MONTREAL ā Saphir Taider is the first to admit that heās not one to speak up all that much in the Montreal Impact locker room. But June 5 was a different kind of day.
With a team depleted by injuries and international call-ups, Taider stood up and told his teammates that they needed to win despite the odds. Not only did the team come from behind for a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Sounders on that warm summer night, Taider scored both goals.
āI felt like I should say something, itās not always the case, but this was a very important game,ā Taider told MLSsoccer.com. āWe had just lost 3-0 at home and we were off on vacation the next day. We really needed these three points, because it allowed us to work with our minds at ease for these three weeks and itās the case right now.ā
Taider arrived in Montreal from Italian side Bologna in 2018 with big shoes to fill, taking Patrice Bernierās No. 8 jersey and occupying the clubās second Designated Player slot. Since then, his box-to-box ability has paid off for the Impact. Whereas last season Taiderās challenge was to help fans turn the page about who used to wear his number, this season the task is completely different.
On March 16, Ignacio Piatti suffered a leg injury in a 3-1 win at Orlando City SC. As the weeks went by, Piattiās injury absence grew and the Impact have consistently been without their star player ever since. The responsibility for shouldering the burden fell on Taider. In Piattiās absence, Taider racked up seven goals, enough to be the teamās leading scorer.
āI think he took it upon himself to step up and weāve seen that with the goals that heās had,ā said midfielder Shamit Shome. āHeās our leading goal scorer now and heās the man that steps up for penalty kicks and you can see with his calm and composure that he can put those away.ā
Evan Bush, the teamās most tenured veteran, felt that Taider had stepped up his influence on the team at a time where they needed it.
āI think that recently his influence stepped up and I think that heās noticed that as well,ā he said. āIāve said it after the Seattle game that if weāre going to be at our best we need him to be playing at a high level. Heās capable of doing that every week and weāve seen that. In the second half of the season weāll see even more so. He looks and feels, from interacting with him, that heās ready to take on that role.ā
Despite being the Impactās leading goal scorer, the Algerian international doesnāt think that replacing Piatti is necessarily his job.
āNacho and I donāt play the same position, so we canāt really be compared,ā Taider said. āHeās a decisive player that scores so he can make a team win whereas Iām a midfielder so I canāt make a team win.ā
And even with stepping up when his team needed him, he's been hobbled. For the past month and a half, he had been playing on an injured hamstring.
āI prefer giving the maximum at 80 or 90 percent because I prefer being on the field,ā he said. āI donāt like to stop for an injury unless itās really impossible for me to play. If I look back at my season Iām fairly happy with what Iāve been doing. I can always do better but weāve got to keep it up.ā
Taider's presence with the Impact was a bit of a surprise, as he wasn't called up to Algeria's Africa Cup of Nations roster after playing during qualifying. The midfielder admitted he was surprised by manager Djamel Belmadi's snub.
āWeāre in June, I scored seven goals and got one assist, I donāt think another midfielder playing my position in MLS has these numbers,ā Taider said. āI donāt think it was because of injury, I just think it was the coachās decision which I respect because I like him. For tactical reasons he probably preferred taking other players and I need to respect the choices.ā
Instead, Taider aims to focus on winning in Montreal. The midfielder had said that he wanted to win silverware with the Impact when he joined and itās still on his mind. He added that Montreal arenāt seen as contenders and that puts a chip on their shoulders heading into the second half of the season.
āNo one is forbidden to dream,ā Taider said. āWe need to have an objective in mind to either hoist the Voyageurs Cup or MLS Cup; weāre second in the [Eastern Conference standings]. The people donāt believe it, but if we donāt believe it then who will?ā