Montreal Impact News Release – www.montrealimpact.com
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
MONTREAL, QC — The Montreal Impact kicked off the 16th training camp in team history, Wednesday, at Catalogna Soccerplexe in Lachine, in preparation for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series against Mexican Club Santos Laguna.
For the occasion, all players under contract (20) reported to camp, except defenders Stefano Pesoli and Cédric Joqueviel, as well as forwards Eduardo Sebrango and Severino Jefferson, who will join the team in the next few days. Forwards Roberto Brown and Peter Byers, who are currently without contracts, were also absent.
The organization also invited six players who were playing with the Trois-Rivières Attak, the Impact reserve team, in 2008: defender Mike Vitulano, midfielders Hector ‘Nacho’ Contreras and Jean-Philippe Étienne, as well as forward Rudolph Mayard. Defender Davy Uwimana, who had played 11 games with the Attak before signing a contract with the Impact for the remainder of the 2008 season, is also trying out with the Montreal club.
The Impact will play three exhibition games at the Bell Sports Complex, in Brossard, in the next few weeks: an intersquad game, Saturday, January 10 (8 pm), a pre-season game against the Trois-Rivières Attak, Saturday, January 17 (8 pm) and a matchup against an opponent to be determined, Saturday, January 24 (8 pm).
The Impact will also play an exhibition game in Quebec City, Sunday, January 18 (1 pm), against the Laval University Men’s Team, at the Notre-Dame-de-Foy Campus.
The Impact will train in Montreal in the next three weeks and will then continue its training camp in Florence, in Italy, from January 31 to February 13.
THE IMPACT HIRES SRDJAN DJEKANOVIC
The Impact announced Wednesday the signing of Serbian native Canadian goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic for the next two seasons, pending the league’s approval.
Djekanovic, who will turn 26 Thursday, played for the Vancouver Whitecaps during three seasons, ending the last campaign with a 3-2-2 record, four shutouts and a 0,571 Goal Allowed Average (GAA). He also played in the Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2007, playing eight games with the Toronto FC. Djekanovic also played two games with the U20 Canadian National Team in July 2003, during the US Soccer Festival, in Houston.
The organization also confirmed that the 25-year-old American goalkeeper Andrew Weber will not be back next season. Weber played only five games last season, as a substitute to Matt Jordan. In three seasons in Montreal, Weber played 29 games (2,565 minutes), tallying a record of 14-7-8, 11 shutouts and a 0,912 GAA.
