photo by Jean-Yves Ahern/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
MONTREAL — The Montreal Impact put up a good fight, but in the end they simply could not stand pound-for-pound with a heavyweight like Club America.
The Impact fell a step short of making history on Wednesday night, suffering a 4-2 home loss to Club America to disappointingly finish as the runners-up of the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League Finals. While that scoreline may indicate a one-sided affair in favor of the Liga MX side, it was far from it.
At least in the first half.
Pushed on by a roaring crowd of 61,004 at Olympic Stadium, Montreal scored an eighth-minute goal and looked every bit as dangerous as Club America in the first half. The Impact took their 1-0 lead – 2-1 on aggregate – into the halftime, but things changed after the break.
“We tired a little bit and we got stretched and when you give them a lot of room with the quality they have, they make you pay,” said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. “Give them credit, the quality showed late in the game.”
That was a common line the Impact players used in their postgame interviews, and it had merit.
Club America came out of the intermission buzzing, showing as much energy as it had in the first half. if not more so. Montreal, meanwhile, faded badly. Passes were not sharp, defending was not as solid, and the previously deadly counter attacks fizzled out.
The result was Club America beating the Impact into submission, scoring four unanswered goals before Montreal got a late consolation prize. The Impact got clobbered.
The difference in quality showed.
“We gave them opportunities, but it’s crazy. They capitalized on all of them,” said Montreal midfielder Dilly Duka. “It’s tough to come back from that.”
The second-half performance may have ended a Cinderella run for the Impact in cruel fashion, but it again raised the question as to what exactly MLS has to do to have a club win the Champions League for the first time.
Many fans and observers in the United States and Canada have said repeatedly that more quality is needed on MLS rosters. The argument is that the lower-budget squads in MLS make for a discrepancy in quality – former U.S. Men’s National Team forward and current Puebla striker Herculez Gomez talked about the very topic on his Twitter account during the game – that is too hard to overcome against big-spending Liga MX clubs.
Impact midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, who was forced to play right back on Wednesday due to Montreal’s injuries, said there was validity in that notion when asked specifically about it.
“That generally is a common thing,” said Reo-Coker. “The MLS is in its infancy still. It’s a growing league. That league’s been going for many, many years, and it’s not just a sport to them. It’s a way of life.
“We’re still here making that transition for people to understand it’s not just football, it’s a way of life. With that comes the quality coaching side of things and for us as players to go out there and play football.”
Klopas seemed to more or less agree.
“I think the MLS has come along way. The quality with a lot of teams here I think they can do extremely well,” said Klopas. “But it’s got to be something for the teams and for the players to shoot for, and I’m not talking about little things. These players here they don’t make millions of dollars like the (Club) America players do.
“Put some real bonuses in there so that the guys take it really seriously and focus on it. If they do, then I think you will see MLS teams every year being in the position we were.”
MLS wants few things more than that. The league knows that it would gain added respect from not only the CONCACAF region, but other parts of the globe if it were to finally have a club win the Champions League and then compete in the annual FIFA Club World Cup.
But with the talent that many of the top teams in CONCACAF possess, MLS might need to change a few things for that to happen.
“At the end of the day,” said Reo-Coker, “the quality of the opposition came through at the end.”
So the reason MLS clubs don’t win in CCL is because they don’t care? Not because MLS is not nearly as good as many people have deluded themselves into believing? Oh, ok. Thanks for clarifying. Because I thought that EVERY time an MLS club plays a Mexican club – it seems like it is the Mexican clubs who take the games as a joke until they decide – ok now we will show you what we can do when we want to. …and beats the MLS team, WHEN IT MATTERS. Sorry – not buying it. I think this is the rationalization from the MLS types who don’t want to acknowledge what everyone in Mexico already knows – top-to-bottom the Mexican League is better than MLS.
You have missed the point.
I don’t doubt that Liga MX teams are still better top-to-bottom than MLS teams. For now, that almost certainly remains true. At no point did I (or anybody) claim that the MLS teams are actually better.
The problem is, we don’t actually KNOW for sure because MLS teams very rarely field their Best XI against anybody in the CCL. This is often true for Liga MX teams and even Costa Rican teams, as well. This is the true problem here.
It’s almost like an inverted argument of the excuses that fans of El Tri spout every time the US beats them (“we didn’t have Gio/Vela/Guardado/Marquez/whoever…) Well, that may be true, but what’s anybody supposed to do until the managers decide to actually field their best teams?
What I WANT to see is a tournament that incentivizes ALL teams to put their best sides out there more consistently. Only then is it worthwhile having this lame pen!s comparison about which league is “better”.
Make sense?
