Tuesday, February 24, 2009
TAMPA, FL -- In a club battle of Mexico versus Canada, it may be the duo of a Cuban striker and an American goalkeeper that prove the difference if the Montreal Impact are to register another historic moment in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League tournament when they play host to Santos Laguna in the first leg of the Quarterfinals Wednesday indoors at Olympic Stadium on Fox Soccer Channel at 8:00 pm ET.
A squad that is vastly untouched from the close of the 2008 campaign, the Impact’s biggest move of the offseason was the signing of nine-year USL-1 veteran Eduardo Sebrango. It marked the return of the former Cuban international, who helped guide Montreal to the league championship in 2004 before moving onto Vancouver, where he has won it twice more for a total of three in five years.
In what can only be described as a stroke of irony, Sebrango’s return to the Impact will come indoors, harking back to his North American professional debut as a member of the Impact’s indoor side that played in the NPSL in 1998-99.
The present-day Sebrango is what Montreal will be counting on Wednesday night, however, as they prepare to face a Santos side that is in the midst of their season. Last year, Sebrango was the clutch performer for Vancouver, registering six game-winning goals, four of them in 1-0 results, for the Whitecaps as they went on to finish second in the table and win the postseason championship. More importantly, three of those 1-0 winners came in the first four matches of Vancouver’s season, a critical contribution with none of his teammates finding the back of the net until the seventh match of the campaign. With Montreal coming into the Quarterfinals match straight out of preseason, a similar effort would be quite well received.
At the other end of the pitch for Montreal is veteran American goalkeeper Matt Jordan, who is entering his third season with the club after spending eight seasons in Major League Soccer. In his two Impact seasons, Jordan has finished first (2008) and second in the league goals against average table with a combined average of 0.71. His performance has kept the Impact near the top of the league in defensive ranking, finishing second the past two years after four straight seasons at number one.
Jordan’s leadership in the back is coupled with veteran defenders has been a key component in the club’s consistency in quelling the opposition. While the club will miss the retiring three-time USL-1 Defender of the Year Gabriel Gervais, who missed most of last year to injury, it has gradually developed newer talent over the past few years that will play under the continued guidance of Nevio Pizzolitto, who is entering his 15th season with the Impact, 16th in the league.
Home field advantage of a potential crowd of 50,000 may be the third piece to the puzzle in Montreal heading to Mexico with the advantage in the series. Since winning their group in the Champions League last fall, Santos has seen limited success domestically – particularly on the road. They earned just their second victory in seven games Sunday at home to move their record to 2-3-2 (W-L-D) for the current season, but have struggled away from home with a draw, two losses and no goals scored. They finished the Apertura season with just two wins in the final seven games with a mark of 2-1-4 as it came to a close in December.
While they have not found much success offensively, Santos is similar to Montreal in that its defense has been superb, allowing the league’s lowest goal total to date with just five given up by the squad with current Mexican National Team starting goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez in goal for six of their seven matches.
Although Santos won their Champions League group, the Impact know that the Mexican 2008 Clausura champions can be defeated in the competition, having seen them fall to fellow USL-1 club Puerto Rico, albeit under extreme weather conditions, in Bayamon 3-1. In the group phase, Santos allowed more goals (11) than any of the other clubs that qualified for the Quarterfinals while Montreal was among the best with only five given up in the six matches with only one being allowed at home. Santos allowed nine on the road in three games, including four in the 4-4 group finale against Municipal.
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Video courtesy Montreal Impact (www.montrealimpact.com)
