Montreal Impact 2 : 0 Santos Laguna

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/blogs/2009/02/impact_winning_hearts_in_hocke.html

Excellent op-ed piece. It's really too bad that our media outlets still take such caution when reporting on soccer. I hope that the game made the front page this morning in Montreal papers. 55,571 fans is no mediocre turnout - that's more than double the number who pack the Bell Centre for Habs games.

John Limniatis deserves a lot of credit. He is an excellent coach and deserves a shot at coaching our national team. (It would be a tremendous loss for the Impact, but maybe by the time 2014 WC qualifiers have rolled around he'll be ready for a change anyways).

I am so lucky to be growing up in Canada in 2009 with all this soccer action happening. The late 80s (when I was born) to the late 90s was an absolute drought for soccer in Canada - that's an entire decade of being forced to watch EPL games weekend after weekend, wondering when we'll finally get our own teams to support. But it's finally happening.

The Vancouver Whitecaps' MLS bid is solid. Kerfoot and Nash. Money and star power. A new state of the art stadium on Vancouver's waterfront. Joining the MLS would elevate Vancouver's game by giving them the chance to acquire players from other MLS teams in the expansion draft. Seattle is so far making an excellent transition: they nabbed 10 fine players from teams around the MLS and most recently beat Vancouver 4-0 in an exhibition match.

The Montreal Impact however should remain in the USL for the following reasons:

1 - They have a brand new stadium that seats 13,000. I've been to State Saputo and must say that I'm impressed. It's got quality seating, press boxes, executive suites, a supporters' section, and it sits a mere stone's throw from the Big O. The MLS wants new franchises to have 20,000 seat stadiums - even though many of those seats continue to remain empty!

2- The 40 million dollar franchise fee is a joke. Is Garber trying to grow soccer in North America or become filthy rich!? The MLS should be paying the Impact to join! Look at their performance in the Champions League thus far - it far outshines the performances of any "superior" MLS team.

3 - The Impact have an excellent squad and joining the MLS would cause such a shake up to the team (trades, transfers, loans) that they would probably drop right to the bottom of the table. Let them remain kings of the USL!

Allez les bleues!