There’s supposed to be thundershowers tonight, and with a bloody Game 7 going on in Boston, odds are the stadium will be empty. Last year the Impact was in a similar situation, with Toronto in town for the NCC while Pittsburgh and the Habs faced off in a Game 7. The weather was nice, yet the stadium wasn’t full either, and lods of fans started cheering when the hockey team scored. It was bad enough that the announcer at Saputo Stadium interrupted the game to announce the score every once in a while.

I’ve already spent too much time talking about that other sport, so here’s the scoop on tonight’s match.

The Gulls have two extra defenders available tonight in Richard Pelletier and Hicham Aaboubou, both of who are suspended for NASL play, but not the Voyageurs Cup. Neither are expected to start. Meanwhile, Hassoun Camara and Reda Agourram are both still out and will not play.

The probable XI:

Gerba-Le Gall
Di Lorenzo – Lowery – Testo – Kreamalmeyer
Zurab – Pizzolito – Hatchi – Billy
Gaudette

Most noticeably, Anthony Le Gall will be taking Idriss Ech-Chergui’s place as a forward tonight, as his late-game performance after being subbed in last Sunday earned him a starting spot. Meanwhile, Antonio Ribeiro will start on the bench again.

We’ve had trouble as of late in getting the ball forward to be an offensive threat, something Vancouver has had no trouble in doing. This should be a defensive duel, provided we can actually hold on to the ball and get it where it needs to go.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has 5 or 6 players out with injuries, as head coach Teitur Thordarson says he won’t have his best team on Wednesday. His best team in general? Or best team on the pitch? Let’s hope for our sake that it’s the latter, otherwise…

I won’t say that we should panic, but to be perfectly honest, our club, despite the obvious talent level of the players in our squad, just isn’t good.

For starters, playing with two defensive midfielders just doesn’t cut it. You’ve got a solid back four in Billy, Nevio, Kevin Hatchi and Tsiskaridze, plus a healthy David Testo. Why are we playing Amir Lowery when what we really need is an offensive midefielder? Saaaay, Antonio Ribeiro?

I won’t bash Luke Kreamalmeyer, but he doesn’t have the offensive spark that Anthony Le Gall does.

Unsurprisingly, the team got its best scoring opportunities when Le Gall and Ribeiro were subbed in.

The problem, this time around, wasn’t so much being second on the ball, but rather, not wasting the ball. Granted, it was windy as hell today, so I’m sure every ball that was more than a foot off the ground didn’t go where it intended. Still, that doesn’t excuse the often questionable play selection and poor play construction. The problem, as I see it, is the midfield. Perhaps not the players themselves, but the combination of players and the tactical scheme.

The offense looked ok, as Gerba didn’t have many balls to work with, while Idriss Ech-Chergui looked ready to spark something, but lacked players to pass to, save for Gerba.

As for the D, although we weren’t perfect, we avoided giving up a goal today.

That being said, if we weren’t mediocre today, we weren’t very good either. A win would have helped us for next Wednesday.

God help us. We suck right now.

We need a win, badly. Two losses to start off the season haven’t helped inspire this team that should be awesome by D-2 standards.

We lost 1-0 to Tampa on the opening night of the season.

With a Nutrilite Canadian Championship game next Wednesday, the Gulls need a decisive victory in order to carry it over to next week if we’re to have a shot and standing up to an MLS Vancouver side.

Probable XI:

Gaudette; Tsiskaridze – Hatchi – Pizzo – Billy; Di Lorenzo – Lowery – Testo – Kreamalmayer; Ech Chergui – Gerba

Come to the stadium! Come support your local team! We’ve even got a tailgate party set in the Viau street parking lot, right next to the stadium, starting at 11:30am.

See you there.

The Gulls are dead last.

Thankfully, we play our home opener next Saturday against Tampa. Let’s pray we play better in front of a home crowd.

We sucked in our first game.

I won’t go into details, but Steve over at IMFC93 has a great match summary.

Go Gulls!

Tonight the Gulls face the Railhawks in Cary, neary 6 months to the day after that controversial semi-final match. We really need to step up tonight.

