game for Camara who is showing those expected signs of leadership we all wanted to watch. Argentinean Di Lorenzo is being also consistent, he wants the ball and also is willing to create options, more than anybody else in the team. 
Additionally, we had the chance to see Anthony Le Gall feeling more confident and was the father of a highlight reel that could have been the NASL goal of the year if completed by Reda's header
. 
So, yes there were improvements but not results. I guess we are more confident now than before in seeing a Montreal Impact that could entertain and give results soon, its just a matter of two more home games. What I don't like is we are overlooking the fact that Dos Santos could not handle a road loosing streak. Was Hatchi really the cause?

Now Edmonton in a Sunday afternoon, the only team we have beaten so far so at least we look favorites on the numbers.

Impact: Leader wanted.

After this loss in Atlanta, my first concern is where and who is Montreal Impact's leader? I am almost sure Marc Dos Santos is not. Montreal needs one on the field or off the field before this lack of motivation starts an irreversible negative impact in the casual fan.

Last season it was, the very same club's president, Joey Saputo who triggered the positive reaction with a motivational speech which eventually produced an streak of good results and led us to USL semifinals. But we can't expect the president to be the leader in a soccer team.


Read more here

Canadian Derby NASL 2nd division - Montreal Impact vs FC Edmonton.

Montreal Impact (1 win - 2 ties - 4 lost) will try to end the win less streak this Saturday against FC Edmonton (5 wins - 1 tie - 2 lost) currently in 2nd place and with a record of 2 wins - 1 tie since last game between the two teams on May 1st. That day, home opener for FC Edmonton, Montreal attack exploded with 5 goals while winning the first game of the season by 0-5. Things are different now and the Impact will have to use the home advantage to offset the good momentum Edmonton brings to the belle province.


Read more

The renaissance. Montreal Impact's scoreless draw on Ft Lauderdale means more than a point.

A lot of changes on Montreal's lineup this time, hoping for better results, gave at least a tie on the road. Is this a sign of improvement? I would not think so, but I still believe this is the moment to test all the possibles set ups available on the field for Dos Santos.



Continue reading here

Thierry Henry and the New York Red Bulls in Montreal (Kickoff 7:30pm today)

Henry in press conference in Montreal.

Today, the city will have a great appetizer for the next season start in MLS. Not only the best forward of the last 10 years in world football is here in Montreal, but with him is also the most talented team in the Major League Soccer nowadays.

Montreal Impact will play a friendly match against the New York Red Bulls and it will be interesting, after loosing the series against Vancouver Whitecaps in NCC, to see how the team is this time preparing their lines against an elite MLS team.

The Red Bulls are in town and bring the most offensive minded rosters in the circuit, let me present the players that make this well oiled machine be the leaders of the Eastern Conference.

Tim Ream

Tim Ream #5, central back and two times captain of the US Men National Team is the bet for the future of the defensive line in the big apple. Exciting player with one of the best passing completion ratio on his team.

Joel Lindpierre #20, left attacking midfield, last year Red Bulls MVP, creates spaces very easily and offers a skillful left leg that normally overplay most of league defenders.

Dane Richards #19, right midfield, 26 times Jamaican captain, led NY in game winning goals last season and is one the fastest players in the league.

De Rosario

Dwayne De Rosario #11, offensive midfield, 55 times captain of Canada's National Team, 5 times MLS All Star and MLS cup MVP in 2007. DeRo is one of the most awarded players in MLS and is the most recent acquisition of the Red Bulls, coming from his born city Toronto, in order to set the plays for Henry and the rest of the team.

Rafa Marquez #4, central back, ex-FC Barcelona, winner of the record 6 titles in 2009 including UEFA Champions league and La Liga title. The most recognized Mexican captain playing the FIFA World Cup in 2002 Japan and Corea, 2006 Germany and 2010 in South Africa brings all the experience in the defensive line creating a great mix with Tim Ream.

Juan Agudelo #17, the youngest player ever to score with US National Team, the 18 years old has been a sensation lately in the US and the Red Bulls scoring spectacular goals and helping Henry to set the show in the front of the big apple squad.

This is just a short list of great players to watch today in the Saputo Stadium.

For more information you can go to Montreal Impact web page

I hope to see you there.

Montreal Impact says good bye to Champions League again...

Is it just me or since the Impact was a goal close to Concacaf Champions League semifinals in 2009, with the 55.000 fans in the Olympic Stadium, we now feel  no other Canadian club can honor the competition the same way? Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps know they have to make an exceptional continental campaign in order to be remembered the way Montreal is.