In truth, Montreal was lucky to get as far as they did. They really over achieved. Piatti looks to a real quality player, but if he wasn’t quite so selfish, they probably could have scored at least one more goal in the first half. Romero also shows promise. Ciman looks to be a real force in defense, but when they had to play without Camara and Bush, well it was too much to overcome and their stagecoach was revealed to be only a pumpkin. They need several more good players to even make the MLS playoffs is how it looks right now..
Raise the salary cap Don/MLS owners
#CCLCampaignsMatter
The average quality per MLS team will not improve as long as MLS keeps expanding. Wake up, Don. It’s called dilution. It’s pretty clear MLS does not need more than 20 teams. Would probably have better teams if we went back to 12.
The franchise fee that new teams pay into MLS is now a major source of MLS income. Thus, there is a strong financial incentive to add teams. And when those teams, like Orlando, play to big crowds, it vindicates the MLS decision to expand. Some posters here seem to forget that we live in a capitalistic system and money makes that world go round.
I dont mean to call out a valid concern, but the last place team in MLS was leading a Mexican super club with 45 mins left after beating other Mexican super clubs.
I doubt anyone is really listening to those concerns right now. Do you disagree?
You have a sample size of 1 (Montreal) which got fairly lucky to make it that far. Any team can stink and get lucky once in a while. Just ask Wigan or Portsmouth.
I do disagree on the long term.
This is just a silly attempt to apply an (unproven) NBA criticism to MLS. Are you seriously claiming that the quality of play in MLS has not increased year-upon-year since the old 12-team era? I can’t think of a single poster on this site who would actually claim that the quality of play in the league is now worse than it was, say, 5 years ago.
I’m sure you’re thinking — well, we still can’t beat Mexico teams in the CCL!. Don’t bother. Logically, this only works if you assume other leagues aren’t also getting better.
No way on earth the talent in MLS has been diluted. It’s a global market with thousands of competent players capable of playing at the MLS level. There is no “shortage” of talent– it’s just a function of the salaries MLS is willing to offer. They could have 50 teams if they wanted without diluting the talent (it would be a logistical nightmare, but that’s really the only constraint)
Wow that’s a number of generalizations. I don’t follow the NBA so it’s not a silly attempt to apply NBA criticism.
And no, I wasn’t thinking we still can’t beat Mexican teams in the CCL. Your mind reading headgear must be on the fritz. In reality, I find the average MLS game mostly un-watchable. I don’t even enjoy watching my home team because the quality is so poor.
It’s just a silly, simple, serious function of mathematics. If you have a certain number of players and expand playing opportunities, then you need to fill the new void with players.
For example, let’s say the EPL wanted to expand to 22 teams. They would probably just pull up the top teams from the Championship. Do you think those two teams would have the same exact quality as the previous 20 EPL teams? Of course not. So the quality of the EPL would be diluted.
With the exception of their DPs, do you think NYFC and Orlando coming into the league this year have either maintained or increased the quality of the MLS player pool?
When the MLS adds Minnesota, San Antonio, etc., do you think the quality of players will be maintained or increased?
Just because there’s a global supply of players doesn’t mean they’re all good.
If the EPL went from 20 to 22 teams, there is no logical reason at ll that this would lead to a dilution in quality. It all just depends on “willingness to spend” As long as the two new owners were willing to spend at the median EPL salary level or above, they simply have to go to the global market and find 46 players of EPL quality (there are many more out there than this in La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga) and buy them. in mathematical terms, there is no logical connection to dilution at all, as long as the global supply of players who are good enough” exceeds the available spots, this will be true (though one could argue that the current xenophboic Engish labor laws might cause some dilution).
Same goes for MLS. There are plenty of players in South America and globally who are good enough for MLS,, and who are currently being paid less money than the median MLS salary. Just have to go find them and acquire them.
If you think the quality of MLS play stinks, then good for you. But if you don’t think it has been improving, I don’t know what to tell you. I doubt you’ll find many who agree.
Monterey had a front two of Suazo and DiNigris to beat RSL who had Sabario and Espindola. Last night America had a front two of Peralta and Quintero and Montreal had Oduro and Piatti.
To win a major tournament like CCL or UEFA CL or Libertadores or FIFA WC you have got to have FINISHERS.
To have FINISHERS you have to PAY them.
To be able to pay for top finishers and still have quality AND depth in both your midfield and back line you have a high Salary Cap.
The Cap didn’t go up much in this last CBA so get ready for another four years of of MLS teams getting out classed by LigaMX.
Thanks Don Garber. I thought you wanted MLS to be top league by 2020.
Ain’t gonna happen with a the tiny weinee salary cap you’ve handcuffed your franchises with.
I’m straight up sick of this ish. I don’t want to even watch anymore. MLS needs to grow up and compete for top players.
