MONTREAL – Eight weeks after a heartbreaking end to the season, the Montreal Impact were back on the pitch to kick off a new year. But while they gathered to start fresh, the memory of the last time they walked off the field lingered.
“It feels like we still have something to accomplish,” forward Dominic Oduro said after the team’s training session at Olympic Stadium on Tuesday. “After the game in Toronto, everybody knew we still had something to give. I think that’s the reason why they kept the group and that’s the reason why everybody’s back – because we have something to finish.”
And he's confident they can get the job done.
“I think we will be one of the teams in the Eastern Conference to beat,” he added. “I have no doubt. We just have to prove it out here. I can’t wait to start the season all over again and I can’t wait to meet Toronto again. It hurts and we want to make it right.”
The trip to the Eastern Conference Championship last season was a first for the Impact franchise since joining MLS in 2012. Both legs in Montreal and Toronto provided thrilling entertainment before Toronto FC eliminated the Impact with a pair of goals in extra time of a thrilling second leg.
That feeling will go a long way as they embark on a new journey.
“We were a few minutes away from going to the final. That’s something that will stimulate and boost for this season,” team captain Patrice Bernier said. “But MLS is a long season. Making the playoffs is not easy but we have that experience so if we do get there – and we will – we have the experience to know what it takes to go as far as possible.”
The Impact return with essentially the same group, minus Didier Drogba. Oduro, a free agent after his contract expired at the end of the season, said he had other offers on the table and in other years, maybe would have taken them. But after the disappointment to close out 2016 and a couple of conversations, the speedster knew there was only one place he wanted to be.
“There were a couple of teams, there were some sweet factors out there, sweet contracts that would basically make me lick my lips and take it,” he said. “But I talked to Patrice and I talked to my agent, and I wasn’t going to leave here and go to another team just for a couple of dollars,” he said. “The team is good and that continuity is something I want, personally, and the team also wants to keep that group. I just didn’t want to leave and just go with that unfinished business.”
Bernier told Oduro he was hopeful his teammate would re-sign with the Impact and that he was rooting for that to happen. And minimal changes, both on the roster and off, were an area of focus for the Impact during their shortened off-season.
“We want to be able to build on what we did last year,” said head coach Mauro Biello, who is preparing for his second full season at the helm. “But in the end, we didn’t want to make too many changes to break the rhythm and the cohesion of the group.”
For Bernier, the 2017 campaign will be his final tour of duty after signing a one-year deal and he couldn’t think of a better way to close out his 18-year professional career.
“It would be great to finish off going to the final and winning it,” the midfielder admitted. “I do believe we have a team that’s strong enough to get there, but MLS is a beast, it’s a grind and it’s never easy. It would be great. I’ll do everything that I can.”