Well, last night we could enjoy how can a team with more than three times Montreal's salary budget could not score a goal, in their magic Empire Field, until minute 113 in the overtime. It was also nice to see Montreal playing as the underdogs and dominating ball possession, in the feet of ex-whitecap David Testo, during the first 30 minutes of the game. I admit I really enjoyed it.

At the end of 1st half, the Whitecaps started to explain why they compete in MLS. Davide Chiumiento, a player who back in 2003 substituted Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero in a UEFA Champions League match against Ajax, pulled Vancouver from all strings and set the attacking pace all over the terrain. Also Russel Teibert, young canadian sensation, helped the Caps bring the attack on the left flank creating all sorts of opportunities and forcing Montreal to the counter attack. On minute 83, after several non conclusive attempts of long balls crosses it was one aimed to Ali Gerba which led to Montreal's penalty kick after a challenge suffered in the zone. This tied the game in aggregate 1-1 and forced the overtime.

Overtime was almost one Vancouver monologue thanks to late substitution in of fresh legs Camilo who led the attack of the Caps. The young Brazilian received a foul very close to Montreal area, which led to Vancouver goal in overtime.

A dramatic finish, for those who always believe in miracles, was set by a fantastic play between Le Gall and Gerba ending with a diving header that hit the post, on minute 120. This would have meant a Montreal direct victory by outscoring the Whitecaps in visitors goals, but history was not on Impact's side that night.

I was very much satisfied with David Testo's performance in the first half. This is the midfield could led the Impact to big wins, but he needs the rest of the team to play more as a group in order to be more effective. I also liked the intensity of Lowery on the midfield, destroying every creation around him. But the best of the night was Nevio Pizzolito, very solid in the back, intimidating and keeping danger away Gaudette's net.

NCC will be another story next year and I hope the MLS fever here in Montreal does not overshadow the beauty of this cup.

Montreal Impact's most important game of the season, tonight.

With the last season in second division on their way, not much attention or expectations are set so far for our football team, only a place in the Champions League will make 2011 a thriving experience for fans and that is why tonight is an acid test for the football in Montreal. The Impact is playing semifinals against Vancouver to gain only spot given to Canadian teams in the CONCACAF club's top competition.

MLS in 2012 will affect city's sports dynamic in many ways, some of them remain unknown, some of them are being borne now. Is not a secret that Montreal Impact, fans and players, are not 100% motivated to follow the last season in second division (NASL), and you can note it in the current league results where Impact is at the bottom of the table with only 1 point in 3 matches only above Atlanta Silverbacks. You can also note it in the media, where you have only heard about Montreal football when MLS commissioner Don Garber came to the Belle Province for 3 or 4 days.

Even the fans, everybody is saving their energies for MLS next season, it seems like this season does not exist.

Well, I have news for Montrealers which have the desire to become a football fan when MLS enters next year. A great MLS team will come tonight to Saputo Stadium, the Vancouver Whitecaps and they are not coming for an exhibition game, they come to beat the Impact in order to pass and play the finals against Toronto FC.

Eric Hassli in Vancouver game opener

For those who still do not follow MLS, the Whitecaps are one of the most exciting teams in the league in the first 6 weeks, featuring players with UEFA champions league experience like Eric Hassli or Davide Chiumiento , young Latin American promises like Camilo Sanvezzo and Omar Salgado and key players of the successful US National Team with English league experience like Jay DeMerit . I know, they are not David Beckham or Thierry Henry but they bring tons of quality to north American football and they are the players that are making MLS an exciting league.



I hope many people come with me tonight to Saputo stadium and support the Impact at 8:00pm.

For more info, you can read the following:

CKAC preview (French)
Pascal Milano preview (French)
Canada Soccer 
Le 12ejoueur

Big night for Madrid in Champions League.

It's prime time Tuesday afternoon for us in America when the UEFA Champions league 4er finals starts and from the first time in 7 years the most recognized team in the history of the Competition, The Real Madrid, makes his appearance.


I haven't feel this way in a long long time. Always remembering the last time Los Merengues were in quarter-finals beaten by the AS Monaco of Didier Deschamps, Fernando Morientes and Manu Adebayor with 1 more away goals. It was devastating and the beginning of the end of the Galactic era.

