The Montreal Impact did not achieve the ultimate goal of winning the CONCACAF Champions League. But along the way it may have achieved something more important than a six-month Cinderella run: exposure.
I admit; I watched less than 15 minutes of the Impact run due to technical difficulties and my pesky real job. But I spent an inordinate amount of time talking about and answering questions concerning the Montreal team with the fitting moniker. The questions were not coming from soccerphiles, either. The Sportsnet newsroom (where my desk is located) is a bevy of sports talk, generally hockey, but the pucks looked up from their boxscores long enough to find out why the Impact lost and how cool it was to see the Big O bursting at the seams in mid-February.
Now soccer itself doesn't need the exposure; those who like it do it with abandon and those who do not reciprocate by wastefully trying to get us to watch something else. But Canadian soccer needs the exposure, and will benefit from the recent headlines and in roads made as far south as Trinidad & Tobago.
Henceforth, and thanks in all due part to Montreal, the Canadian qualifier to the CONCACAF tournament will always be approached with caution. The Impact were undoubtedly underestimated from the original group stage -- in reality, Montreal was underestimated from the first game against Toronto.
With the new notoriety also comes an influx of cash for the club. The additional home dates earned mean extra gate, and you can be sure that much of the revenue will be spent on ensuring the Impact do its best to retain the Nutrilite Canadian Champions League and Voyageurs Cup trophies. One area to splash the cash might be up front, where Eduardo Sebrango played the CONCACAF tournament of his life and could extend the run of form if Montreal can compliment the 35-year-old with the right players to open up space.
The Cuban striker notched 12 goals in the 2008 campaign, eight more than any teammate.
(TFC supporters are well-versed in the pitfalls of a (n)one-dimensional attack.)
But anyhow, despite the second-leg, second-half collapse to Santos Laguna of Mexico the Impact should be applauded for its effort in a tournament very few thought much of until last season.
When that applause dies down the team should be applauded again for providing a reprieve from the short-comings that have dotted the Canadian landscape in the last year.
Circle May 13, all new Impact fans.
