Joel Waterman
Q: Last time we saw you, you told us you just learned that you made it for the Canadian squad for the Copa América. What was your experience like over there?
JW: Yeah, it was incredible. Being with those guys for four weeks, almost five, a long time. But, it’s a great group that I love being with all the time that we’re together. And obviously making it to a semifinal was huge and historic for this country. So just to be a part of it, it was a blessing. And you know, I have a lot of good memories from that experience for sure.
Q: Jesse Marsch told you guys that the 26 guys that were there were in pole position to be there to two years from now at the World Cup. How do you mentally prepare in the next couple of years?
JW: I think it’s in our hands. I think I just got to keep doing what I’m doing. Obviously, it’s worked thus far, and I won a spot. So, nothing really changes from my end just to keep playing well on the field, let my playing do the talking and you know, hopefully I’m on that 2026 roster.
Q: You hadn’t been playing for a while when you got on the pitch on Wednesday, how did you feel out there? What was it like to get back on the pitch?
JW: It was amazing to play a game again. And it was tough at some points to get game ready and get game fit again. It’s difficult. You just got to play the games, but I felt good. A little bit sore today, but we’ll get that rectified for tomorrow.
Q: Your tweaks back there. Were you comfortable with those experiences?
JW Yeah, I’m comfortable. I have been put on the right before. It’s the first time obviously playing a little bit of a back four this season. So, it’ll take some time to get used to, if that’s what he decides to go with for the rest of the year. But you know, he’s a tactician and he likes to try different things. And it’s our job to kind of adapt and to have that high level of soccer IQ to, to execute each game. So, there’s a lot of good things. I think we did a lot of things that we can work on for sure. But that’s the whole point of playing these games and training. That’s where we get to do our work. And whether it’s a back four or back five, I’m comfortable in any system.
Q: With Toronto FC, you guys are nose to nose in the table. I don’t know if it’s a rivalry like it used to be, is it a special game for you guys inside that locker room? And how do you prepare? How do you see that match up for Saturday?
JW: Definitely. I think we take every game seriously, but this one has a little extra something special, especially after what happened in the first game there in Toronto. We want to rectify that. We never want to feel that feeling again against our rivals. So, we’re going to look to do the same to them on our home pitch. And we’re going to make sure that every guy is ready and make sure it’s known that you know, it’s TFC, it’s the Derby and we’re going to make sure we get three points.
Q: It’s been a long time since we had the chance to talk to you. And a story you did two weeks ago created a bit of confusion here in Montreal. Let me just ask you, what did you mean when you posted that Victor Wanyama was disrespected on Instagram?
JW: Victor has been a big player for us for a lot of years. He came into 2020 when I came in and he’s done a lot of amazing things both on and off the pitch and just knowing who he is, who he is as a person I thought the situation could have been handled a bit differently. Not necessarily with the club, but just thing I was seeing online and from people talking and talking about his character and who he is. I felt like I had to say something and stick up for my teammate. That’s all it was. It would have been the same if it was, you know, Sam, Matt, anybody on the team that was being talked about in that way. It wasn’t anything malicious towards the club or the coach or anything like that. It was more what I was seeing from people online and things that I heard, you know, being said. So, he’s a big player for us. He has a historic career, obviously, with the clubs he’s played for. And I think he deserves a little bit more respect than what he was given.
Samuel Piette
Q: It’s been a while since you’ve seen the pitch. Before you played on Wednesday. How did you feel on a Wednesday night in New Jersey against the Red Bulls?
SP: Good. I was looking forward to getting back on the pitch. It sure feels good to be back in the game. A match, a competitive match like that, it’s obvious that physically it can be a bit more difficult. Because, yes, I’ve been training for the last six weeks, but I haven’t been playing. So, playing is physically different from training. So, I felt it. In the first half, it must have been with the break we had, I had time to recover, and I think I felt a lot better in the second half, that’s for sure. Well, there was the booking on my side too, then we decided to change me at the 60ᵉ minute mark. I think it was a good decision. But, super happy to be back on the pitch, then makes you want even more to continue like that than play tomorrow, there.
Q: Jeremy Filosa asked Jesse Marsch if he thought it was time for you, given that you hadn’t played in a second major tournament in a row, to maybe hang up your international jersey, stuff like that. Then Jesse said no, he thinks you can still contribute. You must have seen what he said. It’s something you’ve started to think about. It’s something that’s in your head, you know? Where do you stand on that subject?
SP: Well, for me it’s not even a question, it’s not even a thought that I’ve stopped to think about. For me, the national team is a reward in a way when you perform well with your club. For me, I’ll never turn my back on the national team. I’ll never retire from the national team. It’s going to be the national team that makes me retire from playing with them. So, you know my time, as long as I’m playing soccer and I’m an active player, I’m going to be available for the national team. My selection or non-selection for the team will always be in the hands of the coach. Then it will be up to him to judge whether I belong or not. Personally, I think I’ve got a place in the group, so it all depends on the role, and that’s what I think you have to understand: you can’t really say “Ah, I’m going to concentrate on my club and not on the national team”. The two go together. So, it’s not something that I’ve thought about, or that I’m going to think about either.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about the discussions you had with Jesse Marsch? What he asks of you is quite different from what John or Mauro asked before.
