Montreal inches closer to a MLS expansion bid.

By now we've all seen the lovely quote from MLS commissioner Don Garber yesterday about future league expansion.

"We've had productive conversations with Montreal to be our 19th team," said Garber.

With all the issues going on with the USL/TOA crap you have to think that Montreal owner Joey Saputo is trying to figure out the best way to get his club into the top-tier league instead of a new breakaway league.

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I'll be honest, I can't seem to get much done today because of this news about the TOA group starting their own league. We knew this news would probably come down eventually in one form or another but I honestly didn't expect it to consume me as much as it is.

If you aren't reading a couple sites like The Kartik Report or Inside Minnesota Soccer for news on this matter then you are certainly missing out.

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Via Andy Mead:

Nov. 10, 2009 – The owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps, formerly of USL-1, together with St. Louis Soccer United today announced that they have formed a new professional soccer league to play in the United States and Canada beginning in April 2010.

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Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Six ownership groups that were previously part of the USL-First Division have joined forces with St. Louis Soccer United to form a new professional soccer league that will begin play in 2010.

The Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps have joined St.

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Some big news is coming out today. The Team Owners Association or TOA is moving forward in their plan to break away from the USL first division and form their own league. TOA just released a press release making their plans public with the decision to move forward with a new division 2 league in North America.

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We at the Chelsea Offside wish Joey Cole a happy 28th birthday.
Celebrate it with a goal against the Mancs, my boy.

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This whole USL-TOA situation continues to take a turn for the worse. Today reports out of the Great White North say that both 2009 USL finalists Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps will not be coming back to the USL in 2010.

In a radio interview in Montreal, Alex Papadakis confirmed that neither of the Canadian based clubs would be part of the USL for the 2010 season after the two sides failed to reach an agreement for continuing play next season and that the TOA was ready to move in another direction.

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This was my favorite goal of the week in any league. Montreal dominated Vancouver at home in the USL Championship on Saturday and this goal from Joey Gjertsen was the one that just killed. His finishing was certainly on-point but respect has to go out to Roberto Brown --yes, that Roberto Brown-- for the outrageous assist because that sh*t was just ridonk.

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We have received an email from Joey Kearney who is a fellow Evertonian in Florida and is looking to start an Orlando chapter.Joey has also emailed some photos of Everton taken in Salt Lake City at the MLS All Stars game as well as one taken on a trip back home to England to see Everton in the FA Cup Final. Click to continue reading...

Today's guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast is Joey Gjertsen. Joey is currently the team leader in games played for the Montreal Impact this season. This Saturday, October 10th, Joey and the Impact are playing the Vancouver Whitecaps in the 1st round of a 2 leg USL1 Championship series.

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Well it's been a busy news day for Newcastle United fans today....... Literally nothing of note to write up about except for a slightly tardy mention of Barton's belated 'olive branch' to Alan Shearer, after his admission that there was a falling out. More on the story and Joey's quotes can be found here, but [. Click to continue reading...

Today's guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast is Joey Gjersten. Joey is the leader in games played for the Montreal Impact this season in the USL1. On Sunday he helped lead his team to the USL1 Championship series by beating the Puerto Rico Islanders.

On the pod we are going to be talking about Joey's personal season, Montreal's run to the final, why the Impact are such a successful organization, take some user submitted questions, and then of course preview the epic all Canadian USL-1 final against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

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Today the Montreal Impact take on the Puerto Rico Islanders in the 2nd leg of the USL1 Semi finals in Puerto Rico. Game time is 5pm central time. Montreal currently leads the series 2-1 with a victory in Montreal this past Thursday.

Montreal's leader in games played this season, Joey Gjersten, took some time out of his busy weekend to answer a few questions for us.

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Our tiny little corner of the World Wide Web is all a titter because the USL office has emailed players under contract to Miami FC, Carolina, and Minnesota that their contracts have been voided. This information was broken by Brian Quarstad at Inside Minnesota Soccer.
It seems that these three ring leaders of the TOA group have not paid their fees for the 2010 season by the September 1st deadline. Click to continue reading...

The second season of the Westfield W-League will be different, no questions about that. But how and why? And what will Westfield Matildas coach Tom Sermanni be looking out for?
Hear from the man himself, who told girlswithgame what he expects when the league kicks off this weekend, including more impact from international players, some of the players to watch and that the Number 1 goalkeeping role for the AFC Cup next year is wide open. Click to continue reading...

Today is your lucky day we've got two dirty tackles in one clip for you. That's right, go eat some expired cheese, because you can't lose!

Anyway, in the first clip young Mr. Joey Richmond gets thrown to the ground (0:30; keep your eyes on the background in front of the goal) while waiting for a free kick to be taken.

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TFC travel to LA this weekend to take on Galaxy and their hairstyle enthusiast / Milanese loan arranger David Beckham. However, over the past week Goldenballs has been rumoured with another Canadian club. Monsieur Beckham is apparently interested in joining the "Montreal to MLS" ownership group avec le Joey Saputo but before that happens, he has a few demands. Click to continue reading...

