Monday – Members General Assembly:
It’s been a busy week for the Montreal Impact. On Monday evening, the Impact held their second annual members’ assembly. This event was open to season ticket holders and members of the media. The evening featured Club President Joey Saputo, Executive Vice-President of Soccer Operations Richard Legendre, Head Coach Frank Klopas, and Vice-Presidents Hughes Léger, Marc Bourassa, and André Côté.
The evening began with Saputo, Legendre, and Klopas speaking about the disappointing 2014 season and looking forward to 2015. The biggest news of the evening came when Legendre announced that Philippe Eullaffroy would be the first head coach of the new USL-Pro team next year, Montreal FC. Eullaffroy has been an important coach for the Academy teams for the last number of seasons. Although there have been many changes in the coaching makeup over the last number of years Eullaffroy has been one of the constants.
Head Coach Frank Klopas mentioned the Impact were on the verge of signing some new players. Klopas identified some areas of the field that they needed to improve on including a central defender, a defensive midfielder and finally a box-to-box midfielder. Klopas said that there should be some names announced soon, although he would not give any spoilers during the evening.
The second half of the evening was reserved for fans to ask questions to the Saputo and the rest of the Impact front office. It was obvious the fans were not pleased about last season and communicated that to Klopas and Saputo. One fan hit a nerve of Klopas by arguing he did not show fan favourites such as Perkins and Brovsky the respect they deserved. Klopas jumped up from his seat on the stage and entered into a passionate rebuttal.
The members assembly is a nice gesture aimed at the fans and allows for season ticket holders to feel closer to the club. Although there were no major announcements during the event, it is a good opportunity to build up the community of season ticket holders.
Tuesday – Impact Players Feature for Canada:
On Tuesday night Canada took on Panama in a friendly match. There were four players on Canada from the Impact: Issey Nakajima-Farran, Patrice Bernier, Karl Ouimette, and Maxim Tissot. The game ended as a 0-0 draw however Nakajima-Farran and Bernier both played 62 minutes with Ouimette playing the full match. Also of note Adam Straith played in central defence for Canada. Straith had been on trial with the Impact at the end of the season.
Wednesday – Impact Pick up Player in Chivas USA Dispersal Draft:
On Wednesday afternoon the MLS held the dispersal draft for players that were on Chivas USA during the 2014 Season. The Impact took advantage of the draft to pick up a left back in Donny Toia. The 22 year old American defender was described by Frank Klopas as an “athletic young guy that has already played a lot of games in the MLS”. Toia featured in 27 games for Chivas USA in 2014 starting in 24. The defence was one spot the Impact needed to improve and Donny Toia will hope to lend a hand to the Impact in 2015.
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