Picking Ching was a mistake

When asked last week about the first day of pre-season training camp, Montreal Impact coach Jesse Marsch responded by saying that “everybody’s excited to be here”.

He did, however, forget the exception. Brian Ching is not a happy camper.

And who could blame him? He was hoping to finish his career with the Houston Dynamo in their new stadium, but after having been picked by Montreal in the MLS expansion draft last November, he will have to suit up for the Impact instead.

The Hawaiian wasn’t just another player for the Dynamo: he became the face of the franchise after it moved to Houston in 2006. Getting picked by the Impact isn’t as bad as, say, Daniel Alfredsson having to leave the Ottawa Senators for a new hockey team in Las Vegas two years from now, but it’s not that far off.

“I’ll be completely honest with you guys,” Ching told the media last Monday. “I would have loved to finish my career in Houston, especially because they’re opening up a new stadium there. It was something I was planning on. But I’m a professional, and sometimes you don’t always get what you want.”

Ching showing up to the Montreal’s pre-season training camp last week had nothing to do with a change of heart. Yes, he did declare that he would retire in the unfortunate event of being picked by the Impact, but it was only an empty threat. He was never going to say no to the money.

As great a professional as he may be, he’s human too and though arranged marriages can be successful, Ching probably won’t ever fall in love. But even in a best case scenario where that was to happen and Ching went on to have a great season, it would all end there because he only has one year left to play. Why would the Impact use one of their picks for a player who only has one season left in the tank?

Considering how much emphasis the Impact organization has put on acquiring players that really want to play in Montreal and the fact that Ching has always objected to leaving Houston, Marsch was probably hoping to trade the player for something significant in return.

But how much can the Impact actually obtain from trading Ching? He has one year left to play, he’s not willing to go anywhere other than Houston, and -- the truth be told -- Houston isn’t exactly dying to have him back either. As much as the Dynamo organization is disappointed to have lost him, they are, at the same time, relieved to no longer have to pay his hefty salary. Ultimately, Ching has very little trade value and the fact that he is still with the Impact isn’t something for Montreal fans to rejoice about, on the contrary.

Picking Ching was a mistake and not only because it was a waste of a pick but also because of the attention the story has received. Anyone in Montreal who knows something, anything, about the Impact will probably know two things: that Montreal is entering a bigger league -- the one that David Beckham plays in -- and that the Impact got a good player against his will. The Ching saga has given an air of negativity to what has been a mostly positive campaign so far. This is especially true for those who are undecided about whether or not to jump on board with the rest of the Impact faithful.

When talking about the Impact’s strategies or roadmap for MLS this past summer, club president Joey Saputo warned the media that they were inevitably going to make mistakes at some point along the way. Picking Ching was the first. It was a bold but reckless decision, a divergence from the very meticulous and methodical approach to conducting business that has just about defined the club in these first few months.

The best thing for the Impact to do now is to try and keep Ching under the radar, pay him a few extra dollars for a couple forced smiles here and there, make sure he gives his best, trade him back to Houston for anything they can get in July, and immediately replace him with another -- and preferably better -- high profile forward. But if the Impact is sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table by that time, chances are we’ll never hear the end of it.

Nick Sabetti is a Montreal-based writer who covers the Montreal Impact for Goal.com. Follow Nick on Twitter.