Thanks to Ed Serrano from Football in Miami and Beyond for the heads up on this story...
From the Sun-Sentinal:

The five USL-1 clubs and three other organizations, including 2010 expansion club Tampa Bay, are aligned with the Team Ownership Association (TOA), which wants the clubs to run the league, rather than a management entity such as NuRock.

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UM02 May want to get ready to welcome Becks...
Could David Beckham teaming up with the ever vocal, Joey Saputo? Strange as that may sound according to at least one insider the two have spoken of the possibility.
Courtesy of Jack Bell's Goal Blog at the New York Times:

And according to a person with knowledge of Beckham's planning who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about jeopardizing any potential deal, Beckham and his management team at 19 Entertainment (led by Simon Fuller) and Creative Artists Agency (led by Jeff Frasco) are interested in partnering with Joey Saputo, the owner of the Montreal Impact (the club now plays in United Soccer Leagues' First Division, one tier down from M.

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Bill Beacon of the Canadian Press is reporting that owners of teams in the United Soccer Leagues First Division are prepared to start their own league next season unless they get more say in how USL-1 is managed and run, Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo said Tuesday.

The eight-club Team Owners Association, angry that Nike passed them over last week to sell the league to a corporate owner, NuRock Soccer Holdings, announced they would "explore other options.

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Will it be 2011 or 2012 for Montreal's MLS debut? This comes directly from the well respected Canadian soccer blogger Duane Rollins from the The 24th Minute.
Interesting to note that the 2 following internet domain names were registered on August 11th by LES FROMAGES SAPUTO S.E.N.C./SAPUTO CHEESE G. Click to continue reading...

The Spartans lost 2-1 away to Jacksonville University on Wednesday, which was their second preseason loss this week after loosing 4-1 on Monday to USF in the annual Rowdies Cup. Freshmen Joey Gratt scored UT's lone goal of the game.
UT opens their regular season at home on August 27th against Florida Memorial Click to continue reading...

Courtesy of Sportsnet Canada:
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was on hand Friday night to watch Toronto FC and Real Madrid in Toronto, where he confirmed Montreal would not receive an expansion team in 2011.
Reports surfaced this week that Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo was in discussion with Garber over joining the league as soon as 2011, but Garber was quick to dispel that idea at half-time on Friday night. Click to continue reading...

According to the latest information from French press in Montreal, MLS Commissioner and Impact owner Joey Saputo could have a permanent deal by end of August, as all parties (MLS, the Quebec government and the Montreal Impact) are expected to have a sit down behind closed doors. On top of the agenda is the $25-million dollars to upgrade Saputo Stadium. Click to continue reading...

Our own beloved Donny the G had a sit down with Forbes and as usual he's talking expansion:
The biggest hard news item in the interview is that the league intends to grow to 20 teams in the short term and then stop expanding "for the forseeable future".
Of course, being Don, it may be that he's doing the old "the train is leaving the station" routine for the benefit of expansion candidates who might prefer to wait until the economic climate is more, shall we say, favorable, before writing out one of those big old checks the league seems to live for lately. Click to continue reading...

Montreal's UM02 Ultras may want to be locked into tomorrow's All Star Game press conference.
All roads seem to lead to an announcement that Montreal will be the 19th MLS club being made during the All Star game. Here's why:
Over the weekend the MLS Board of Governors met. Click to continue reading...

This field of dreams is likely to remain just that.
If you are St Louis area soccer fan you better be prepared to either wait for a USL team or root for your current WPS team St Louis Athletica. In an interview with Brian Roth of the Kansas City Wizards finally says what has been whispered (and rumored here on MLSR for a long time) that St Louis's MLS bid is most likely dead. Click to continue reading...

Montreal joining MLS will be on the agenda when commissioner Don Garber heads meetings in Salt Lake City next week before the league's annual All-Star Game in Salt Lake City. "My understanding is that expansion isn't on the agenda per se, but the Montreal dossier is," Impact president Joey Saputo told The Gazette. Click to continue reading...

Things could get a little juicy in the MLS expansion front next week. As the league heads into another All-Star break it means we should hear another address from MLS commissioner Don Garber on the state of things in the league. One of those items that should be discussed as always is expansion.

Reports out of Canada suggest Montreal expansion talk will be on the menu in some fashion for the league commissioner.

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Joey Saputo has told the Vancouver Sun that Montreal entering the league will be on the agenda of MLS officials when they meet ahead of the All Star Game in Utah next week. Joey Saputo believes that...

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Get it? See what I did there? I did a play on words, using Sandro Grande's name. The influencial midfielder was released today by the Montreal Impact for his role in an altercation with player-coach Mauro Biello. Grande was already suspended by the club for breaking another team rule earlier in the season, and according to Joey Saputo, choking a teammate is unacceptable (no shit). Click to continue reading...

Nine days after choking teammate Mauro Biello, midfielder Sandro Grande has been released by the Montreal Impact.

"Sandro's act was completely unacceptable and our organization does not tolerate such behaviour, we have therefore taken the necessary disciplinary measures.

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Joey Tennyson has traveled far and wide to play...
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The Montreal story is gathering serious momentum. This is certainly a continuation from our previous story we have posted on Friday. It appears that last week Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo was interviewed by the television network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). In this exclusive interview, he informed the CBC that an MLS team could be in Montreal as soon as 2011. Click to continue reading...