The Fourth of July games presented more questions than answers on Wednesday. Sporting KC got a 3-1
win over Montreal at Saputo Stadium. Patrice Bernier opened the scoring for the home side in the
49th minute, but that was it for the Impact offense. Kansas City equalized through Kei Kamara in
the 57th and went ahead from a Graham Zusi goal in the 75th minute.
Toronto FC shutout Montreal on Wednesday night in front of 14,412 at Saputo Stadium. Torsten Frings
opened the scoring in the 52nd minute. Ryan Johnson made it 2-0 in the 72nd and Danny Koevermans
finished off the scoring six minutes later. Toronto goalkeeper Milos Kocic needed two saves for the
clean sheet.
This article titled "MLS: Five things we learned in week 14″ was written by Graham Parker and
Joe Prince-Wright, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 18th June 2012 13.00 UTC
Saputo is home sweet home for Montreal Impact
What a start for Montreal, at their new (old) home of Saputo Stadium. After a series of games at
the city's Olympic Stadium, where the broken Quebec attendance records helped deflect attention
from the awkward sight lines and truly terrible artificial pitch, the Impact finally played an MLS
game at their refurbished Saputo Stadium and returned home with gusto.
For the one and only time in 2012, the Texas derby will be contested Saturday.
Perhaps the most notable casualty of the league's move to an unbalanced schedule this season,
the rivalry match will see FC Dallas travel to BBVA Compass Stadium to take on the Houston
Dynamo.
I feel like it's been ages since we last did one of these weekly posts. Now that the mini-break
is over, it is time to get back down to business here as the 2012 season rolls on into the month of
June.
Week 13 sees plenty of decent games including one big rivalry game down in Texas and the MLS
debut of Saputo Stadium in Montreal.
On Tuesday, Major League Soccer released the dates for the 2012 home openers. The opponents have
yet to be named, with the full schedule expected to be released in January. Houston doesn't debut
their new stadium until week 10, and Montreal has yet to settle on a date for the opening of the
reconstructed Saputo Stadium.
A little stadium pOrn for you today. Today's edition comes from Montreal where Stade Saputo (or
Saputo Stadium) gets a little digital love with their virtual site.
Its a cool little stadium, something that will work nicely in MLS. Nothing overly sexy about it
but one that I kind of like. It's the simple little things I suppose that work with this.
A little Canadian news for the start of the week. It was reported over the weekend by TSN in
Canada that expansion on Saputo Stadium has been delayed and that the Montreal Impact will not
being their expansion season in MLS next year in it until at least the summer of 2012.
Original planning called for the 13,000 seat stadium to expand to 20,000 by the beginning of the
spring in 2012 but costs and a lack of a suitable builder have caused the delays the club says.
With the Montreal Impact joining Major League Soccer in 2012, the club is taking the necessary
steps to try to make its home, Saputo Stadium, on par with some of the league's top facilities.
The Impact is putting $23 million into a stadium expansion, which will increase the park's
capacity from 13,034 to 20,341 ahead of the team's first match in MLS.
I know we're a year away from seeing the Montreal Impact enter Major League Soccer but it isn't
too soon to talk about their on-going stadium expansion. The club posted these photos today on
their website, showing off the latest renderings and models of the expanded Saputo Stadium.
According to the club, more than 7,000 seats will be added to the current stadium: 3,500 seats
in a new West grandstand, 1,250 additional seats in the Southeast and Southwest grandstands
(corners), as well as 1,000 additional seats in the East grandstand.
So Montreal is in, Joey Saputo finally gets his Major League Soccer team starting in 2012.
Their home Saputo Stadium will undergo an upgrade thanks to the local government and to the
club's owner Saputo. They will be adding 7,000 seats to Saputo Stadium, raising its capacity to
20,000. Also, they will make improvements that include new amenities, additional permanent seats,
widened concourses and new player facilities
We knew this deal was close to happening and today it finally came true.
Montreal will be joining MLS in 2012,and as you can see in the video above, their part-time
home, Saputo Stadium, is set for a $23 million upgrade.
"We are proud to welcome Montreal, the second-largest French-speaking city in the world and a
multicultural metropolis whose residents are deeply passionate about the world's game, to Major
League Soccer," MLS commissioner Don Garber said Friday.
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber paid a visit to the city of Montreal recently, meeting
with Impact President Joey Saputo and local government officials to discuss bringing the club into
MLS as an expansion franchise. MLS President Mark Abbott traveled with Garber as they held talks
with Quebec Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.
We've known for several weeks months that the next round of expansion in Major League Soccer
would start with Montreal. The league has taken another step closer to getting to that point today
as MLS commissioner Don Garber has traveled to Montreal to meet with Joey Saputo and some local
government officials.
On Wednesday, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber visited Montreal, potentially an MLS
expansion target. "We continued our discussions with the Saputo family about a future MLS expansion
team in Montreal and had very productive meetings with Minister Bachand about securing funding for
the expansion of Saputo Stadium," Garber said.
The Montreal Impact are cruising along in their first season. They were buoyed by a few positive
early results and a couple of huge crowds at their temporary home, Olympic Stadium. Now that
revamped Saputo Stadium is open and an ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
PPL Park could soon show itself off to the North American soccer community, as the Philadelphia
Union's game day home is one of two finalists for the 2012 MLS All Star Game. A league source
informs the Brotherly Game that PPL Park and Sporting Kansas City's Livestrong Park are the last of
a group of stadiums, which included the Vancouver Whitecaps' BC Place and the Montreal Impact's
Saputo Stadium, but "nothing [is] firm" yet.
All eight NASL teams were in action on Week 11 of the NASL season. On Saturday afternoon. the
Montreal Impact and Fort Lauderdale Strikers played to a scoreless draw at Saputo Stadium. In
Cary, NC the unbeatable Carolina RailHawks continued their remarkable run with a 3-1 victory over
FC Tampa Bay.
Week 9 of the NASL season featured all eight league teams in action on Saturday. The Montreal
Impact kicked off the weekend with an impressive 2-0 win over Canadian upstarts FC Edmonton. At
Al Lang Stadium in Tampa, the first-place Carolina RailHawks held on for a 2-1 defeat of FC Tampa
Bay, while NSC Minnesota were 2-0 victors on the road in Atlanta.
Newest international friendly match rumor: USA v Venezuela on Sat Jan 21.
MLS 2012 SEASON OPENERS
The league has announced the dates of the first home games for next season. All other details, like
opponents are still a few days away from being known.
Sunday, April 25th
11am @ Stade Saputo Stadium
Live online at PortlandTimbers.com
Radio on 95.5 The Game
The Timbers embark on their first road trip of the regular season, as they head northward to
Montreal for a Sunday afternoon showdown against the defending USL champions.
It has been way too long since the last Footiebusiness stadium update post, but with two
new/renovated parks set to open in the coming weeks, here is a quick look at three stadium projects
around the league. We'll start in Houston, where the Dynamo's new home is called BBVA Compass
Stadium. The 22,000 seat stadium will host its first Dynamo match on May 12, 2012.
Reports out of Philadelphia today are that the bidding to host the 2012 all star game is down to
the final two. Union blog, The Brotherly Game is reporting that PPL Park and LIVESTRONG Sporting
Park are the two finalists, beating out BC Place of Vancouver and Saputo Stadium in Montreal.