The probable starting eleven is as follows:

Gaudette – Billy, Pizzolitto, Hatchi, Tsiskaridze – Le Gall (or Kreamalmeyer), Lowery, Gatti, Ech Chergui – Mayard, Gerba

Kevin Hatchi and Idriss Ech Chergui will likely get their first starts for the club tonight. David Testo is available. Leonardo Di Lorenzo, Hassoun Camara and Reda Agourram, all with thigh injuries, didn’t follow the club to Carolina, while defenders Hicham Aaboubou et Richard Pelletier will sit out their second games of suspension.

Go Gulls!

I’ve been busy trying to form another Impact supporters’ group.

So forgive me if I’ve been gone. As it stands, I don’t know how often I’ll be posting anyway.

Let me recap the last month or so as I add some comments:

February 20: The Impact announces they will face Red Bull New York in a friendly match in May. The fans are happy, but many lose sight that this is an EFFIN’ FRIENDLY that is not nearly as important as say, the Nutrilite Canadian Championship or the NASL season. It may be good for marketing, but really, how many people will come out only to see Thierry Henri? It’s just about as important as the AC Milan game last year, that is, not important at all. Stop drinking Kool-Aid.

February 23-March 2: In Arizona, the Impact played three matches against MLS opposition. We lost 1-0 against Portland, 2-0 against Kansas City and beat FC Dallas‘ B-squad 3-0. There really isn’t much to say except that those games were good tests for our club, unlike playing against university squads, which is what we have been doing for the past 2 weeks or so.

March 9: Joey Saputo unveils the plans for the new stadium. It looks great (or will look great). The capacity will go from 13 034 to 20 341 seats by adding a West stand and two corners, increasing seating in the East stand. It will also include new entrances, new suites and a roof going around the three sides of the stadium that are currently roofless.

Here are some pics, thanks to the Impact website:

March 11: To nobody’s surprise, keeper Evan Bush joins the Gulls.

March 14: Adam Braz retires after giving heart and soul to the club. He becomes the team manager or something.

March 19: everyone watches the Whitecaps play their first MLS game. They beat Toronto, everyone in Montreal is happy…until we realize that we’re facing Vancouver in the Nutrilite.

March 29: Pat Leduc announces his retirement even though he wasn’t re-signed by the club. Another legend retires.

March 30: Amir Lowery, ex-Railhawk, joins the Gulls. Our squad is tight.

March 5: Don Garber and Joey Saputo meet the supporters at the Burgundy Lion Pub. They answer supporters’ questions. And pose for an awesome pic with me and my crew.

He ours, bitchez.

Honestly, I’m surprised it took eleven days to confirm, but whatever, he’s here. William “Bill” “The Wall” Gaudette.

He’s our present. He’s our future.

Bow before his might!

King Bill

Glory to the Gulls! Onward!

(too much?)

Zurab Tsiskaridze

We also signed Zurab Tsiskaridze, who played a lot of games (31, 25 as a starter) for Vancouver last year. We now have a real left back. Well, not that Richard Pelletier isn’t a real left back, but, well, it’s not the same, ok.

So that still leaves us with 18 players. And Bill Gaudette on the way.

Only a few spots left.

Photo: Pépé/Montreal Impact

Luke Kreamalmeyer, who was invited for a trial with the club a few weeks ago, has unofficially signed with the Gulls, according to Radio-Canada, who contacted the 28-year old midfielder. Kremalmeyer, who has played for Real Salt Lake, Portland Timbers, Rochester Rhinos, Carolina Railhawks and AC St.Louis, usually plays on the wing. He’ll be battling it out with Anthony Le Gall for a spot.

With Kremalmeyer, that’s 18 players signed for 2011.

So this is what we look like so far:

Gerba — Ech Chergui (Agourram)
Di Lorenzo — Ribeiro — Testo — Le Galll (Camara, Kremalmeyer, Gatti, Mayard)
Pelletier — Aaboubou — Pizzolitto — Billy (Hatchi, Braz)
Badescu

Where’s Bill?

Simon Gatti

Yep, he’s back for 2011. Did you really think that he wouldn’t? I mean, come on. The guy is such a versatile player and who doesn’t complain when he’s put on the pitch but scarcely.

Today is his 30th birthday. Go on and wish him happy birthday!

Welcome back Simon!