I’m sick of MLS being the Little Bitch league.
Yeah. Lets raise the cap to 100,000,000. and then what? Import players until we can beat the Mexican team? It’s unrealistic. Mexican teams are better because the develop better players. They make more money because they’re better but paying them more won’t automatically improve their skills.
We need to stop looking for quick fixes and start talking about the big pink neon elephant in the room; we just don’t develop good enough players. Until we do, we need to get used to these outcomes. ….. or turn int England by overvaluing local talent and importing players to the detriment of our national team. There is no shortcuts to success.
Rob,
I’m not asking for 100M man but come on we could move up to 8-10M and not go broke. The 3.3M cap for 2015 is ridiculous.
Totally agree with you on the player development. Investment in the academy system and playing a reserve team in USL ala La Galaxy II is helping.
I live in the Atlanta suburbs and I see a lot more talent playing pickup with Mexican immigrants than I have watching Georgia United or Concord Fire the two Development Academy youth clubs in Atlanta.
I think until we find a way to get rid of the pay to pay system in youth clubs or we find a way to better scout the informal pickup type games that immigrants play in we won’t be able to develop the top players we want.
I’d like US Soccer to force SUM (Soccer United Marketing) to spend a large portion of the profits they make from all the international teams and CL clubs who play games in U.S. Stadiums that they promote on US soil on funding the Development Academy clubs so that kids don’t have to pay to play. Or use this money to develop a better scouting system at the grassroots level in immigrant communities.
It isn’t that simple. If Mexico develops such amazing players, why isn’t their national team any better than ours?
Slow,
That’s simple our guys got more heart. I mean Mexico couldnt even get Carlos Vela to accept a WC roster spot. They have too much I fight and politics going on within their federation.
Imagine for a second that Giovanni Dos Santos, Chicarito, or Carlos Vela’s parents had crossed the border and those guys grew up here. Unforunately there a good chance that if they had been born in the U.S. to immigrants parents that wouldn’t even be pro footballers right now.
If Vela or Chicarito were American they definitely would start over Jozy in a heart beat. Also if Jozy somehow were Mexican do you think he would even make the Mexican squad?
Ha. Yes. Vela. The imaginary El Tri Player.
And the unstoppable Gio Dos Santos, he of the solitary goal and 3 assists in La Liga this year. What an attacking menace! But of course he still had that great chip in the 2011 Gold Cup, so obviously he’s a stone cold killer.
And who can forget Chicharito? Boy has he shredded us for goals in his career… remind me again how many he has?
You nailed it the first time. Mexican players have zero heart. Bunch of punks who don’t even show up physically 80% of the time. I’d take Altidore over any of those guys. Heck, I’d take Agudelo. Or Conor Casey’s dog.
Conor Casey, Really? Are Kenny Cooper and Robbie Findley on your fantasy team too bro?
I said “Conor Casey’s dog”. Please! I have at least some respect for quality! 🙂
Too funny. His dog is probably a full bred Chihuahua and is only eligible for Mexico though.
*yawn*
Our guys have more heart? Sometimes teams aren’t firing, it happens. I don’t think folks were saying that the Mexico team didn’t have heart when they came back from 2-0 down to beat the U.S. 4-2. Or how about that 5-0 scoreline? When has the U.S. beaten Mexico in a final 5-0? Get off your high horses, Dirt and Slow. Beating Croatia, tying Brazil in Brazil and taking the game to Holland doesn’t take heart and skill? Typical American fandom speaking about their moral and sporting superiority instead of focusing on the fact that bad runs happen. Simple as that. The Mexico team was cr&p for a solid year and change. And it doesn’t serve to count a Gold Cup tournament that didn’t have any starters playing it, a WCQ at the Azteca with a clear penalty not called for Mexico, another in the U.S. that was a team mired in a string of bad performances and poor leadership, and a recent A team vs C team friendly as your basis for Mexico supposedly being an inferior team to the U.S. With Piojo things have changed for the better. I can’t wait for the next game that pits both teams’ starters against one another. You know, the team with mostly MLS stars vs. the team with key Champions league team players (Herrera and recently Chicharito), League champion (PSV) best player of the season winner, and the rest who are key players for their respective teams (Dos Santos, Vela, Moreno, Corona).
We import better?
Irrelevant but kudos for finding a way to throw that in here. You cannot honestly claim Mexican players are not a big factor when it comes to CCL. Honestly.
There isn’t a single american born player in this cycle that can compare individually to Hector Herrera, Vela, the dos Santos brothers or even Chicharito, hell fans here in the US are hyped about Cubo Torres who could easily play for our NT if he was american but is like 7th or 8th option for the mexican national team at best.
