Arnaud, Bernier to lead Impact in MLS
Posted February 25, 2012 5:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — When the expansion Montreal Impact faced their biggest test to date in Major League Soccer pre-season action this week, the team looked to 10-year veteran Davy Arnaud for guidance.
Coach Jesse Marsch hasn’t decided who will lead the team in its inaugural MLS campaign, but an obvious choice as captain when Montreal faced the Vancouver Whitecaps at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic tournament on Friday was Arnaud, who captained Sporting Kansas City the last two years.
Marsch said other veterans, likely to include Montreal native Patrice Bernier and Jamaica vice-captain Donovan Ricketts, will also get to be captain for a game before the regular season begins on March 10.
“Right now we haven’t established who the captain is, but we will certainly give all the older guys and veterans a chance to be captain in these two weeks,” Marsch said Saturday. “At the end of this two weeks we’ll decide who it is.”
Finding experienced leaders was one of Marsch’s priorities when he began assembling the team in the fall.
The Impact picked defender and Kansas City native Seth Sinovic in the expansion draft on Nov. 18 before trading him back to Sporting with allocation money for Arnaud, a gritty midfielder/forward who had 43 goals in 240 MLS games with the club.
“He’s a natural leader and that’s what you want,” said Marsch.
Arnaud took the role to heart as the Impact battled a strong-looking Whitecaps side. The Impact fell behind 1-0 in the first half with both teams playing most of their regulars and gave up two more with mostly substitutions on the field in the second half of a 3-0 defeat.
Arnaud, a native of Nederland, Texas, was all over the field. He had two excellent scoring chances, and was the first one to step in to defend Bernier when he was chopped down from behind by Vancouver midfielder Camilo, who was shown the yellow card.
“I’m one of the veterans,” said 32-year-old Arnaud. “We have several guys who have been around, either here or in Europe, who are ready to be leaders on and off the field.
“I know that’s one of my roles. That’s what they’ve asked some of us older guys to do.”
Marsch said he would use a completely new starting 11 when Montreal faces Kansas City in its next tournament game on Sunday afternoon. Arnaud might have a chance come on as a substitute against his old teammates.
Arnaud said it would be a “fun game” against a team he left on good terms.
The starters against Vancouver will likely be on again for their final round robin game Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo.
Bernier, a midfielder from Brossard, Que., was another key acquisition, signing with Montreal after nine years with five different clubs in Europe, mostly recently Lingby in Denmark.
The crafty passer has duel responsibilities with the Impact. He will be looked to for leadership on the field and, as the only regular who is fluent in French, to do a lot of the talking to the media and the team’s fans.
It’s a role he was ready for.
“It’s nice to be home and these are things that come with the territory,” said the 32-year-old who has played 46 times for Canada. “Sometimes I wish I could skip it, but it’s not something I put on my mind.
“I had to do it when I was abroad too, so it’s just on a more regular basis here. It doesn’t hinder me in what I have to do in terms of playing on the pitch.”
As a first-year team, the Impact are a collection of players taken from various teams in the expansion draft, traded for from other clubs, signed as a free agents from various countries or rookies picked out from U.S. universities in the SuperDraft.
They are slowly being formed into a team in pre-season and they hope the veterans will lead the way.
“Every team in the last few years I’ve played on, that’s a role I’ve been given,” added Bernier. “It’s something I’m used to.
“We have a lot of younger players coming straight from college. With other players like Davy, Dononvan and (defender) Shavar Thomas, who have a lot of MLS experience, it’s up to us to talk and set a standard so that we know where we want to go and that everyone joins the group so we will be a competitive team.”
