Dein erstes Forum » ball in the final seconds again Saturday night, he

As their principal league rival came to terms with their seven-year MLS itch by splashing their loadsamoney cash and monopolizing the headlines, that likely even NYC FC owner Sheik Mansour has been paying attention to, the Montreal Impact have gone about their off season with a minimum of fuss. Last fall as local media awaited news on if Schällibaum would return, finally on December 18th a plume of Stade Saputo white smoke arrived in the form of a solitary press release stating the Impact were placing their 2014 Trust in Frank. That very same evening at a swanky downtown hotel, the Impact hosted 500 of their favourite supporters at their inaugural Members Council. Introduced to the faithful, Klopas was sat at the head table sharing a stage with the IMFC podium - Joey Saputo, Nick de Santis and Richard Legendre. Klopas slipped out of town the following day - only though after some Christmas shopping with his wife; a tradition for the couple which dates back to the ex-Fire coachs playing days. The Impacts third head coach would remain in Chicago until a week into the New Year. Upon officially taking up the reigns as head coach and director of player personnel the first point of business for Klopas was the following weekends combine. The opening of training camp was a fortnight away. As the days ebbed away speculation mounted on what the club would do to plug significant roster gaps. Most prominently this came in the shape of a retired Nesta plus the Impact were in need of replacing their captain who had been acquired in December by Barrack Obamas local club. Then throw in the Impacts need to sign a free scoring supporting cast member for Di Vaio, a player they cant expect to repeat his MVP type season. But the only news for local media to sink their teeth into at this time came from city hall as the Mayor proclaimed he would attend March the 22nd home opener. Then just as the Toronto FC plush red carpet was about to extend itself from Drakes downtown condo to a certain part of North London, training camp a mere 10 days away, the Impact were finally able to announce a player signing. Not a marquee signing most hoped for, instead it was the re-upping of the first player to pen an Impact MLS deal, Nelson Rivas. Having missed last terms entire regular season, the Columbian has the perfect motivation to return the faith shown in him by the club. Aside from calling up three Academy Players plus including four Super Draft picks, Rivas was the only senior player added to the squad of 21 Klopas inherited for when camp opened January 27th. A 28-player squad that was still without Adrian Lopez who was still home in Spain continuing the rehab of a late summer shattered ACL. The FA Cup winner is not expected in Montreal before Easter. It would be a full fortnight into camp before another playing signing was announced when just on Monday the Impact confirmed Andrés Romero would return on loan from his Brazilian side. Romero had certainly impressed in early 2013 but as the season wore on the 24-year-old Argentine became the brunt for much supporter frustration. His form taking the most significant of dips, one we now know is strongly attributed to his wife having to return home to Argentina in preparation for the addition of welcoming twins to the Romero household. The Impacts wait for a new player signing finally ended this morning when announcing the signature of 21-year-old centre forward, Santiago Gonzalez. The Uruguayan, a so termed ‘Discovery Signing becomes the fifth South American footballer to join the club. And with it, there goes the neighbourhood and the myth the Impact only sign over-aged Italians. A few hours later Toronto introduced Inter Milans Champions League winning goalkeeper and Harry Redknapp castaway, Julio Cesar on a season-long loan. The man Felipe Scolari will pin his goalkeeping faith on during this summers World Cup is expected to man the posts for a team that leaked goals in 2013 until returning home for his nations tilt at securing a sixth world crown. Toronto FCs shiny looking new squad currently comes resplendent with more DPs on their roster than even the LA Galaxy are permitted. Dont, though, expect the Impact to up its DP quota anytime soon. Following yesterdays final training session ahead of the clubs departure late this afternoon to Orlando in defence of its Disney World Pro Soccer Classic title, De Santis poured extremely cold water on speculation linking the Impact to Valencias Pablo Piatti and SS Lazios Stefano Mauri. Having added a summer signing DP in each of its two MLS seasons to date, dont be surprised if the Impact continue that trend following this summers World Cup Finals. The Impact are set to get their pre-season and their Disney defence underway February 19th when they take on Fluminense FCs Under-23 team. Rounding out the Impacts group is two significant pre-season matches against the very best in all of MLS last season. A Supporter Shield wielding New York Red Bulls and an MLS Cup Champion, Sporting KC. With Toronto FC paired in a much weaker group which contains Orlando City SC, Columbus and Philadelphia, anything less than an appearance in March 1sts Disney final will likely be deemed as failure. With the Impact starting their 2014 season down in Dallas the night of March 8th, how appetizing is the prospect of a Disney final return and testing themselves against their neighbours, the club which has made most noise this off-season. You can reach and follow Noel Butler at:Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca@TheSoccerNoel Beginning with March 8ths game in Dallas, you can listen to all 34 Impact regular season games home and away this season on TSN690 – online at www.TSN690.ca Asics Wholesale Uk . If one fighter gases, he usually gets beat up pretty bad from that point on. Cheap Asics Shoes Uk . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. http://www.asicsuksale.com/ .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. Wieters had asked for $8.75 million and the Orioles had offered $6. Wholesale Asics Shoes . The actual winners on transfer deadline day are those clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City who were well prepared and managed to get their main incoming business done well ahead of the transfer window closing. Tottenham were able to add seven players by spending over 100 million pounds and also ensured maximum return for the Gareth Bale transfer to Real Madrid by managing the move superbly. Asics Shoes Uk Sale . - The infectious smile was missing from Nam Nguyen last week. AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Josh Smith was annoyed with himself earlier in the week, when his jumper with the game on the line missed badly and Detroit went on to lose to the New York Knicks. So when Smith had the ball in the final seconds again Saturday night, he went straight to the basket. "I wanted to be aggressive," Smith said. "When I caught it, I didnt want to settle." Smiths driving, left-handed bank shot with 1.2 seconds left gave the Pistons a 110-108 win over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night. Smith finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Brandon Jennings had 18 assists, the most in the NBA this season, to go with eight points and eight rebounds. Smith was involved in a few big plays in the final half-minute -- both good and bad. His 3-pointer as the shot clock expired put Detroit ahead 108-105 with 26.8 seconds left. Then he fouled Gerald Green while the Phoenix guard was shooting a 3-pointer. Green made all three free throws to tie it with 4.3 seconds remaining. The ensuing inbounds pass went to Smith near the top of the key. He drove to the right and then switched hands, making a tough shot while being tightly defended by Channing Frye. Greens 3-pointer at the buzzer from in front of the Detroit bench missed badly. "This is a great game for us, to be able to see how mentally strong we can be," Smith said. "Weve just got to be able to reflect on these games and apply it to the games that we have in front of us." Frye led Phoenix with 21 points. The Suns tied the game with a 13-3 run to start the fourth quarter, but Detroit responded with a 7-0 run. It was 105-97 before Phoenix scored eight straight points, tying it on a 3-pointer by P.J. Tucker with 51.2 seconds left. "We had one game this year where we came from 21 back, and we usually fight hard," Tucker said. The Pistons barely got a shot off on their next possession, but Smith was able to free himself on the left wing and connect from 3-point range. It was his first of two big shots at the end. "Those were two tough shots that Josh made," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "We let him get to the basket at the end, but he was going in the wrong direction and still knoocked that down.dddddddddddd Before that, we play great defence, they lose the ball and they manage to bat it out to him and he hits the 3. Thats just a bad break for us." Jennings equaled team records held by Isiah Thomas with 11 assists in the first quarter and 16 in the first half. But Jennings didnt have any points, rebounds or assists in the fourth quarter. Backup Will Bynum picked up the slack a bit, scoring eight of his 16 points in the final period. "Sometimes in those fourth quarters Brandon was alone out there as far as creating and thats kind of tough on him," Bynum said. "So when were out there we help him out a lot and that spreads the court out." Detroit has been a disappointment after signing Smith and trading for Jennings in the off-season, but those two looked sharp for most of the night Saturday. In the first quarter, the Pistons looked as smooth and cohesive as they have all season, repeatedly beating the transition-oriented Suns down the court for easy baskets. Jennings tossed an alley-oop off the backboard to Andre Drummond for a 12-3 lead, and later in the quarter his alley-oop to Smith gave him 10 assists. Jennings then found Kyle Singler for a dunk that made it 35-19. The Pistons finished the quarter with 16 assists on 17 field goals -- and a 35-21 lead. Even when Jennings shot an airball at the end of the second quarter Drummond was there to tip it in at the buzzer for a 64-51 lead. Detroit had 50 points in the paint in the first half. The Pistons finished with 68. The last player with 16 assists in a half was Jason Kidd, who did it April 5, 2009, for Dallas, according to STATS. That was also against Phoenix. The last player with at least 11 assists in a quarter was Steve Blake, who had 14 for Portland in 2009. Phoenix was without guard Eric Bledsoe, who had surgery Friday on his right knee. NOTES: Thomas had 16 assists in a half against Dallas on Feb. 13, 1985. He tied the team record with 25 assists in that game. He twice reached 11 assists in a quarter. ... Ty Lawson, Kendall Marshall and Chris Paul (twice) have all had 17-assist games this season. Jennings surpassed that before the end of the third quarter. ' ' '