Mexico tends to underperform when they face CONCACAF competition not just the US but also Honduras and Panama give them a lot of problems but once they leave the zone they look like a completely different team and before Costa Rica they were the only team giving the confederation a good name. (Copa America finals, Olympic medal, youth championships, Libertadores finals, a confeds trophy, etc.).
Some teams just are able to get other teams’ number without being as good thanks to clashing styles, Mexico itself is a perfect example of this as they have been able to keep Brazil on bay for some year nows, same thing happens with Uruguay and Bolivia vs Argentina or Italy vs Germany.
Our top 15 players are regularly as good or better than our Mexican counterparts. But Rob is talking about players 16-100+, which is where Mexico excels, along with other football-mad places. Depth in passion. We don’t produce enough talent because we don’t love the game as much as them.
I personally don’t believe this will ever change. As said in the article to us it is a sport, to them it is a way of life. In a way countries like that will always have an edge, because winning isn’t their end-game.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Yawn,
So I say I’m sick of us watching MLS teams losing badly and you tell me to leave. You must be one of those kids who always got a trophy for LOSING, you know to keep your confidence high and all.
LOSING is a habit and MLS needs to be less comfortable with getting their butt kicked by LigaMX and teams from even lesser leagues in CONCACAF.
They deserve to be embarrassed and humiliated for their performance.
MLS is old enough that it’s no longer a child and therefore the time for NICE IS OVER.
You want to know who the LOSER is in the room just look around its the NICE guy because he’s okay with being second place.
I didn’t tell you to leave. You’re the one who said he didn’t want to watch anymore.
That, my friend, is LOSER talk.
Yeah, I am the one that wants you to leave.
whinersout
Whining and criticism are two different things, but you two can keep be happy about being first place LOSERS in the Little Bitch league that MLS has become.
When you say things like the MLS is a little bitch league, you lose all credibility and you are nothing but a troll spewing out unthinking insults. You seem to ignore the fact that Montreal would probably be a relegation level team if MLS had relegation, so judging the league on the basis of a team that isn’t good enough to belong at this point just shows your ignorance. I’d say your opinions are woth about as much as dirt.
I’m an MLS fan and have watched since its incept and I don’t like saying it but in all seven years of the current CCL format we have never won and that makes us LigaMXs little bitch. It’s not NICE but MLS keeps LOSING and losing badly at that.
We can keep doing this slow growth bullsht and keep apologizing for MLS inferiority on the pitch or we can start doing things differently like increasing the cap at a faster rate or allowing more international spots.
Or why don’t we get really crazy and let clubs actually own and pay their players like the rest of the world but you Gary will keep apologizing for single entity structure and MLS convoluted players regulations because you are so happy to just have a league at all that won’t collapse like the old NASL.
It’s time to stop being scared and take some risks.
Again. If that’s what you think about this league, then beat it, pal. You won’t be missed.
Plenty of good El Tri / Liga MX blogs out there if you want to be a WINNER. How’s your Spanish?
I don’t take my ball and go home like you do boy. I’ve been a fan since the beginning and being critical and angry and being MEAN is how we get this to change.
You can keep apologizing for inferiority though. You’re probably used to it.
You’re the only one talking about “not watching anymore” here, homeboy. We are keeping our ball and staying right here. And we’d love for you to stay with us.
It’s okay to be MEAN, bro. Just don’t be walking out and saying you’re “done with it”. Beyond that, it’s all good. Nobody wants to see a good fan walk out.
You’re just another homer.
Garber represents the owners. If the owners want to raise the cap, it will be raised. The owners want to maximize profits. when they see it in their interest to raise the cap in order to increase profits and/or the players association is going to strike without a cap raise, then the owners will agree to raise the cap. The owners, like almost all businessmen, only care about making money.
I have yet to be convinced of how a profit-optimizing strategy from owners is bad for MLS or the growth of American soccer. All I see from MLS is growth– year in, year out — always growth. Yes, it’s slow growth. But it’s also healthy growth. The kind of growth that most sustainable businesses demonstrate.
What is the problem here? That MLS hasn’t yet caught up to leagues with 50-100 year head starts?
I am not criticizing the MLS financial approach. In fact, in the past I have defended it because it is much better for long term stability than what we see in most European leagues. I was trying to illustrate that the perceived shortcomings of the league are not the responsibility of one man, but of the system, which has worked well to date. My criticism would be that which I have of American capitalism in general. Most companies look solely to the short term bottom line and not enough to long term investment. I believe that pro soccer in the US is now approaching a take off point where it could become the second or third leading pro sport in the country in 10-15 years. I think the owners have more leeway to spend than they care to admit and they could/should be doing more to invest to build quality and thus increase the value of their investment long term. The big payoff comes with TV revenue, and when they can get more interest nation-wide due to a better product, then the big TV payout will insure the sport’s development and profitability.
