(Albert Ohayon can been seen standing in the back row wearing the white jersey with number 20.)
On Friday October 7th, to coincide with Quebec's physical fitness day, the Montreal Impact organized a friendly game against the members of the media to be played at the Catalogna Soccerplexe (training ground for the team). I had accepted the invitation to play several weeks ago never realizing how much fun this game would turn out to be. But I am getting ahead of myself.
After four straight hot and sunny days (very unusual for October in Montreal) today started out with scattered showers and definitely cooler temperatures. The invitation said 10 AM but I wanted to get to the Soccerplexe early enough to stretch my 44 year old muscles and get some practice time before the game. It has been over 5 weeks since I last played so I was rusty to say the least.
Getting to the ground proved more difficult than anticipated since the rain slowed traffic down to a crawl. I had only been to the Soccerplexe once before and knew that I had better watch the highway signs very carefully. Of course what I feared most happened. I missed my turnoff. Going in the wrong direction, I became aware of the fact that there were now several inches of water on the road and that I had better slow down because my car was hydroplaning. The rain by this time was coming down very hard and I was having a difficult time seeing out the windshield. I eventually found a place to turn around and headed back to where I had been. I found the right exit and eventually the Soccerplexe came into sight. With the huge amounts of rain that had fallen (and still continued to fall) I was sure that we would not play on the outdoor field. The great thing about the Soccerplexe is the full sized indoor Fieldturf pitch that the Impact uses when the weather is just too extreme.
I arrived and was shown the Media dressing room. Coach Nick De Santis told me to hurry up as several Impact players were already warming up. To my surprise we were only four media players getting changed. The Impact had complete kits made for us to use in the game. Snappy white jerseys with the Quebec "Fleur de Lys" on the front and the words Montreal Media emblazoned on the front along with matching shorts. I picked up the number 20 jersey but could not find the corresponding shorts so I had to settle for having different numbers on the jersey and shorts. The socks provided were the regular Impact home white complete with the team logo. I made my way to the field with my three teammates which included Matthias Van Halst of Quebec Soccer. After some intense stretching we passed the ball around for a full half-hour before reinforcements finally arrived. We were still short a couple of players so Stéphane Banfi the Impact's Director of Communications agreed to play in goal for us. Patrick Vallée (Media Relations) also joined us as did Impact forward Darko Kolic. The Impact fielded six regular players along with coach Nick De Santis and filled the roster with office staff. Everyone was there for a good time so the Impact players played mostly out of position. Greg Sutton played on defense leaving sales representative Tony Genua to fill in between the pipes. Mauro Biello played in midfield as did Antonio Ribeiro. Charles Gbeke and Eduardo Sebrango were substitutes to start the game but came on several times later (we were allowed unlimited substitutions throughout the game). Masahiro Fukasawa played most of the game at central defense and filled in at goal in the second half when Tony Genua hurt his knee.
I started the game at right midfield. My plan was simple. Run like hell and charge every ball possible. The game started and before 10 minutes was up I started to regret not having played in the last few weeks. I got several touches on the ball and made my way forward. François-Etienne Corbin of RDS opened the scoring for us on a nifty two-on-one play. I can't remember who tied it for the Impact because by that time I was starting to have a hard time keeping up with the play. I realized that I was playing too far forward so I held back a little. On a subsequent attack I followed three of our players and positioned myself just outside the box in the middle. Darko Kolic had the ball in front of me, faked a pass and back-heeled the ball to me. With absolutely no Impact players around me I decided to shoot with everything I had, hammering the ball over Tony Genua's head under the bar and into the net. No one was more surprised than I that the ball went in. I was congratulated by many of my teammates and I made sure to thank Darko for providing such a great opportunity.
We took up our positions and before we could get complacent the Impact scored again. I subbed off and took a little water before coming back on at defense. I was having a hard time covering Nick De Santis who, I am not ashamed to say, ran circles around me. Just before half time came, the Impact scored again. Once again I have no idea who scored but by that time we were all just enjoying the experience.
Players for both teams posed for a joint team picture at half-time and we all took on water before the referee called us back to play. We played a lot looser in the second half leaving only a couple of players back to defend. Our strategy backfired as the impact added one goal after another. I played in midfield again and got to participate on the multi-pronged attack (we had six players playing up front at times). I got my second goal early when Martin Smith of Le Journal de Montreal made a great fake and sent the ball back to me just outside the box. As I did in the first half, I hammered the ball towards the net with everything I could put on it. This time it hit the crossbar and bounced in. I was pretty excited by this time but also quite tired. The scoring chances continued until the 45 minutes was up and the Impact had accumulated eight goals to our five. Patrick Vallée decided that we should still have a shootout. In what I felt was a very classy move, the Impact pros let the office staff players participate in the shootout. Even though my knees were starting to ache, I volunteered to be one of the five shooters for the Media team. I went first and beat their keeper by shooting low to the right. As they had done during the game, the Impact beat us in the shootout 5-4. After the game we were treated to pizza and drinks by the team. Kudos to the Impact front office and players for a terrific experience, I know it was the highlight of my soccer year.
