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Start as you mean to go on then? Hardly. http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/ . Bookies were offering odds of 13/1 before kickoff that the home team Houston Dynamo would prevail by three goals to nil. Ominous odds. We should have seen the warning. What price, we wonder for three players to be red-carded from the same team in blue? Drooping off the pitch with heads hung shamefully low, only eight men in tow? The Montreal Impact had just made MLS history. No, not the type which would have been in the January power point presentations. In the 20-plus year history of MLS, no team - and there has been many rough-edged ones, has ever had three players dismissed in the course of a playoff match. At least one from the Impacts Podium of Shame had the calmness of thought about him only minutes after reaching the dressing room to offer up an apology just before dipping into that icy cold early bath. And it was Romero taking to social media, typing out, "Sorry for my reaction in the game tonight. I felt great impotence [sic importance] and no I couldnt control. excuse me!" Ill leave the jokers amongst you to play off Romeros spoonerism of impotence. It could of course be the best describing word to detail the last 10 matches this season from MLSs 19th franchise. Displaying though a certain PR savvy, Romero was canny enough to aim his tweet at not only his employee but also to those who have sacrificed both their hard earned money and valuable time to the Impact cause for over a decade - UM02. Better known in MLS Supporter Group Culture as the Montreal Ultras. I am not going to waste any time on searching for any quotes where Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum would perhaps have offered up apologies. For all I know, he may have already been fired. Schällibaums almost monthly apology address have worn mighty hallow over the course of a very lengthy season. How many have we heard already? Tiresome. As Keith Richards reminds us, "Talk Is Cheap." Only our actions count, be the direct inference from Rock and Rolls bad boy. Its not form to blame Schällibaum for his actions. Or more precisely, his inactions. Blame Rivas, Romero and Di Vaio all you like. But the last time I checked, football was still a team sport. Every team instructed and bought together in football harmony by the technical staff - under the guidance of management. Youve let everyone down. Every single stakeholder. From top to bottom. First and foremost your supporters. Or as one of the games canniest of business minds, Peter Kenyon, ex-CEO of Manchester United and Chelsea FC, once infamously described football fans as customers. Kenyons only crime? Brutal honesty in his forthright choice of words. Sticking with the money theme all those club partners which have invested both marketing dollars basis will feel a sense of been had. Each of the club partners buys in with the expectation of success. The reward system providing, as the money men refer to as the ROI. To the uninitiated, the Return On Investment. Success on the pitch leading to success off of it as the cliché goes. The partner group is the sub species of a football club which makes available a significant percentage of the capital to allow for investment and upgrades to the playing pool. The risks the partner group buy into happened during 90 minutes of Houston Hell last night. The clever ones will have though built such scenarios into their strategy planning models. After all, what is that they say about, out of all bad comes good. Not wanting at all to place club partners above Impact employees, volunteer or paid but they as well are another group of hapless victims. Those travelling to Houston will have an easier time dealing with last night than those who will have gathered at Impact pubs, cafés or even in each others homes to take in what came billed as an historic moment for the Impact, their employer. How shell-shocked are each of them as they arrived into their offices at Stade Saputo Friday morning? Wonder what their conversation round the ample water coolers was? I bet none are on 2014 Season Ticket drives. Yet another opportunity cost of 90 minutes in Houston Hell. The League will demand and receive all the answers they require. Newly minted VP of Operations and Security Ray Whitworth just witnessed quite the baptism of fire. As he took in the match, Whitworth more than anyone else would have been fully aware of the quite explosive potential attached to Romero and Di Vaios actions. Mercifully unlike Whiworths native England - which gave birth to football hooliganism - the English disease has not migrated across the Atlantic. At least not yet. Imagine for one moment Thursday night was a crucial West Ham vs Millwall encounter, one made all the more incendiary as it welcomed in a night time sky. There would be still be fires smouldering in Houston as its health services continued the enormous task of saving limbs, if not precious life itself. MLSs Peter Walton, another veteran of the English trenches, in his role as GM of the Professional Referee Organization has a sizable task ahead of him. What will the MLS Disciplinary Committee be munching on as they eat their muesli for breakfast this morning? Many across the Impacts micro and macro worlds will find opportunity here to bring to task Impact President Joey Saputo. Some will lay the 90 minutes of Houston Hell blame fully at him. As you do, remember it was Saputo who made the decision to commit the significant money the club made available this time last year so as to be in place to significantly upgrade the 2012 talent pool. In addition to that, consider the millions of dollars of red ink hemorrhaging from the 2012 accounts. Saputo also placed significant personal money to the 2013 cause. It was the Impact Class of 2013 who took to the pitch last night. Not Saputo. Nor the stadium that bares the holding company name. More opportunity cost when factoring in the money now swirling around MLS naming rights deals. Saputo will be inconsolable right now. Not only in his role as club