FC Montreal: Hottest Team In The USL
Look out world, FC Montreal is the hottest team in USL PRO.
The expansion squad, and affiliate of the Montreal Impact, now have four wins on the season, with three of those victories coming in the last two weeks.
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It has been quite the turnaround for FC Montreal. As an expansion club, you would not expect the team to be taking the league by storm, but I don’t think anyone expected one win in 14 matches to open up the campaign. As you can imagine, that was good for last in the league.
“These guys who are essentially 24 and under, are playing against men for the most part,” said FC Montreal play-by-play man Joey Alfieri during an eight-game winless run earlier in the season.
“As a young squad, they get off to slow starts, which is normal and they get
better as the game goes on, but to say they’ve been outclassed or outmatched, that’s only in happened one or two games.”
Truth be told, winning isn’t FC Montreal’s reason for existing. It was announced the Impact would be funding a USL club in July of 2014, with the goal of developing young talent for the future. It would also serve as a place for fringe players from the MLS to stay fit while awaiting their chance with the Impact.
One of the foremost youngsters IMFC fans have an eye on is Louis Beland-Goyette. The Pointe-Claire, Que. native was sent on a season-long loan to the USL, because he wasn’t in a position to get playing time with the Impact.
“In the first game, he would tell you he got off to a slow start, but he’s picked it up since,” Alfieri said of the 19-year-old. “You have to give him credit because it’s not always easy to go from the first team and then tell you ‘we’re sending you to the USL for an entire season.’ I think he’s done a really good job.”
Another player similar to Beland-Goyette is Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare. Although not officially loaned to FC Montreal, the holding midfielder has started eight matches – in addition to a couple of late game appearances with the Impact – and his leadership qualities have been on display.
“You see him wear the captain’s armband every once in a while. He was signed by the Impact, but didn’t really get a lot of time there. They obviously believe in him.”
When Marco Di Vaio was subbed off in his farewell match, he was replaced by Gagnon-Lapare. A frontrunner for future Impact captaincy perhaps?
Two other prospects Alfieri pointed to as having impressed during the season are Fabio Morelli and Mele Temguia.
“Fabio’s a good player. You can tell he’s a little undersized and a little light, but when he has the ball on his foot, he is extremely dangerous. He makes good runs and puts himself in good position.
“The coaches have been raving about Temguia, a centre back. He’s a big guy who moves pretty well for his size. He’s a couple of years away from maybe making that transition to MLS, if he gets there at all.”
Temguia and Morelli are one-two in minutes played for the club this season.
“[FC Montreal] will be the final step and transition for our young players before joining MLS,” said Impact owner and president Joey Saputo in September. “We believe that it is the best way to prepare them for the top league in North American soccer.”
In addition to the young talent mentioned above, numerous players under contract with the Impact have made appearances. Hassoun Camara, Kenny Cooper, Eric Kronberg, Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Eric Alexander have each spent time in the USL this season.
Along with the poor play, FC Montreal was drawing criticism from the rest of the league. The club was playing most of their games on the Saputo Stadium turf field, a smaller pitch with temporary benches for spectators in the shadow of the 20,500-seater the Impact call home. Fans of other teams were complaining that, even though FC Montreal’s main purpose is to help develop young players for the big club, USL is still a professional league and should be played at a professional ground.
Alfieri argues that the league and the club are doing just fine.
“I remember when the Impact were in the league [from 2000 to 2009] and this thing has come such a long way. Sure, not every game’s at the main stadium, but there are a handful throughout the year. There were even a few at Red Bull Arena. For what it is, the league’s done a bang up job.”
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One of the features that makes the league unique is their presence on YouTube. Every club has an account and every match is streamed live. The entire match is then uploaded, as well as smaller three-minute highlight packs.
“It’s really impressive to see what they’ve done in terms of every single game being streamed live. You can watch them on demand and that’s great exposure. If you want to do some advanced scouting, you can do that as well.”
Alfieri goes as far to say that this is something that presents a leg up on Major League Soccer itself.
“In MLS, you need a subscription to do that. USL is very professional.”
Luckily for FC Montreal, they are now one of the hottest teams in the league. They’ve come away with all nine points from their most recent home games, including a big win over their rivals, Toronto FC II. Moreover, forward Charles Joly was named the USL Player of the Week – the first time a player from the club has been given that honour.
“In this developmental logic we play, it was planned to be better in the second half of the season,” head coach Philippe Eullaffroy said in a recent press release.
So far, this second half has been much, much better.
Special thanks to Joey Alfieri (@joeyalfieri).