MONTREAL – With a 10-day stay in Cascadia ahead, the Impact squad selection was always going to be heartbreaking.
Blake Smith, Wandrille Lefèvre, Karl W. Ouimette and, somewhat unexpectedly, Zarek Valentin did not travel with the team on Thursday afternoon, thus ruling them out not only from the Impact’s opener in Seattle this Saturday, but also from their next game, seven days later in Portland.
These are technical decisions, head coach Marco Schällibaum confirmed after his team’s training session on Thursday, with no injuries involved.
“Obviously, they’re not happy that they’re staying here, and I would hope they aren’t,” Schällibaum told the media. “But I have to make choices. They’re as good as the other players. Again, the 22 players I have are pretty much of the same level. We can ‘only’ travel with 18 guys, and we need balance between defense, midfield and attack.”
While the exclusion of Smith, Lefèvre and Ouimette from the roster can be attributed to their lack of MLS experience – the former two are rookies while Ouimette logged 66 minutes in 2012, his first MLS season –, that of Valentin, who enters his third MLS season, comes as a bit of a surprise.
After seeing his team thrash the Tampa Bay Rowdies 4-1 at the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic on February 13, Schällibaum expressed his full confidence in Valentin, who responded enthusiastically. And before leaving for Seattle, the Swiss coach insisted that he values all 22 players currently at his disposal.
“They’re professionals,” Schällibaum said of the four players ruled out. “They know that they have to keep on working during those 10 days, that they have to gain momentum so that, when we return, they show me that they’re ready for the next games. It’s a very long season. Those that don’t travel with the team or stay on the bench have to be ready nonetheless.”
Also missing the Cascadia stop are defenders Nelson Rivas, who is still recovering from microfracture surgery in his left knee, and Maxim Tissot, who hurt his right shoulder during a preseason scrimmage against the Philadelphia Union in Jacksonville, Fla. A calf injury also prevents midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic from making the trip.
