Back when Frank Klopas was technical director of Chicago Fire, from 2008 to 2011, the club enjoyed a healthy working relationship with Mexico’s Club América. Klopas would travel to the capital, scouting players, tightening the links between the two clubs, and taking in games at Estadio Azteca.
“I’ve been at Azteca, watched many games,” Klopas says. “And it’s crazy, now I’m here, coaching Montreal in a final at Azteca. It’s crazy how life is and things change.”
Only a couple of years ago, it seemed improbable, at best, that Montreal Impact would make it this far in the Concacaf Champions League. And yet here is Klopas, in his second year as Impact head coach, sitting in the lobby of a Mexico City hotel some 50 hours away from the first leg of the final between his team and América, this Wednesday night at the legendary venue, host of two World Cup finals (9pm ET, Fox Sports 2).
Earlier this year, the Impact adopted a tagline, ‘Marquons l’histoire’ [Let’s make history], for their advertising and promotion efforts. They had no idea that it would lead them to the most storied soccer stadium in North and Central America.
In the quarterfinals, against Mexico’s Pachuca, they were, as most MLS teams are considered at that stage of the competition, massive underdogs. But they dramatically squeezed through on away goals and weren’t exactly considered favorites against Costa Rica’s Alajuelense in the semis. Another away-goal victory later, the underdogs are here again.
Montreal owed it to themselves after a terrible 2014. They finished rock bottom of MLS, notching only six wins in 34 attempts. Winning the Canadian Championship – the one path into CCL for all Canada-based clubs – was the silver lining on that season. “There’s an opportunity for everyone at the club, for myself as a coach, to do as well as we possibly can,” Klopas says. “Anytime you enter a tournament or something, the goal would be to win it.
“We’re fine with [being the underdogs], but I think there’s a lot of respect for the league as a whole. The league has grown. You see a lot of the respect, with the success of the [United States] national team and a majority of players now playing in MLS. The quality of the league has improved. It’s not like everyone takes any team from MLS in a light way anymore.”
MLS, by postponing Montreal’s league games around the CCL final dates, has showed that it nevertheless sees the Impact as one of its representatives in the tournament. It also wants them to set a precedent: no MLS team has ever won CCL in its current format. “It would have been very difficult to play Saturday, fly here Sunday and prepare this game,” Klopas says. “It has been difficult, and a lot of our focus has been on this. It’s a special opportunity.”
Only Real Salt Lake, in 2011, had made it so far. They lost their final to Monterrey. In the seven years since the continental tournament was remodeled (the Concacaf Champions’ Cup ran from 1962 to 2008, crowning two MLS clubs), every finalist but Salt Lake and Montreal has been from Mexico.
The salary budget for MLS clubs limits their capacity to compete on two fronts. Club América’s payroll dwarfs Montreal’s. And then there’s timing. The CCL knockout stage kicks off in February, in the midst of the Liga MX season. MLS’ schedule runs from March to December.
“It’s hard, because we’re in preseason mode,” Klopas says. “We knew that, going in. It was about planning and preparing to give us the best opportunity to do well. Even the first trip [in Pachuca for the quarterfinals], it shows a lot of commitment from the club. The expenses are very big. You come here for 17 days. We felt that it was important. We were in preseason, but how fast could we adapt to the environment, to the altitude, and get games here? The players, they get confidence from the preparation.”
Stuck together in a hotel for two-and-a-half weeks, the group bonded. It hasn’t translated into scintillating soccer, but by grinding out results against Pachuca and Alajuelense, Montreal have shown the bite that comes with becoming a team, not a mere group of individuals.
Alas, it has been a different story in MLS. Montreal are, well, rock bottom of MLS, notching no wins in four attempts. By contrast, DC United got knocked out of the CCL quarters in February; they stand second in the Eastern Conference.
But it’s early. There’s still hope. The Impact have at least one game in hand on every MLS team – four on some. Real Salt Lake, six months after their 2011 CCL final, made the MLS Cup playoffs as third seed in the Western Conference.
And besides, CCL messing up with league form is not just an MLS thing, Klopas argues. “It goes for a team like América. They had a home game, they lose 4-0 [to Querétaro], and it’s like a different team. You listen to the comments of their coach [Gustavo Matosas] and you see that in the minds of the players, in their ability to stay focused.”
The beating that América took at the weekend didn’t rain on the supporters’ parade. On Monday, at the Azteca ticket office, appeared long and restless queues, so restless that riot police was called upon. 105,000 people will likely fill the stadium, spurring América on to match rivals Cruz Azul’s record tally of six continental crowns. They, too, want to make history.
“No matter what happens, I’m proud of the group,” Klopas says. “I’m very competitive. I would be lying if I said I don’t want to win. I have all the confidence in the world in my team and the players. I know that they’ll go out there and leave it all on the field. That’s the only thing I can ask for.”
