MONTREAL – Troy Perkins hasn’t had much time to walk around the city of Montreal, but he’s fitting in perfectly already.
A mere nine days after the Portland Timbers traded him to the Impact for Donovan Ricketts, Perkins has yet to move into an actual new home. But the 31-year-old netminder has quickly settled into his new workplace, grabbing a well-deserved clean sheet against the New England Revolution last Sunday.
The differences between the Impact’s and the Timbers’ styles of play mean that Perkins’ work has changed a little, but it doesn't mean it's difficult to adjust.
“Portland’s a high-tempo, high-pressure team, which serves them well at JELD-WEN and on smaller fields, but when they play on bigger fields, it opens them up, allows them to get exposed pretty easy,” Perkins told reporters on Wednesday. “Here, we have a lot of mature players, a lot of guys who’ve played in some big games, in big leagues. They understand situations and they adjust accordingly.”
And as the San Jose Earthquakes make their first-ever visit to Stade Saputo this Saturday (7:30 pm ET, MLS Live), the task at hand to prevent their opponents from adding to their league-high 47 points will be a hard one.
Having played for a Western Conference club for two-and-a-half seasons, Perkins is familiar with the likes of Chris Wondolowski and Marvin Chávez and how to stop them. But in the long run, he feels like Montreal simply needs to concentrate on their own play for the rest of the season.
“We’re doing well, the team feels good, the confidence is good, so [we don’t need to] change anything,” Perkins said.
Camara addresses rumors
European players such as Marco Di Vaio, Alessandro Nesta and Dennis Iapichino recently made the transatlantic move to the Montreal Impact, but it’s not a one-way air corridor.
Rumors have recently linked defender Hassoun Camara, who joined the NASL Impact in February 2011, with English Championship clubs Leeds United and Crystal Palace and other French Ligue 2 clubs since Monday.
Camara insisted on Wednesday that he was happy in North America.
“I don’t plan on leaving the Impact,” Camara told reporters. “I’ve heard rumors of other clubs being interested, but I haven’t signed with them and, out of respect, I wouldn’t sign elsewhere without first talking with my bosses. Right now I’m here, I enjoy it here and I hope I’ll be here next season, but it’s not just up to me. We’ll see what happens until the end of this season.”
