MONTREAL – Overheard on Wednesday afternoon during a busy lunch hour at The Old Dublin Pub on Cathcart Street:
“Huge game tonight, eh buddy?”
“What? No, the Habs are off tonight.”
“I meant the Impact.”
Let’s be clear: Hockey will always be king in Montreal. Regardless of how Les Canadiens do, they will always be the top dog in the city’s sports scene. That’s never going to change, and the Canadiens will always garner the lion’s share of media attention and fan devotion. Every other team in this city is simply fighting for table scraps.
But on Wednesday night, the Habs took a back seat to the Impact, who drew 61,004 fans for their CONCACAF Champions League second leg match vs. Club America, the largest crowd ever to watch a professional soccer game in Canada.
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“Obviously, the Montreal Canadiens are always going to be the biggest sports story in town. But after the Habs eliminated the Sens, all the focus in the city is on the Impact right now. Honestly, I’ve never seen Montreal more excited for a soccer game. The Impact are creating a huge buzz here,” said Kelly Greig, a Montreal-based reporter for Sportsnet, in the buildup to the second leg.
A 4-2 loss to the Mexican outfit on Wednesday evening ended Montreal’s improbable run and saw Club America crowned continental champions. From last place in Major League Soccer in 2014 to 40 minutes away from being crowned champions of CONCACAF, it’s been quite the magical ride for the Impact.
But now what? Where does Montreal go from here? And can the Impact sustain the unbelievable buzz that enveloped the city all this week and carry over their CONCACAF momentum into MLS?
Montreal is a very tough sports market. Folks here like big events: The Grey Cup. The Summer Olympics. Stanley Cup playoffs. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran. Formula One.
Montreal also likes winners, and they have little tolerance for losing, the by-product of the “Original Six” era when the Habs dominated the NHL and won Stanley Cups at will. If a Montreal team isn’t winning, local fans won’t come out; the Habs, of course, are exempt from this rule.
The Champions League is over for Montreal. There aren’t going to be any more “big events” in the Impact’s immediate future. That leaves winning.
“Once this Champions League run is over, it’s up to them to prove they’re still winners in MLS, and that’s a big question mark right now,” Greig said.
Indeed, after finishing dead last a year ago and failing to earn a single win through its first four games of the current MLS campaign, an Impact side that is firmly in “rebuild mode” has its work cut out—a fact not lost on coach Frank Klopas.
“If the team does well then people are going to come out. We’ve shown that we have an exciting team with quality players,” Klopas told reporters after Wednesday’s loss.
“We’ve built a team with enough depth that we can focus on one thing. I think (momentum from the CONCACAF run) will carry on (into MLS). But the results are also important. If we get results, the fans are here. … We have to keep going and as much as this hurts, we have to put this behind us and focus on our (MLS) season because we have to make up a lot of games.”
They sure do. MLS rescheduled two of Montreal’s league games so that it can focus on its CONCACAF mission. As a result, the Impact only played one MLS match in April, and have only played four times, while most other sides have eight or nine matches under their belt.
If the Impact don’t win the majority of their games in hand, or at least pick up points in most of them, they’re going to slip even further behind.
Klopas, though, believes playing some of the best teams in CONCACAF in the Champions League gives the Impact an advantage as they look to kick start their MLS season.
“There’s a lot of room to make up because we have a lot of high expectations and goals for the season. Now it’s important that we put this behind us quickly and we learn from it. Playing games like this in stressful situations, it makes you better as a team. This game will definitely help us,” Klopas offered.
Forward Jack McInerney feels the team will have to make a tactical adjustment in MLS now that it’s no longer competing in CONCACAF.
“We did great in this tournament. We played well and I think the style of play called for us to counter attack against these Central American teams. In MLS, it’s going to be different. We have a very skillful team and we’re going to see a lot more of the ball. We’re going to have to adapt, keep possession and focus on moving the ball around and try to break teams down,” McInerney said.
“It’ll take a few games to catch on but I think we have enough quality on this team to make the playoffs.”