By that time, Fernando Morientes was traded to Monaco the previous year because he did not have spot in the galactic bench and tonight we see Rafael Van Der Vart in the same position, having and extraordinary season in Tottenham hotspur and coming back to Santiago Bernabeu to show he is a top class midfielder and should not have received such a treatment being traded.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Di Maria and Kaka are coming back from injuries and it seems Mourinho does not want to miss a star in his do or die match tonight. Are the ready? we don't know, but we are sure Mou does not want to be criticized for excluding them.

Tottenham also have many players on injury problems, but fortunately stars Garreth Bale and Aaron Lennon will start but bafana bafana capitain Steven Pienaar won't be able to play.

We will see if Jose Mourinho spell in European competitions will help Los Merengues this year. Well, all set for first leg between Real Madrid FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC for TSN and RSN in Canada.


 

MLS week 1 - First Kick 2011.

Week 1 on the MLS. Lots of expectations created during the pre-season. 2 expansions teams which create the Northwestern rivalry between Seattle, Portland and Vancouver and also starts the Canadian rivalry against Toronto waiting the Montreal Impact in 2012. New designated players coming in like Omar Bravo (Kansas City), Eric Hassli (Vancouver). The last year in contract for Beckham, the first full season for Henry and Marquez.

The first kick started with LA Galaxy vs Seattle Sounders. Another sold out in Qwest field, 36.000 fans, never forget Premier league average attendance is 34,700.

Beckham with a new fresh air, very dangerous on free kicks and always delivering good passes. Donovan had a world class breakaway which ended in the post, but nothing else for the US star. Juninho an all around midfield who covers a lot of space and also has a dangerous long distance shot. Disappointing the debut from Chad Barret, Birchall, Dunivant, I really expected more from this guys, their presence make the Galaxy roster very uneven talent wise.

Seattle, they offer a very attractive football. But they don't give the expected results. It seems very unfair. I'm sure the Nkufo loss right before the game might have affected in the results, since they had to depend in O'Brian White, a slow skill-less guy who frustrated offensively Toronto fans last year.

I really had high expectations in watching Uruguayan international Matias Fernandez as starter after the departure of Nyassi to Colorado, but the charrua could not complete 63 minutes on the field and even he knew the substitution was deserved.

On the other side, I was very happy seeing Friberg on the first half, showing lots of determination and skills and for moments showed like the ideal partner for Alonso who still shows signs to be the best defensive mid in MLS.

Galaxy won 1 - 0 with a long distance goal from Juninho. Seattle insisted specially with Montero but Josh Saunders stopped every shot on goal.

A whole new season just started! Lets follow it together!



  

Real Madrid and the quest of a striker.

How can we make Karim Benzema behave like the striker and number 9 of the best team of the last century? Last season he passed almost undercover when competing the spot against the 16th season of Madrid idol Raul Gonzalez and a red hot campaign of Argentinian Gonzalo Higuain. I would not say it was understandable, because you don't pay 30MM Euros for a player that can't compete in the big leagues, but the organization gave him another chance this season, that is for sure. 

The 2010-2011 begins with a new Coach and without Raul, a good moment to forget past failure and reborn in the white house, but Higuain started as hot as he finished last season and Mourinho just did not count with the frenchman from September to November, only a few substitutions on the 80th minute. 


Since December, Higuain injured due to a herniated disk, Benzema has been used as the only striker available and therefore the expectations raised high about the ex Lyon. He scored 2 hatricks but in non-transcendent games and, rather than that, Karim unfortunately hasn't showed much, not hunger, not sacrifice nor results. 

Karim Benzema has had more chances in the starter line-up than any other striker in the last 10 years on Real Madrid. I Remember players like Samuel Etoo, Michael Owen, Portillo, Soldado, Huntelaar whose always fought a spot against superstars like Morientes, Ronaldo, Robinho, Van Nisteelroy. These strikers always delivered 110% during the few minutes on the pitch and even scored important goals as substitutes.


 The frenchman has only scored one important and elaborated goal, yesterday's goal, where we all start thinking "he finally broke the ice!, from now on we will see a better striker". But after the nice and skilled goal, he continue to miss the same opportunities he has been missing since he arrived in Madrid. 

Only one player has had a similar disappointing campaign as striker and he was Antonio Cassano, an attacker that never woke up and never delivered the quality the Bernabeu was looking for. I think Benzema is now on the same category.






So, can we say Karim Benzema is the striker Real Madrid needs to remain unbeaten for the rest of the season, to fight La Copa del Rey semifinals and Champions league Quarter finals? I would say no, but only Mourinho will know.