A few months back, July 15th to be exact, I wrote an article about wanting the Montreal Impact to be the Canadian representative in the CONCACAF Champions League, instead of Toronto and Vancouver (the Whitecaps were mathematically out of the contest at that point).
At the time, Montreal was struggling in the USL, but they were doing enough to get in. Most pundits who work in this business must have thought I was crazy, considering that Toronto should have been the team that won it (they do have the most money after all) and no one really thought that Montreal would make much noise. Well, 3 games into the group stage, the Impact sit in top spot in their group with 7 points, 2 wins and a draw. Three points up on the 2nd place squad Atlante. There is still a lot of soccer to be played, but right now, I'm glad that a Canadian squad is making waves in this tournament. It's showing that with a little bit of support, Canada can be a big power in CONCACAF. Starting at the club stage and hopefully moving beyond the club and into the country stage.
On Friday and Sunday, Oct 3rd and 5th, the Impact will play the Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL Playoffs, less than 48 hours after being Olímpia in Honduras. It will be interesting to see how this is going to affect Montreal. The advantage is with the 'Caps in this series. It would be nice to see Vancouver win the USL Championships and have the Impact concentrate on the CONCACAF Champions League title. Perhaps Toronto F.C. can get into the MLS playoffs and do some damage in that league, unlikely, but one can dream of a Canadian sweep. It's all coming in the next few months... an exciting time for football here in North America.
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