president, but as a fan. No one lives, breathes and kicks the Impact quite like him. There was though some comfort for me to be found from last night. Ill take any crumb under these conditions and circumstances. They actually come from what wasnt. Reading between the lines as Dickens may have uttered. One comes in the considerable global football force that is Alessandro Nesta. Mercifully spared from anything connected to last night by injury, or more likely the toll of multiple injuries in a quite all together remarkable career which spawned into life as an eight-year old in a Roman suburb. Di Vaio a teammate. That and the pending birth of a third child down in Miami rendered Nesta un-travelable. The other comfort comes in the quite considerable form of IMFC original MLS homeboy, Patrice Bernier. Yes he travelled, made it to the bench but was spared the embarrassment of being one of that final whistle gang of eight. Bernier has been playing through the pain barrier just as the Impacts season began taking the shape of a pear. We dont need to remind you how Berniers star has shone since December 2011, when on a wet and windy Monday morning the media gathered at the Impacts then downtown offices as club president welcomed the Brossard native back into the Impact bosom. Not content with personal accolades in the form of 2012 MVP the man elevated his game this season. Then factor in he was asked (or was it told) to play and perform to his high standards in a most unfamiliar role by his new head coach. I wont claim to know Bernier, Im still coming to terms with myself. But what I do know is what I have witnessed first-hand on and off the Impact pitch. I dont need to get into what I have been told. From my lookout post - which extends all the way back to them Claude Robillard days - Bernier has been the exception to the football rule. Ooze the stuff he does, the utter personification of class. Something totally lacking from his club last night Bernier, as Nesta, will both feel immense guilt by association. With no word on any contract extension seeping from Saputo Stadium as the focus was four square on Di Vaio - if Im Berniers agent, hometown discount has just been taking off the table. What will be on the minds of Impact Legends this morning? Especially the class of 94, those the club paid a terrific tribute to as part of the ceremony introducing the 2013 version. All season long we witnessed wonderful pre match scenes as those most deserving which helped build the club towards its MLS moment, were introduced to supporters many of whom not even born during those halcyon Claude Robillard days. Somewhere, Jesse Marsch is getting his laughter on. Change of Coach? Change of culture needed more like. More on the Impact - TSN 690 Saturday morning during a special edition of oranges @ halftime - Pulp Free, Freshness Guaranteed. Kick Off at 10am et/7am pt Listen Live: TSN690.ca You can reach and follow Noel Butler at:Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/ . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/ . Ancelotti says Ronaldo has recovered from a hamstring injury but "but he doesnt feel comfortable yet so we wont risk him." Madrid is third in the Spanish league, six points behind leader Barcelona, going into Saturdays game against Valladolid.BUFFALO – Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis has a pretty good understanding of all that Mason Raymond can offer. But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. “Its not really me,” Nonis said, minutes before the Leafs and Sabres squared off at First Niagara Center on Saturday. “Im comfortable with Mason. I know what hes like as a person and I think everyone is comfortable with him as a player. Its where Randy sees him. Where does he fit in the lineup?” Nonis and his management team will certainly have their input in the series of roster decisions still looming for the Leafs, but according to Nonis, Carlyle will have the final say. “I cant tell him to put someone into the lineup that he doesnt want in the lineup,” Nonis opined of the decision-making process. “He has full control over who makes this team and who doesnt. But we all spend a lot of time discussing the benefits of certain people and their strengths and weaknesses. I think its a pretty healthy relationship and open dialogue both ways to make sure that were all on the same page and were all pushing toward the same goal with the same pieces.” Signed to a professional tryout on the eve of training camp and a second round selection of Nonis in Vancouver, Raymond is among the more intriguing pieces vying for a place on the Toronto roster. With loads of speed and a fair amount of skill, the now 27-year-old offers Carlyle the prospect of depth and versatility in the forward ranks. Scoring twice in his first two exhibition matches, he has made an immediate impression. Surely a more complex case for the head coach is 19-year-old Morgan Rielly, whom the Leafs can either keep in the NHL or return to the junior circuit in Moose Jaw. “Hes making it as hard as I thought hed make it,” Nonis said of Rielly, who suited up for the first three exhibition games, sitting out in Buffalo. Carlyle suggested at the outset of camp that the determination process with Rielly would lie in whether he could capably contribute 12-15 minutes a night or was better off dominating with the Warriors, conceding the value of both options. “Randy knows what hes looking for,” Nonis continued. “He had a different player but a pretty good example of that in Cam Fowler. I think he was always looking for [Fowler] to falter and he never did and Randy used him more and more. And if he wouldve faltered Im sure Randy wouldve pulled him out. Thats the same kind of scenario here with Morgan. If hes ready then hell go in.” Though Nonis stated explicitly that Carlyle has final say on roster decisions, the coach, for one, seems to value the opinions of those around him, taking stock of a range of voices across the organization before settling on a decision. “We converse daily, sometimes two or three times a day,” Carlyle said of his conversations with