Every Friday, Sportsnet.ca will chat with Sportsnet soccer commentator Paul Dolan—a former Canadian national team goalkeeper—about the big stories and issues in Major League Soccer.
What did you make of the Montreal Impact’s loss and performance against Club America in this week’s second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semifinal? Where do the Impact go from here in terms of MLS? How do they turn around a poor start to the domestic campaign?
It was an extremely spirited first-half performance buoyed by an incredibly supportive crowd, unlike anything we have ever seen in Canada, but it was almost as if the Impact left everything they had on the park in that first 45 minutes. Club America finally settled itself and its quality showed both technically and tactically as they stretched and exploited the right side of the Montreal defence with three goals in 16 minutes. I know the feeling when you think as if there is no way back and your dream is shattered—the legs and mind just go and that’s what happened after conceding the second goal.
That will be the Impact’s biggest challenge as they transition to MLS play, adjusting back to the daily grind of the regular season without the carrot of a big-game, playoff type atmosphere each week. They need to re-trench and focus now on putting in determined 90-minute efforts as they did for most of their CCL run, but I fear they have too many weaknesses in key positions and not enough depth to cover those holes for a long regular season.
Laurent Ciman and Ignacio Piatti are special players but the Impact must strengthen the every-day squad in order to challenge for a playoff spot. I think this incredible run might be the incentive the organization needed to see the potential for success by investing in a few additional pieces to round out what could be a very good side.
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Do the Vancouver Whitecaps have a discipline problem? Matias Laba was sent off last week; it’s the second time in three games one of their DPs has been sent off. Vancouver also leads the league in fouls committed and cards. Does Carl Robinson have to rein his players in a bit more?
The sample size is growing each week but I still refuse to believe they can be considered an overly physical team or one that has a discipline issue. I will say that some of the cards they’ve received have been through their own poor decision-making, as both the yellow to Pedro Morales and the red to Laba were very avoidable vs. DC United last week. Carl Robinson wants his team to be aggressive defensively and pressure the ball all over the field but they need to find the balance between trying to win everything at the risk of a foul and keeping good defensive shape with the opponent in front of them. I think we’ll see that better balance the rest of the season but I probably couldn’t have picked a worse time to make that prediction ahead of a Cascadia clash in Portland on Saturday.
Ashtone Morgan has been a pleasant surprise for Toronto FC this year. Would you continue to start him at left fullback and keep Justin Morrow at right fullback—even though it’s not Morrow’s natural position and he’s one of the best left fullbacks in MLS?
You’re asking someone who can’t hide his bias for wanting Canadian players to succeed in MLS. Ashtone Morgan’s play this season has been a revelation both offensively, where he’s delivered dangerous balls into the box, and defensively, where he’s shown a commitment to get tighter on cutting out service into Toronto’s penalty area. He was also excellent in the air on several occasions vs. Orlando to help preserve TFC’s first clean sheet of the season last weekend and based on his performances this year I think it would be very hard for Greg Vanney to keep him out of the lineup.
Justin Morrow looked more comfortable in a right back position than he did at centre-back the previous couple of games against one of the most dangerous left-sided players in the league in Brek Shea. So I think until Vanney has to make a decision at the position when Mark Bloom finally gets healthy he should keep Morgan on the left and Morrow on the right for now.
What’s been your impression of Kaka so far in MLS?
He’s been excellent. He has genuinely seemed to give his best efforts in every game and has influenced the game in a positive way as much as has been possible with an expansion team that features so many inexperienced players playing with him. Orlando assistant coach and former Canadian international Mark Watson told me he has been a joy to work with and that his personality is infectious and he sincerely wants the best for the club.
His work rate has been the best on the team in games and in training and he is a natural leader as highlighted by the team speech he made ahead of Orlando’s home opener. He just turned 33 last week and the former FIFA World Player of the Year seems to have lots of life left in his legs and you get the impression from everything you see and hear that he would like to play for as many years as possible in MLS.
The Amway Canadian Championship continues next week with the semifinals, which is where the MLS teams enter the competition as they try to claim the Voyaguers Cup. How seriously do you think Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver will take this year’s tournament?
You would have to think more seriously than ever before when they’ve just seen first-hand what possibilities exist with a good run as the Canadian representative in the CONCACAF Champions League. The Impact were 45 minutes away from playing the Bayern Munichs or Barcelonas of the world in a meaningful FIFA competition and you would think that experience and the possible run to a CCL final would be a tremendous incentive financially, as well as developmentally as I’m sure we’ll see some of the squads using younger players in this round.
Wednesday, May 6 programming alert: Watch Montreal Impact vs. Toronto FC live on Sportsnet World and web streamed on Sportsnet.ca at 7:30 pm ET, and FC Edmonton vs. Vancouver Whitecaps at 10:00 pm ET on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet World. || Sportsnet World || Broadcast schedule
