National Post (National Edition)
Impact aims to be better on the road next season
MONTREAL • The Montreal Impact fought until the last day of the Major League Soccer regular season before missing out on a playoff berth.
The players believe they can go further next season.
“If a lot of players stay here, we can start next season better than we did this year,” star forward Ignacio Piatti said as the Impact players cleaned out their lockers Wednesday morning.
“We all know each other better now. If we don’t change a lot, we can do it. I think we can make the finals. I want to win here.”
The Impact are ending a season filled with changes from top to bottom.
Former Olympique Lyonnais and Aston Villa manager Remi Garde joined the club last off-season and 16 new players were brought in over the year, including midfielder Saphir Taider, winger Alejandro Silva and defenders Rod Fanni and Bacary Sagna.
Still, the Impact were almost a playoff team, which is surprising considering their start of the year. Growing pains were felt by the Impact as they only picked up four victories through their first 15 league games. Owner Joey Saputo even cautioned more changes would come and there were no “untouchables” on his squad.
“We felt sorry for ourselves,” Impact defender Daniel Lovitz said. “A lot of the big losses we had at the beginning of the year kind of contributed to a downward trend for the whole group. It wasn’t the best.”
Montreal rallied in the second half of their season. The team impressed at home, earning an 11-4-2 record. But their play on the road doomed them, including a Decision Day loss to the New England Revolution last Sunday that eliminated them from playoff contention.
“We need to be more consistent,” Sagna said. “And to have more confidence in ourselves. At home, we were able to be imposing when we needed to. But we need to be better on the road.”
Despite the desire for consistency, the winds of change may barrel through the roster again. There’s uncertainty around the futures of strikers Anthony JacksonHamel, Matteo Mancosu and Quincy Amarikwa.
Jackson-hamel, who scored nine goals in 2017, seemingly fell out of favour with Garde and made just two appearances in the last 14 games of the year.
The Impact, however, seem to be keen on keeping a number of players for next year. Piatti told the media he’d play out the final year of his contract, but he’s uncertain of his future beyond that.