Friday, September 17, 2004

 

MONTREAL – The Seattle Sounders and Montreal Impact will face off for the 2004 A-League Championship Saturday LIVE on Fox Sports World at 7:00 pm ET at Claude Robillard Stadium in Montreal.

The Sounders are the first club to represent the Pacific coast since the club won back-to-back titles in 1995 and 1996. Montreal is the first club to represent Canada in the final since the club won the 1994 championship.

Montreal comes into the game with the league’s top defense led by A-League MVP and two-time Goalkeeper of the Year Greg Sutton and two-time Defender of the Gabriel Gervais. The Impact had a record year in 2004 as the team broke Rochester’s 1998 single season shutout record of 18 with 19 during the regular season. The club went on to record three more in four postseason games for 22 in 32 games on the year. The club’s 15 goals allowed tied Rochester’s 1998 league record for the fewest in a season of 21 or more games.

“The individual awards are a result of our success throughout the season.  Its only normal that their play will be rewarded,” said first-year Impact head coach Nick DeSantis. “From minute one the important thing was that everyone was going in the same direction.  It was most important to have a great team. I congratulate them that they distanced themselves game in and game out.”

For DeSantis, getting past the demons of the past were the key to reaching the final again.

“We had a monkey on our back for many years, the strength it took to pass (Rochester) was very great. Mental strength is what it takes for the playoffs. We started off in Charleston where we’ve never beaten them and we got through that obstacle. Getting through Rochester in the playoffs was a big obstacle. We’ve dealt with pressure all year long.” 

Seattle, on the other hand, enters the match not only as the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but as the lowest of the eight playoff teams overall. Peaking at the right time with five wins in their final six games, the Sounders got into the postseason and after opening with a 2-1 loss in Portland, they rebounded to knock off the regular season champion Timbers. They then topped longtime nemesis Vancouver in the Conference Final to reach the championship.

“For us to get to the final as the fourth seed is a testament to the guys,” said Sounders midfielder Sean Michael Callahan. “We weren’t going to let it be an all Canadian final.  To have a five to six-game win streak to end the year, to be as successful as we have been is exciting.”

“We knew we were a good team.  We weren’t closing games out.  We came together as a group.  We just needed to get on the same page and it snowballed, leading us into the championship game,” added Callahan.

Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer, however, attributed the club’s unlikely presence in the final as lucky.

“The team is peaking now. I can’t say it was anything but dumb luck.  I’ve been in the league for three years. My first year we ran the table (23-4-1) and lost in the first round.  Last year we had a good season and lost in conference finals.”

“This year we’re in fourth/fifth place, had injuries, but what did it was some of those key guys that were sitting on the bench started playing and all of a sudden you get starters that are hungry to get their positions back. They were fit, ready to go and that’s what catapulted us past Portland.  They are a good team but when I brought my reserves on, that’s where we beat them.  My subs just changed that game.  In the overtime it was no contest.  It wasn’t coaching, we were just peaking at the right time.”

Now facing the regular season runners-up, Schmetzer is hoping the team responds to the role of underdog.

“I’m going to tell them we’re the underdog, of course I am.  Certainly I feel that their team has good confidence right now.  I’m going to use whatever psychological tactics I can to give us an edge.  I’ll use whatever I can. Everybody, myself included, will have butterflies before the referee blows the whistle.”

While Schmetzer was calling his side lucky and the underdog, DeSantis praised the Sounders’ postseason success.

“For Seattle to beat out the first team overall in Portland, then to beat out the Vancouver Whitecaps who have showed what class they are; these are two teams that are riding high on confidence,” said DeSantis about the two finalists. 

Danny Jackson, a key Seattle defender, also commented on the task at hand, feeling that the Sounders can handle the challenge and that a piece of magic from one of their forwards would be set pieces may make the difference.

“It’s nervous excitement you know.  We are the underdog.  We’re just going to come into this game and give our all and see what happens. We know through our ability to play that we can outplay any team, that we can play with any team in the country.  Montreal certainly proved during the season that they are one of the best teams.”

“It’s a special game for many of our players it will be the last time many of us play together,” added Jackson. “Sawatzky and Farrell, it will be there last game. “Tomorrow evening will be a great showcase for soccer. There are many players in this league who could or maybe should be playing in MLS.”