management after a lengthy 3-2 shootout victory. “If its not [Dave Nonis], its [Dave Poulin], its Claude Loiselle, Cliff Fletcher, Bobby Carpenters here, Steve Kaspers around; theres an armada of management that we make sure that we all have a voice and an opinion. We as a coaching staff talk behind closed doors quite a bit ourselves about what our feelings are and we want to make sure were consistent with what we see and we voice our opinion to the management staff. “When youre in the situation were in I think that you try to take everybodys opinion.” “Well have long discussions about it,” Nonis concluded. “Its probably the same way that I use Randy when were trying to make a trade, I seek his opinion. And at the end of the day we do what we need to do as a staff. I think its the same way from his standpoint; hell seek our opinion, but hes picking the team.” Five Points 1. Rangers shootout attempt The shootout lasted 15 rounds and exactly 30 shooters on Saturday, capped by Jay McClements eventual winner. But the highlight of the exhibition proceeding had to have been Paul Ranger, who offered a truly creative attempt against the Sabres goaltender. “Its a kick-shot,” Ranger said afterward of his failed effort on Jhonas Enroth. “I dont know how else to describe. I learned it when I was probably 10 or 11 years old.” With the shootout dragging with no end apparently in sight, shot after shot turned aside, Ranger decided that when his name was eventually called he would attempt the unusual and unpredictablle. http:///...Copa-America-Jersey/. “Thats the cool part of it is that I have no idea where its going and the goalie doesnt either ‘cause I sure dont,” he grinned. 2. Reimers second effort James Reimer made his first full outing of the exhibition season, stopping 38 of the 40 shots he saw from the Sabres before adding 15 more in the shootout. “I felt a lot better today compared to London,” Reimer said, referring to his first start a week earlier, which lasted about half the game. “Im feeling better every day on the ice, really seeing the puck better, reading situations and plays better. In the game I felt a lot more comfortable today than I did in London. But having said theres still some situations where you werent as sharp as youd like to be.” Though just an exhibition game, Reimer was pleased with his perfect performance in the shootout, a source of some struggle last season and throughout his career. “Weve been working on some stuff,” he said. “Not going to give away my secrets or anything, but it is something obviously I worked on a bit this summer and tried to really improve on.” Reimer is 0-5 career in the shootout with a .625 save percentage. 3. Lupul nearing exhibition debut The exhibition debut is drawing near for Joffrey Lupul. Returning to practice earlier this week following a bout with back spasms, Lupul remained out against the Sabres on Saturday, but projects to play when the two teams meet again in Toronto on Sunday. “Whats 24 more hours?” Leafs coach Randy Carlyle asked rhetorically before the game. “Well, 24 more hours is a practice underneath [him], an opportunity to stretch, an opportunity for more rest and for his body to tell him that hes 110 per cent, ready to go.” Lupul began experiencing trouble with his back in the days leading up to training camp, remaining off the ice for the first week of camp. Troubled by injuries over the course of his career, including last season when he played in just 16 games, Lupul appeared to have put his most recent back difficulties behind him with four consecutive days of practice. “Wed love to see him in our lineup on a regular basis,” Carlyle said of Lupul. “Weve tried to maintain that he has to change some of the things that he does from a standpoint of maybe being less reckless. I commented on it last week, I thought it was more not being so much reckless, but I think he was just dying to make a contribution.” Lupul fractured his right forearm in the third game of 2013, the victim of a flailing Dion Phaneuf point shot. He returned to the lineup 25 games later, offering two weeks of mesmerizing hockey before suffering a concussion, crunched by Jay Rosehill and Adam Hall. 4. More Rielly Watch Questioned further on the junior option for Rielly, Nonis said the coaching staff in Moose Jaw certainly factored into the Leafs equation. “If he does go back he has a good coach there,” Nonis said of Warriors head coach Mike Stothers. “I think thats one area you look at and say is he being coached by a quality staff and the answer is yes. Would he have a major impact on the World Junior team? I think the answer there is yes. Theres some things that could happen to him that would be good for him. That doesnt mean that he should go back. If he really is ready to play here and he can play a significant role then theres nothing wrong with keeping him at 19.” 5. Smiths dream Vying for a job with the Leafs in a depth capacity, Trevor Smith was born in Ottawa, spent a few years of his youth in Thornhill, Ontario, before finally settling in Vancouver. And he grew up a Leafs fan. “A lot of my buddies were giving me some cr**,” he said of signing with the organization this summer, “but for me personally this is a huge opportunity and something Ive dreamed of as a kid. Im really excited to be here.” Smith spent last season in the Pittsburgh organization – he dressed for one game with the Penguins – a member of the Lightning organization the year prior to that. The 28-year-old has played in 24 career NHL games, his AHL resume chalk full of gaudy offensive stats. Smith has the ability to play both centre and the wing, realizing that his versatility is perhaps the best asset to finding a job with the Leafs at this point. “I think if Im going to play in this league I need to be able to kill penalties and be really good at it,” he explained, “be able to block shots and be versatile, not only five-on-five defensively but on the PK as well.” Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Authentic China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NHL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '