Grande kicked out of the team

[Grizzly]

Our genius technical director is now trialing a player from the Portugese 4th division and one from the French 5th division to replace Grande.

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Our genius technical director is now trialing a player from the Portugese 4th division and one from the French 5th division to replace Grande.

As much as I hate your team, this is seriously not good for Canadian soccer as a whole.

The faster De Santis gets booted, the better off the game in this country will be.

I hope against hope that De Santis isn't still running the team when Montreal eventually gets into MLS (whenever that will be). If he is, I predict 2009 New York Red Bulls levels of mediocrity.

[Ivan]

What happened to Rosenlund?

[big]

down below you will find a text that was sent to me about nick desanctis and the days he played...and he is judging sandro grande....look at his days as a player and how bad things he did....he is the real cancer of the impact!!!!!!

Nick is really not the person to be running a team. It's interesting. . At one point, we had a meeting in Joey's office, with the president of the league. We were appealing a suspension, which we thought was harsh. Nick was like a little child. Despite my having told him to be very respectful, he went off, telling the president that he and the league were a joke. Joey was appalled at how stupid Nick had been.

As if to prove the president right, for maintaining the suspension, Nick got a red card in his very next game. It was a playoff game against Rochester. Very early, a Rochester player was taken down - not by Nick. Nick, who wasn't involved in the play, ran over and kicked the player, as he lay on the ground. Nick was a veteran, and the captain. That's how he acted. Now he's passing judgment on Sandro.

I think what Sandro did was wrong. I'm not sure dumping him was the right thing to do. It does seem clear that the decision to fire him was based more on embarrassment than on what he did. He always impressed me as being fairly cool under fire. He got kicked a lot, as a juvenile player, and I never saw him blow up. If he'd have tried that choke on Leroux, Sandro's career would have ended on the spot.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, Nick was never punished by the club for what he did. It seems more like he was rewarded.

If there's a house cleaning, Nick should be among those to go. He's not the man for the job. Of course, Joey, although he loves the game, doesn't really know much either. He relies on people who have their own agendas. The new coach sounds like a real prize too. Can you imagine what things would be like if they had gone into the MLS?

[Keano]

quote:Originally posted by Grizzly

Our genius technical director is now trialing a player from the Portugese 4th division and one from the French 5th division to replace Grande.

This exists? Their second division will make your eyes bleed.

[Daniel]

quote:Originally posted by Keano

This exists? Their second division will make your eyes bleed.

I went to a 2nd Division game and the play was quick and quite tactical. 5th is a bit low, but we'd be happy to get a decent player from the 2nd.

[Keano]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

I went to a 2nd Division game and the play was quick and quite tactical. 5th is a bit low, but we'd be happy to get a decent player from the 2nd.

I saw some on TV and it looked pretty choppy... but that's no indication I guess.

The two trialists will play against Bordeaux according to RDS.

[loyola]

IMO, the French 5th division has similar quality to what you have in the CIS/NCAA in term of players. Most USL players comes from the NCAA system and a few from the CIS (mostly with the Whitecaps).

So, unless you are trialing one of the best 5th division player you'll probably end up with a very very average player for the Impact. Wasn't Joqueviel playing in CFA2 3-4 years ago?

BTW, if Montreal are looking for a decent keeper they might want a look at a guy name Fenelon Gabard who is currently playing with Kirkland United in the Senior AA. This guy played pro in Haiti and 34 times with Haiti MNT. From what I've seen, he's clearly worth a trial.

[loyola]

quote:Originally posted by Danny08

Loyola, whom do you play for? I've played Fenelon twice this year. The guy is just solid

I saw him play while I was in Montreal after a friend spoke to me about him. I didn't play against him, I play in Quebec City.

I'm trying to find some highlights of the 2007 GC game between Haiti and Costa Rica, apparently Gabart played a great game. Surely the Impact could take a look at him.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by loyola

IMO, the French 5th division has similar quality to what you have in the CIS/NCAA in term of players. Most USL players comes from the NCAA system and a few from the CIS (mostly with the Whitecaps).

So, unless you are trialing one of the best 5th division player you'll probably end up with a very very average player for the Impact. Wasn't Joqueviel playing in CFA2 3-4 years ago?

BTW, if Montreal are looking for a decent keeper they might want a look at a guy name Fenelon Gabard who is currently playing with Kirkland United in the Senior AA. This guy played pro in Haiti and 34 times with Haiti MNT. From what I've seen, he's clearly worth a trial.

The former NCAA/CIS players in USL are however, not the typical players of this level but rather the better players and also young with a lot of potential for improvement. Occasionally one can find an overlooked talent in the lower European divisions especially with young players. However, I would say that unless you are trialing one of the best 5th division players you will end up with not an average Impact player but a below average Impact player. In general, unless such guys are young or exceptionally good for this level of league they shouldn't be the players we are trialing. Joqueviel did play in CFA2 but he also didn't step right into the Impact first team but played for Trois Rivieres first. Pesoli did come from the Italian 4th division but was pretty young and I would say we got lucky with him. I doubt if he was playing in Italy now he would still be in the 4th division. To be fair he was one of the rare good signings made by NDS who saw him on a pre-season Impact tour of Italy. On the other hand we also signed Zan Zan who played a long time in the Belgian 1st division and he has not been better than an average USL player so far. Plus he tends to play well against the weaker teams and not as well against the stronger ones.

What the Impact needs to do is to improve itself and start targeting not depth players who at best will be equal to what we have but superior players. If we are going to do that then we should be looking at players in the 2nd divisions of good soccer nations like France or the 1st divisions of poorer ones. The level of the USL is improving and we are maintaining the status quo of our playing level. Pesoli is certainly a decent player but when Puerto Rico looked to Italy they signed a Serie B player in Arrieta who is definitely a cut above any of our defenders and this why they are a top USL team and we are not. The Impact is still operating on the mentality that our level of several years ago when we dominated the league is good enough now when we need an upgrade to remain competitive. We shouldn't be looking for another Pesoli, we should be looking for an Arrieta.

I also need to mention the difference between what Vancouver is doing this year from the Impact. Both teams are worse than they were last year but Vancouver seems to be preparing itself for MLS by playing young players and especially young Canadians. Eventually they will reap the rewards for this even if they probably will not repeat as champions. I find this approach fine but I don't think the Impact are going to come out of this year with much other than the memories of a bad season and a lesson in what incompetent management can do to a team.

[Keano]

Posting this here because it's related to the coversation if not the topic heading:

L'Impact ajoute de la profondeur

Mardi 28 juillet 2009

RDS.ca

MONTRÉAL – L’Impact de Montréal a annoncé mardi que le défenseur Hicham Aaboubou, originaire du Maroc, est de retour avec l’équipe après avoir accepté une entente de deux saisons, contrat qui doit être approuvé par la ligue.

Aaboubou, 31 ans, avait joué avec l’Impact lors de la saison 2007. Il avait disputé 11 matchs, trois comme titulaire, pour un total de 416 minutes de jeu. Au Maroc, Aaboubou a notamment porté les couleurs du club Kawkab AC Marrakech (KACM), de 1994 à 2006. Il a joué en première division marocaine avec ce club, de 2002 à 2006, marquant six buts en 48 matchs. En 2008, Aaboubou a joué pour les Carabins de l’Université de Montréal.

Cette saison, il a joué deux matchs comme joueur à l'essai, le 1er juillet contre la sélection nationale d’Haïti, puis le 8 juillet contre l'équipe nationale de Syrie.

« Aaboubou nous apportera de la profondeur en défensive, a déclaré le directeur technique de l’Impact Nick De Santis. C’est bien de pouvoir signer un joueur qui a de l’expérience dans la USL. On sait aussi qu’il s’intégrera bien dans l’équipe, comme il connaît déjà notre organisation. À l’époque en 2007, il n’y avait pas de place pour lui au sein de l’alignement, mais aujourd’hui nous sommes très heureux de le retrouver. »

[Vic]

For the Anglophones:

"MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact announced Tuesday that defender Hicham Aaboubou, a native of Morocco, is back with the team after agreeing to a deal for two seasons, a contract that must be approved by the league."

[SoccerfanatiQ]

Was not impressed yesterday by Aboubou during the match against bordeaux, Braz did better than him .

Can anyone tell what was written on the poster at the UM KOPP against Bordeaux about Grande being a victim ?

But couldn't read the rest ? Victim of what or whom ?

[Keano]

quote:Originally posted by SoccerfanatiQ

Was not impressed yesterday by Aboubou during the match against bordeaux, Braz did better than him .

Can anyone tell what was written on the poster at the UM KOPP against Bordeaux about Grande being a victim ?

But couldn't read the rest ? Victim of what or whom ?

Other than that murderous brain fart where he almost killed a guy and got booked, he had several nice passes and tackles and was able to stay with their winger into the corner on several occasions, I was more disappointed with Gatti who is usually a favorite of mine for his hustle and calm decisions.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by SoccerfanatiQ

Was not impressed yesterday by Aboubou during the match against bordeaux, Braz did better than him .

Can anyone tell what was written on the poster at the UM KOPP against Bordeaux about Grande being a victim ?

But couldn't read the rest ? Victim of what or whom ?

The banner read "Victims of Incompetence" and was next to pictures of Grande and Ribeiro. Aboubou played better than I expected. If he is there for the rest of the year for injury cover it might be a good signing. If they are really going to keep him for the reported 2 year contract, this is not the level of defender we should be aiming for. He is better than Sakuda though which is not much of a compliment.

[mtlfan]

Grande Spoke to the TEAM990 on tuesday morning and explained a few things.

The incident involved Biello who accepted responsibility for his part. Why a free pass for Biello?

He gave numerous examples of other players doing must worse and getting less.

The incident at the beginning of the season. "I was the 6th or 7th person to break that rule yet I am the only one suspended"

He indicated there are "persons" within the club who accused him of abadonning the team when he was SOLD to his Norway club. He pointed out that the Impact got paid a tranfer fee which of course is how soccer works.

One reason for Montreal's performance is there were too many players on the team. A 26 man roster is only needed if they go deep into CCL.

He seemed critical of the number of games being played (exibition) as whoever is coaching no no time to do anything at training except for recuperation.

Also this morning Tony from the TEAM 990 said that the USL have sided with the Impact as to not paying him any more. He will now be going to appeal to FIFA.

He is now awaiting to hear from clubs in Europe or Asia to continue his career.

[Grizzly]

Similar incident in Switzerland

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/2009/08/14/10466771-ap.html

'Keeper banned for pulling teammate's hair

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BASEL, Switzerland - FC Basel captain and goalkeeper Franco Costanzo has been banned for three matches after attacking a teammate at the end of a match.

A Swiss league disciplinary panel found the Argentina international guilty of "gross unsportsmanlike conduct" Friday in Basel's 1-1 draw with main rival FC Zurich last Sunday.

Costanzo grabbed the hair of teammate Beg Ferati and wrestled with him after a heated exchange of words as the teams left the St. Jakob Park pitch. He blamed the defender for poor marking when Zurich took an 87th-minute lead.

Ferati was not sanctioned by the panel and was excused by the club which held its own investigation Monday.

Basel fined Costanzo but said he apologized and would not be stripped of the captaincy.