Over the next month I will be putting out a series of previews for MLS (not The) this season. I know you are all wondering why should I care about MLS, however here are a couple facts to get you going.

• Since 2007 the league has gone from 13 to 24 teams (and counting)
• Last year MLS added a new team in LA owned by Will Ferrell, Magic Johnson, Nomar Garciaparra, and Mia Hamm!
• Soccer has the longest run time of the 4 major sports in 90 minutes, however because there’s no commercials the game only lasts 2 hours.
• Great players such as Josef Martinez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Carlos Vela, and many many more come to a tv near you every week!
• ESPN+ has made it very easy to find each game every week.

Montreal Impact

Owner: Joey Saputo

Coach: Remi Garde

Previous Season Record: 14-16-4 7th in West

Canadian Championship 2018: Semi Finals

Top Scorer: Ignacio Piatti 16 Goals

Stadium: Saputo Stadium

2018 Recap

The Montreal Impact are a team that no one wants to see on the schedule any given week. They always have speed, talent, and make it tough to beat them. Last season was no different, they fought all the way to the end barely missing the playoffs at the end of the season. Ignacio Piatti had another incredible year (16 goals, 13 assists), furthering his reputation as one of the best MLS players ever.

After starting last year 3-10 you have to give them credit for where they ended up. A lot of the slow start had to do with trading star defender Laurent Ciman, because the defense just could not get it don. Once that was figured out they went 11-6-4 the rest of the way to stay in it. They are looking to keep the momentum forward this off season.

Off Season Transactions

*A couple things to highlight here:

• Bacary Sagna on a free transfer could turn out to be an incredible signing.
• Maxi Urruti is a proven scorer in MLS.
• Losing Alejandro Silva and Raheem Edwards could hurt on the wings.

2019 Outlook

This Impact team is built very well and in my opinion only got better. They could be around the top of the Eastern Standings all year, because from front to back they have a lot of depth. They brought in a solid MLS player in Urruti up top and of course with Piatti feeding him, Maxi could be one of the top scorers in the league. If Sagna still has any gas left they will have a dangerous defense as well. The only question mark I really see is at Goalie, so if they figure that out, they will be hard to stop.

After the torrid second half last season I see no reason why the Impact cannot continue to rise in the East. They will be fighting for the conference finals by the end of the year in my opinion