Dude the problem is that a 3.3 million cap plus 3 DPs and random allocation money doesn’t pay for much quality. I’m not patient enough to wait 50-100 years for MLS to become a good league that can win CCL consistently and even challenge teams at Club WC. I’ve already been waiting the 20 years MLS has been around. Just having a stable league is not enough we should want more as fans and demanding and criticizing the league commish and owners is how we voice that initially.
Well that’s fair. It’s not my opinion, exactly, but we all have our own views here so it’s no crime to disagree….
Personally, I don’t think the wait will be 50-100 years, but I do think it’ll probably be another decade. Sure, it requires some patience, but the reason I like the approach is that once it happens, it will be sustainable. By that, I mean that once MLS catches up to Liga MX in terms of competitive quality, it will be one-way traffic from there until eternity.
.
Overspending and accepting losses is what every other league on the planet does. And they are all learning the consequences of this. MLS has the opportunity to do something different, and other US sports leagues have shown that it is most certainly possible to run a hugely successful operation that offers parity (extinct in Europe) and an almost limitless growth ceiling. For me, this is something worth waiting for, and it will have all kinds of indirect benefits to the US game that will make everybody forget about little trinkets like the CONCACAF Champions League.
One man’s opinion, anyway.
Two men’s opinion, actually.
I also think it’s much, much healthier – and better – for the talent in MLS to be spread around, as opposed to concentrated on 2-3 teams (or one!) as happens in other leagues. Gives a bunch more opportunity for young players to find a niche and run with it, also allows our USMNT guys to be “the man” on their club teams…they then tend to bring that Alpha Dog mentality into the International setup, and they EXPECT to have success. Guys who play and feature for their club tend to be full of confidence and expect to be competitive once they hit the International scene.Look at the difference in Yedlin’s form since he left Seattle…it may turn out to be a good move over the long-term – stretching yourself usually is – but Yedlin was much sharper and more effective when he was regularly getting games for Seattle as opposed to not even dressing for Tottenham.
I personally think in 15-20 years the Euro leagues are going to scrap Financial Fair Play – which is pretty much a rich-stay-rich lock-in – and go to much more of a balanced-revenue-sharing model once they see how well it works over the long term for MLS. (Five will get you ten Germany will be the first to follow suit.)
I personally very much admire Garber for refusing to take short-and-quick easy fixes and has stayed the course on making sure MLS remains as profitable as possible…and hence, a great investment. I also like the way he’s avoided NFL owners looking for add-value “me too” franchises in favor of grassroots-based supporters groups wherever possible (Orlando, Minnesota.) He knows where his grassoots are. Yes, he did get into bed with Robert Kraft and Arthur Blank…but sorry, those guys were supporting – and putting their own money – into MLS far before it was fashionable. I was at one of the earlier games in Home Depot center in LA in 2003 or 2004 when it was still finishing construction – the sky boxes and press boxes were still unfinished, and Arthur (who is an affable lunatic, by the way, and one of the more engaging personalities I’ve ever met) was puttering around like a proud father, pouring everyone champagne and proud as sin about what he was helping build. It’s NOT surprising at all that he wound up getting his own franchise in Atlanta…the man more than deserves it, for having the vision to support the league when it wasn’t remotely trendy to do it. If you’d told me David Beckham would be coming along in 2007 then, and by 2015 we’d have Robbie Keane, Kaka, Lampard, Gerrard, David Villa, and a dozen other high-profile DP’s playing in MLS – in front of crowds sometimes exceeding 60,000 – I’d have thought you were into the Jimson weed.
League has come a HUGE ways in a very short period of time, and they’ve kept it financially real. Another twelve years and we will be well past Liga MX and knocking on the EPL’s door. Anybody who doubts it probably needs to watch some early MLS games from 1996 or even 2006.
I hear ya Diego. We all want MLS to get to the “Promised Land” and become a top league that competes with the Real Madrids and Bayern Munichs for the top players in the world.
We all want MLS to be a league those players want to play in because it’s the top level of competition in the world. We all want that vision to be true.
What I’m saying is based on the new TV rights deal, new franchise fees, and average attendance the league is making mor than enough to bump the cap up to 8-10 million without going broke. The current 3.3 million number is ridiculous.
In other leagues with a CBA such as NFL, NBA, NHL, or MLB the cap number is not based off a profit number but is based of a share of revenue. Most other Players Associatiobs demand around a 50% spilt between the players and the owners.
I think it’s also important to include the income coming in from Soccer United Marketing in this number since they are using MLS stadiums and often times playing MLS clubs as exhibitions which are highly lucrative when an MLS team gets to host a Real Madrid.
