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MLS Ticker: Impact near major signing; Miller called up for Scotland friendly; and more

HernanBernardelloAlmeria2 (AS)

By DAN KARELL

On the heels of a poor run of form, the Montreal Impact are closing in on what would be a major signing for the club.

The Canadian club announced on Monday that they are in advanced negotiations to bring defensive midfielder Hernan Bernardello to the Impact, potentially as a designated player. The 26-year-old Argentine spent last season back in his homeland with Colon, after featuring over 100 times between 2009 and 2012 with Almeria, split between La Liga and the second division.

If Bernardello does sign with the club, it would follow the recent moves made by Impact General Manager Nick De Santis when he sent two of his team’s reserve midfielders on loan to the NASL.

An interesting side-note to this story is that Bernardello was reported to have been signed by Puebla in Liga MX last Saturday. Last season at Colon, Bernardello featured 25 times, scoring one goal in league matches.

Here are some more stories to read from around MLS:

MILLER RECALLED FOR FRIENDLY AT WEMBLEY

For the first time since the end of March, Kenny Miller will be featuring for the Scotland National Team.

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has called in the Vancouver Whitecaps forward for the upcoming friendly match between England and Scotland on August 14 at Wembley Stadium in London, part of the FA’s celebration of their 150th anniversary.

The 33-year-old is fit from his hamstring troubles earlier in the season, but he’ll cause some headaches to Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie due to the call-up. With a mid-week match, Miller is likely to miss either the August 10 home game against the San Jose Earthquakes or the August 17 match at the Colorado Rapids.

Miller has scored six goals in 12 matches this season, though he has hit a bit of a rough patch, with just one goal in his last six games.

EARTHQUAKES DEFEAT NORWICH CITY IN FRIENDLY

Despite resting a number of regulars, the San Jose Earthquakes took home a 1-0 victory over Norwich City in a friendly match on Saturday at Buck Shaw Stadium.

Cordell Cato scored the game’s lone goal in the seventh minute, taking advantage of a poor back pass and finishing past Norwich goalkeeper Mark Bunn. While Norwich was continuing their preseason preparations, the Earthquakes mix of starters and reserves held the likes of Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Leroy Fer, and Anthony Pilkington off the scoreboard.

The result leaves the Earthquakes with a 2-0-3 record in international friendly matches at against teams from the Premier League.

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What do you think of this news? Do you believe Montreal needs another defensive midfielder? Do you see Miller missing either game before and/or after the friendly? Impressed with the Earthquakes win?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. @John Gargan’s a mess. only use is his long throw in which is useful in the quakes direct ball to heads style. Don’t let the Norwich game put you off- I agree it was a bit tiresome.

    Reply
  2. I was at the Earthquakes game. First friendly I went ever attended, since I’m a nascent soccer fan. Little disappointing — Norwich seemed to be holding back . . . guess they didn’t want to get injured.

    And I’m starting to revise my opinion of the Earthquakes’ Dan Gargan. I defended him last week when he got the Sounders’ Alonso ejected, because I thought Alonso was too much of a harasser for the whole game. But Gargan tried starting a fight with Norwich’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel by taking his hand and pushing the Dutchman’s chest. I think Gargan did it because van Wolfswinkel had accidentally tripped up one of Gargan’s teammates a minute earlier. Maybe Gargan should change his last name to Goon.

    Reply
  3. earthquake reserves ran rings around norwich-out passing and out running them easily. boring game tho-with little excitement at either end. interesting to see the norwich players up close. they looked like they had spent too much time bulking up at the gym over the summer instead of running. I like Norwich and hope they stay up this year but felt happy for the baby quakes enjoying a small victory in a terrible season.

    Reply
  4. First of all puebla from ligamx signs sucky players, all the time and i believe they r part own by the city of puebla, who helps them pay and buy stuff for the team. If MLS are stealing players from bad own teams and low table teams from mexico, that is sad. MLS should steal players from the big teams in mexico and not the low table teams. As a matter of fact, puebla was almost relegated last season but luckily they didn’t, and their coach was about to quit before sundays game.

    Reply
    • And these are the big teams from mexico.
      Chivas
      Club america
      Unam pumas
      Cruz azul
      Leon very similar to timbers
      Monterrey rayados
      monterrey tigres
      Veracruz which was given an expansion rebirth like MLS style
      Toluca
      Pachuca
      In a way, ligamx has 10 big teams out of 18 .
      Puebla, morelia, san luis, querretaro,tijuana, santos,chiapas jaguares,atlas are kinda small to medium teams. So with MLS parity, MLS will never have big teams in small or big markets.

      Reply
      • Tijuana and Santos are the last two champions. And Santos has played in the last two CCL finals. Hardly call them small. Both bigger and more established than Leon, Toluca, or Veracruz.

      • You are wrong, santos and Tijuana are 2 small teams. Leon, Toluca and Veracruz are rich in history of Mexican soccer.

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