Impact’s Patrice Bernier has mixed emotions about farewell season

James Sharman and Craig Forrest talk about what fans can expect from Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps this season.

• 2017 Major League Soccer season preview: Montreal Impact

Montreal Impact captain Patrice Bernier is of two minds as he prepares for the 2017 Major League Soccer season.

On the one hand, Bernier is all business about the upcoming MLS campaign, which for the Impact begins Saturday night away to the San Jose Earthquakes. Bernier, a 37-year-old native of Brossard, Que., plans to retire after 18 years as a pro at the end of the season, so he wants to go out as a winner. On the other hand, he can’t help but feel a bit sentimental, and view this upcoming year as a sort of farewell tour before a bids a formal adieu.

“You know you’re going to finish at the end. It’s difficult to comprehend right now. … It’s going to be strange because you’re preparing for a season, but you know there won’t be another season. But right now, my motivation is high,” Bernier told Sportsnet in a one-on-one interview.

“I have the five-year-old kid in me that’s wanted to do this as a career, who’s always motivated. But I have the adult in me who has to tell the kid that you can’t play anymore. I’m looking forward to appreciating every game, every venue, the [expansion franchises] that are coming in this year, so it’s going to be interesting, and hopefully we have a great season.”

Of all the stadiums he’ll play in, there is one that he’s especially looking forward to visiting one final time—Sporting Kansas City’s Children Mercy Park. It was in 2013, when it was known as Sporting Park, that Bernier turned out for the MLS all-star team against Italian side AS Roma, called into the side by Kansas City coach Peter Vermes after being overlooked by voting fans and media.

“The more I go through the season towards the end then it’s going to be a bit more difficult, a lot more emotional. I’m looking forward to go to certain places. I think going to Kansas City is a place where I’ll always have something more special—the rivalry, the fact that I went to the All-Star Game,” Bernier said. “My first goal in MLS is there, too. We are going there this year so it’s going to be nice to go back there.”

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Sentimentality aside, Bernier and the Impact have a job to do in 2017, namely to compete in what should be a very competitive Eastern Conference, and improve on last season’s showing when they made it all the way to the semifinals in the playoffs before succumbing to Toronto FC.

Despite the Impact’s solid run in the post-season, which included upsetting D.C. United and the top-seeded New York Red Bulls, the Impact came in for some criticism from supporters and pundits for being too one-dimensional in relying on the counter-attack. Coach Mauro Biello has talked during this pre-season about changing tactics, wanting his team to be a bit more possession oriented instead of always sitting deep and hitting out against opponents on the counter. That’s fine with Bernier, who feels he is better suited to a style of play that stresses ball retention.

“It’s more to my game really. Teams figure you out very fast. We did a lot of good things [last year]; we know we’re really good on the counter-attack. At some point teams are going to want to do the same thing that we do, which is counter on us. But I think we have to [improve] our possession game,” Bernier offered.

“When [opponents] come to Saputo Stadium, some teams just want to come and collect the one point or hopefully steal the other two, so we have to be a lot more patient and find solutions for creating chances off of possession and also [go to Plan B]—you have to be unpredictable, because teams figure you out, find ways to beat you, or they neutralize your strengths, so I think we have to bring this to the game and show other teams that we can keep the ball.”

Another critical area where Montreal will look to improve is on set pieces, taking them and defending them. Set pieces were the downfall of the Impact in last year’s playoffs, as TFC scored all three of their regulation-time goals off corner kicks during the decisive second leg.

 
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March 02 2017

“It’s definitely something we can get better at, that we have to get better at. It’s not just last year, I think in the six seasons I’ve been here, set pieces have been somewhat of a weak point,” Bernier admitted.

“I think it’s a concentration thing. I think it’s also a will and desire that you don’t get beat by your man. There are certain things that the staff is working on, some tweaks to put us in the best situation possible to avoid [conceding] goals. I see other guys on other teams, when they get into the box, it’s their bread and butter. Some of them are centre backs and they come in with the intention and desire, and we have to have the same will to prevent them from scoring, and the same going forward offensively.”

Bernier is hoping two of Montreal’s key defenders—Hassoun Camara (six-feet-two) and Laurent Ciman (six-feet)—can take advantage of their size and score a few goals off set pieces this season.

“I know guys like Hassoun, like Laurent, they can get on the end of things and score. So, we have to improve in that area … Even in pre-season we saw, if you’re leading or controlling the game it’s one set piece and you might lose the game. So, we definitely have to be better and improve,” Bernier said.

Like Toronto FC, the core of last season’s Montreal Impact side returns for the 2017 campaign. Yes, Didier Drogba has retired, while defender Donny Toia, and midfielders Lucas Ontivero, Harry Shipp and Johan Venagas are no longer with the team. But all 11 starters from the playoff series against TFC are back, including influential playmaker Ignacio Piatti (he was linked with a transfer move back to Argentina), speedster Dominic Oduro (signed to a contract extension) and Italian forward Matteo Mancuso (inked to a permanent deal after being on loan in 2016).

Also, defenders Chris Duvall and Daniel Lovitz were added during the winter, giving Montreal an injection of some much-needed youth, while Swiss playmaker Blerim Džemaili, currently playing with Bologna in Serie A, will join the Impact as its new Designated Player in July.

Can the Impact go the extra step in 2017 and make it to the MLS Cup final for the first time in franchise history after falling just short in 2016?

“I believe from what we did last year, we know we have some experience, that we’re close, that we have that hunger to go further; but I also realize that MLS is a grind, and it’s making the playoffs first and foremost, and then once you enter the playoffs with the right mindset, we have the possibility,” Bernier explained.

“If we do everything right and we have a good season and get into the playoffs, we have the experience to know that we’ve been there before and we’ll be able to maybe surpass what we did before. Because in 2015 we hit a certain point, we passed that in 2016 and hopefully we can do the same and go further in 2017. I think with the elements we have—Piatti, Ciman and [goalkeeper] Evan Bush—and there will be tweaks as the season goes on, I think we have the potential to go very far.”

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