The money is there now to do 8-10 million on the cap, but our owners have created a cartel within the U.S. And Canada to artificially keep players from having a free market to move to a different team even if they can pay more because the player can’t negioate with two teams in a single entity structure. The player can only negotiate with MLS or go overseas.
This whole single entity structure is setup to create something that’s mediocre. The structure will only allow parity, no team will ever be able to sustain greatness in the current single entity structure.
If we want to get to that vision. If we want to get to that mountain top we have to make real changes.
I’d obviously start with dramatically raising the salary cap. Then I’d follow that with relaxing transfer restrictions between clubs, removing restrictions on paying transfer fees, allowing a couple more international roster spots, mandating every team to field a reserve team in USL along with a fully subsidized academy.
I’d also bring in better refs who will crack down on the reckless defending that causes needless injuries and creates an anti football style of play.
What top player in his prime wants to deal with reckless challenges that can cost you your career and the tackling player won’t even get a card.
I think we can create that vision without pro/reg and with a salary cap in place but that cap has to get much much bigger.
To do that we have to increase revenue mostly by increasing TV rights. Get a more national footprint by adding franchises is the first step and we are doing that, but the next step is getting top players to come here and we are a long way from attracting top players in their prime.
It was a matter of time before Club America took over. Their fans were really nervious that it took 3/4 of the sieres for the real Aguillas to show up.
Congratz to Montreal; truely amazing and overachieving run. Started off a big year for soccer in Canada.
I think the nervousness came from their form this season, America has been inconsistent as hell, they have won 4-0 against Chiapas, 6-0 against Herediano and beat their city rivals Cruz Azul convincingly but also got humilliated 3-0 in Costa Rica, 4-0 against Veracruz and Queretaro and had to park the bus against Chivas to barely get a tie.
Honestly, going into the 2nd half I had the feeling that it would be like the 2009 Confed Cup final 2nd half, and the Montreal (like the US) would not be able to hold on.
Saw parts of the game. How many goals would you day Reo-Coker was responsable for?
America’s first 3 goals were all crossed from his side, where he was leaving the door wide open.
None. Club American was responsible for all of them.
Club America clearly had a second half game plan of attacking down the right. And they had substantial success in doing so.
The center halves of Montreal did not help as they routinely got beat to the ball and let the center forward get in between them on crosses. They also looked lost when America would flood the midfield on the left side with runners, often letting a midfielder run through on goal.
It was an impressive attacking display by the Mexican club.
Agreed. Fact is, CA made intelligent half-time adjustments while Klopas seems to have spent halftime on the toilet. Sooner or later, Reo-Coker was going to get found out (and boy did he ever…. by the end, CA’s wide players were casually strolling past him like he wasn’t even there). It’s easy to put it all on Reo-Coker but the fact is he is an older player playing out of position who should’ve had WAY more help, particularly given MTL went into halftime with a goal lead and one hand on the trophy.
Klopas is a very mediocre and one-dimensional manager. I admire the team’s attacking ethos and attractive play throughout the knockout rounds, but it was “fly by the seat of their pants” luck that even got them to the final. Failing to even attempt adjustments that might see the game out was just criminal.
Thank you Don Garber for humiliation!
Reo-Cooker isn’t RB! Impact lost control defense and midfield with Reo-Cooker as a RB, no one as an OK DM, and no RB left.
Seriously, what does Don Garber have to do with this?
Don Garber did not even recommend that MTL participate in this event. The Impact qualified through an unrelated competition for Canadian teams
Don Garber was not responsible for the injuries/suspensions that forced MTL to shuffle the pack and put “Reo-Cooker” at RB
Don Garber did not sign a 48-hour old GK who has yet to master the art of saving a shot hit directly at his face.
There are many reasons to criticize Don Garber – if you are so inclined – but Wednesday’s game is a real reach. MTL lost because they are not as good a team as Club America. Not because of Don Friggin Garber. Absurd.
Whoa, their GK was only 48 hours old!? No wonder they lost!
Plus Don Garber pick Nigel RC to play right back!
You have to hand it to the Mexican clubs – they keep a two-legged tie interesting. in the semi-finals Club America lost 3-0 to a Costa Rican club and came back to win 6-0 at home.
In the final, Montreal tied them 1-1 in Mexico, giving Montreal the dream of a puncher’s chance to win in Canada. Makes for dramatic tv viewing and interest. Had America won 3-0 at home, there was little chance I would have watched the game. As it was, I watched the second half once I got home and saw Club America outclass a game Montreal squad who could just not match the speed and skill of the Mexican club.
realistically America should have won 4-1 in the Azteca, they missed so many chances it was ridiculous,
They missed some easy chances in the first half too. From highlights, America missed some easy chances in the semi finals as well.
