News from Florida

Hi,

This is my first post on Pirma's Blog. I hope you'll like it.

It’s been a long two months. The hardest first 2 months of my short professional career. I’ve been out of action since early January due to a torn quadricep. It’s been tough watching from the sidelines as the fellas attempted to make Canadian soccer history by beating Santos Laguna and making it to the semi-finals of the Concacaf Champions League. I’m sure all of you know the end result of the 2 leg series. Although we lost in heart breaking fashion to Santos the entire week leading up to the 2 games was unforgettable. A whole week of training at the big O in preparation for the 1^st leg game on the 25^th of February will be something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. The game itself was a dream start for us. Watching from the press box I had an eagle eye view of Eddie Sebrango’s 2 goals. I couldn’t hold in my excitement as the final whistle blew. We were 90 minutes away from the semis. For the return leg, I watched the match at a local café with some staff members of the Impact. Once again we were able to lead the match 2-1 at half-time. To score two goals in Mexico is an unbelievable feat. Now to hold a 2-1 lead against a super technical team such as Santos was going to be a tremendous task. I thought to myself that the worst thing we could do is to bring 11 guys behind the ball and defend the whole half. Unfortunately that is exactly what we did. For some reason we couldn’t put our foot on the ball and control the tempo of the game. There has been much said about the game, how we had a complete meltdown and let Santos score 4 goals. Yes, in my opion we did have a physiological meltdown, but people must understand the situation the guys were in. A hostile environment against a team that is mid season in one of the best leagues in North and South America. Anyways, the team did an amazing job throughout the Concacaf and I’m very happy to be a part of it.

We’re now in Florida for a 10-day camp for further preparation of the season. We arrived this afternoon and had a light training to loosen up the legs. We play a friendly today against the Honduran National team. Another great tune up for the up coming season.

Simon