Like I said earlier, CONCACAF should thank Club America for making the two-legged ties interesting by not killing the game off in the first leg.
Not “played”, but “payed”. Sorry…
Would like to point out, in reading this article, that Costa Rican teams do pretty well in this competition and all their players are poorly played and home grown (in a country of 7 million). And of course, their best players are with foreign clubs.
Only in MLS losing every year is an improvement. Congratulations to Club America, they represent all of us, real true soccer fans. Funny, the Kings of CONCACAF, have the name of our country, yet do no represent our country. As long as we keep signing discards like Villa and Kaka, and losers like Antigoal, MLS will continue to wear backwards underwear in CONCACAF.
1) your ‘real true soccer fans’ line is maybe the stupidest thing i’ve read here.
2) ‘america’ is not the name of our country, okay kenny powers, it’s the name of the two continents.
3) mls doesn’t have a monopoly on signing discards (hi, ronaldinho!). they might, however, have a monopoly on not giving a flying f–k about this competition (which is a whole other issue).
Don’t feed the Mexico trolls. They’re still upset they haven’t beaten the US in four years so they’ll clutch onto anything.
When you call somebody a troll, you lost the argument already.
you realize just repeating something over and over doesn’t make it true, right?
you should also know that, in the real (internet) world, there are real (internet) troIIs. now i disagree with sla about never feeding them, since they’re often easy targets to smack down (see: your comment above), and that’s fun! but s/he’s absolutely right to call them/you out when they/you show up.
The quality is not there. At all. Seattle may spend 14-15 million on salaries but thats mostly 2-3 people accounting for that.
Club America spends 15-20 million on players and its spread out among 13-16 players getting the bulk of it. It creates a better team with higher quality players from top to bottom.
Till MLS can spend this kind of money it is going to play second fiddle. (this tournament to most LIGA MX teams is also second fiddle… they care more about Copa Libertadores…Liga MX teams have fielded reserve squads and beaten MLS opponents before)
Seattle at least goes all out in CCL competition.
Everybody keeps talking as though this is a big point of referendum for MLS, but the fact is, Montreal did not even qualify via MLS. They were not involved in the CCL because MLS said “Here is one of our top 4-5 teams as identified via our competitive structure”. Full credit to MTL for playing a great and exciting tournament, but it’s not a good reference point for MLS as a whole.
MTL was there because Canada and Amway managed to crowbar a seat for them. It’s like saying that the EPL should subject themselves to harsh-self examination because Burnley did not win the European Cup, in spite of being given a slot due to Fair Play points or whatever.
The ACTUAL question here is– why don’t the *true* MLS qualifiers (i.e. the top finishers in the competition) care more? MTL actually deserves credit for fielding strong teams and attracting sizeable and passionate crowds. They were able to advance past credible foreign opposition because they had their players out there, playing like it meant something to them. They didn’t “do a Galaxy”, throwing Jack McBean out there while the TV coverage showed shots of David Beckham and Landon Donovan sharing a laugh in sweatpants on the sideline.
Why aren’t other MLS teams more interested in this kind of approach? The talent is there, folks. They don’t need more money. They just need to care.
In his comments, Klopas seems to suggest a “pay for performance” approach. I don’t buy this and never have. PSG has been trying this over the past couple of seasons (i.e. significant player payments for each round advanced in the CL). It has gotten them…. nowhere really.
Any ideas for solutions?
good point! this run is rather impressive for Montreal. while they are a function of MLS this is the second impressive CCL run in their history, other one while in NASL. Something just intangible on that Olympic Stadium turf that allows this team to wildly overachieve.
now the fact that the playoff champion Kansas City, league champ NYRB, cup champ DC and second best Portland were not eliminated by high ranking Mexican team but smaller clubs in Honduras, Costa Rica and Canada is not a great moment in US-MLS soccer!
to your point about the “talent is there, not the money but they need to care” is true. MLS clubs usually take the attitude that we know we are better than but we don’t need/want/care to prove it. Hopefully this attitude is changing. don’t discount the benefits of deeper rosters, performance bonuses and scheduling changes all would be really helpful in changing this trend.
“Why don’t the “true” MLS qualifiers care more?”
I’d say it’s because that decision to care comes with a steep price tag. Because the salary structure severely limits the amount of depth MLS squads have, most teams have to choose one or the other – CCL or league. There’s the exception of that 2011 RSL team (which was really f’ng good, looking back on it – they finished 3rd in the league that season), but most teams are going to have to pick one or the other.
And Montreal is no different. What’s unique about them, is that they chose to not giving a flying f*&k about their performance in MLS, and focused absolutely everything on their CCL run. Hell… they haven’t played a league game IN A MONTH. Just take a peek at their remaining schedule – this team is going to be run into the ground by September.
– In June, they play six games. They have 3 games in 10 days to start the month and finish with 3 games in 7 days to end it.
– August: 3 games in 7 days
– September: 3 games in 6 days and a total of 6 games over the course of 3 weeks.
They don’t have the depth to handle that. They didn’t have the depth to handle a deep CCL run along with MLS play, which is why the league gave them a month off. Until the MLS salary structure is more balanced, this is the choice most teams and managers are going to have to make, and until there’s more incentive for CCL performance, you’re going to see most go after league success instead of CCL success.
Just to be clear: I LOVE that Montreal took this approach and took the CCL so seriously. I think it’s awesome. I love seeing MLS teams compete at this level. I just think that Montreal is a very unique situation, and one that not too many teams are going to find themselves in going forward.
I hear you and it’s a well-reasoned argument, but without being disrespectful, I just don’t buy it.
For an MLS team to play and win the CCL requires a maximum of ten games. TEN! Four of which (QF and Semi) are basically played during the MLS preseason. To call this “fixture congestion” just doesn’t pass the red-face test, for me. This is an incredibly undemanding tournament compared to the UEFA CL or Europa league. Any MLS player worth his salt should be able to handle the league schedule…. it just isn’t that demanding compared to most of the world.
For me, the answer is more about money. The absolute “max payout” (which only goes to the winner) is about $2 million from available data, half of which involves participation in the Club World Cup.
Unfortunately for a team like Montreal, this outcome is practically a disaster. Finishing second means minimal prize money (though they did do pretty well on gate receipts, thankfully). But as you’ve said, they now have a stacked end-of-season schedule that won’t do them any favors.
It’s easy to see why many MLS managers view this tournament the way top EPL managers view the League Cup. The only two desirable outcomes are (1) winning outright or (2) crashing out as early as possible. Everything else is just an expensive waste of time and resources.
Sigh.
I think almost all of us agree that the salary cap has to be raised and I don’t understand why the players association didn’t make that a higher priority. Free agency is good to have, but what good is it if a team is effectively locked into such a small cap that they can pay DP money for a few players and then maybe a max of a couple hundred thousand for anyone else? In this scenario, only DP’s really flourish. Let me repeat my idea which is still valid. Allow a team to take a set amount of DP money and add it to their salary cap. That way you can get maybe 3 to 5 very good players for the price of a DP. This should be combined with a reasonable cap rise, too, of course. Teams don’t need 23 player depth to compete in this tournament, but they should be able to go at least 16 or 17 deep without loss of quality.
On a different subject, why was it Montreal that got tired in the second half? Club America played a hard fought game against Chivas over the weekend and had to travel about 1500 to 2000 miles while Montreal had their calendar cleared and hadn’t played since the last leg and were at home? They are far enough in the season that every player should be match fit and they were bunkering down more than chasing after the ball.
Especially when you’ve got a team like the Galaxy that’s exactly 1-deep for the most part and has a bunch of greybeards across its roster, they really do not want to be spending most of their season in various banana republics, interrupting their training schedules and racking up the travel miles and wearing their guys out more than they already are going to be. You can understand why…but here’s where the idea of spreading your talent out and operating with a salary cap really bites MLS. If we had bigger, deeper squads and the top outfits felt like they had more leeway, I think you’d see a renewed interest in winning CCL. Right now nobody in MLS feels like they have enough resources to compete in both competitions.
Honestly think it’s mostly just a matter of time and money. At MLS’s very deliberate rate of growth we’re probably 5-10 years away from seeing our top squads really give a crap about this competition…right now it’s strongly to their advantage to wash out early and get it over with, so they can just compete on their league seasons.
I’m sorry, but this “fixture congestion” argument is just not penciling out for me. The CCL is not nearly the wildly burdensome schedule-buster that the UEFA CL can be. Teams don’t have to spend “most of their season” visiting banana republics. Most of them have exactly two CCL road games during the entire MLS season.
Just look at the schedule… it’s NOTHING! They play exactly four group stage games (two of which are at home), and then they hit the offseason. the next four potential games basically take place during the preseason, with only the final (which MLS teams rarely even make) taking place during the proper regular season.
For me, it’s just BS for MLS teams to claim this counts as fixture congestion, compared to what happens in most top global leagues. If anything, I’d say they are scared of injuries (perhaps rightfully so) that can happen in these backwater road trips. But fatiuge is just embarrassing. If anything, it backs up JK’s claim that MLS fitness is friggin weak. None of these guys are being asked to pull a Yaya Toure schedule, or anything close.