SP: It was to adapt myself. It’s pretty much the same speech for everyone. We had, what, six weeks together, which sounds like a lot because, well, it’s still six intense weeks, but at the same time, it’s very little. And no, it’s a style of play that’s quite different from the one we play here in Montreal, in the sense that it’s very, very physical, very aggressive. There’s no rest in the sense that, yeah, it’s a bit more of a never-stop mentality, always going forward, even with the ball. A little less construction in the sense that it’s better to play forward, make mistakes but get the ball back. We talked a lot about counter press and rest defense, things I’m capable of doing, as are all the others in the team. But it’s clear that for everyone, it’s an adjustment, a time of adaptation. So of course, when you’re not playing, you try to apply these principles in training, but it’s not the same as in a match. But I think I’ve done well. In training, we had some good discussions, and they were very happy with me, and he had thought of making me the starter for the last game, with different choices. I totally respect that. But at the end of the day, it’s up to me to perform well, to be professional in training, and to show that I’ve got a place in the team, both as a potential player and simply as part of the group.
Q: Is your family okay with this?
SP: For my family, whether I play or not, in all honesty, it’s not that important to them. They’re just happy that I’m part of the team, that I’m having these experiences. Of course, when I’m in contact with my wife, I tell her I think we’ll be back around June 30, and then, finally, we’re in the quarterfinals, we’re in the semi-finals, we started to find the time a bit long, but it was all for the good, obviously. So no, they were really happy for me.
SP: He played golf yesterday with my wife and another couple of friends. They were there, so it was good to disconnect a little from the world of soccer. And some of them came to film a few scenes, so I made some good shots, but I don’t know how to play. It was my first round of the year, so it wasn’t perfect. I can’t wait to see you. Well, obviously, I’m following what I’ve been told, it’s going to be a bit like the Drive to Survive TV show from F1 and Full Swing from golf. So, these are shows that I’ve really enjoyed, so I’m really looking forward to seeing the results and being part of it, which is cool. That’s cool.
Q: And in the last few years, I’ve had the impression that it’s a lot the fans take it very much to heart. Yeah, it’s always a good story in the media, but I wonder about the players with the turnover that’s happened on both sides, the teams are performing a little less well in recent years. Is there still a little extra animosity with this team?
SP: Yes, I think the rivalry is still there, you know. You know, not in any sport, Montreal doesn’t like Toronto and vice versa. It’s natural, I think. Of course, as you say, with the turnover of players, coaches, players who aren’t there for long, a little longer. So, you know, the rivalry changes, but ultimately, the deep-rooted feeling of wanting to beat the other is always there. Which can be a bit peculiar, as much for me as for Joel, who came before me. The thing is, I’ve just spent six weeks with a guy like Jonathan Osorio, who’s their captain, Richie Larea. So, it’s special because for six weeks, we’re brothers and we’re fighting for the same mission. Then when we’re back at the club, we have to get into it, we have to fight. That’s what it’s all about, it’s special, but we know it, we’re aware of just how important this rivalry is. It’s worth something for the club, for the fans, as you mentioned for us, the players. And of course, we remember very well what happened when we went to visit them. So, we certainly want to take our revenge tomorrow.
Q: You’ve just talked about it a bit, but the Toronto derby is still very much alive for the fans. You know, I know they talked to the players a few years ago, and they’re doing special walks tomorrow to get to the stadium. Some of them went to Toronto and were disappointed by the performance. You’re the captain, how do you make sure that tomorrow, Montreal gets to grips with the game at the very first second and then finishes it at the very last second, offering the best of itself?
SP: Well, as I mentioned, we remember very well what happened in Toronto. I know the fans were disappointed, the club was disappointed, but so were we. And it’s not a feeling we want to have again. So, as you said in the first minute, we must be ready, we must have the knife between our teeth, to impose our game and our rhythm. I was talking about the aggressiveness we have on the national team. We need to bring that out tomorrow. You know, in the end, I think we’re a good team with the ball, but if we don’t do the dirty work, as I like to tell the players, the beautiful game of possession and passing and all that, it’s not worth much. So, we must be ready to put on our work boots and show up tomorrow from the first minute, then show Toronto that you’re at home, and that it’s going to be difficult to get points here.
Q: In the defense we’ve seen a consistent defensive line but the midfield and the forwards we’ve seen a lot of rotations to either injury or the national break and you know any other thing that gets thrown at you during the season. How difficult is it to maybe build a rapport with the players on the field when there is so much rotation being done in those positions and what can be done to maybe create some consistency at least in the in the last third of the season?
SP: I think that chemistry is and will be important for the upcoming games and the last stretch of this season. I think the good thing is before me and Mathieu Choiniere left for the national team, we were playing a lot, so we have that chemistry and I played last year a lot with Nathan Saliba so there’s chemistry there. Nathan played with Bryce Duke while we were gone, and I think we all have very good chemistry all together and I think we understand football, or we see football the same way. The thing in terms of chemistry is also how do we play in the middle. So, if you look at the last game, I played more the six and Mathieu and Nathan played more at the eight, that was maybe the second time we did this. It wasn’t perfect and won’t be perfect tomorrow if we do that again, but you know that will take time, but I think we see football the same way and are all on the same page and you know we all like each other so that means that you’re ready to do the work for the guy next to you and you have the connection with the ball which we work on every day as well. I think that’s the beauty of our team and especially in the middle where I think anybody can play and the level won’t drop. We have different profiles as well that we can use depending on what the game needs. You look at the last game. I came off where there’s a bit more defensive and then Bryce came in and did a really good job, I thought, offensively creating chances and getting into the pocket turning and feeding our strikers so depending on the game needs, I think we must respond to that. But I think we all have good chemistry together and I think it’s very beneficial for the team.
Laurent Courtois
Q: MLS seasons are long, and we’re often told not to pay too much attention to the standings along the way. Toronto comes here with seven games to play. You’re neck to neck. Do you pay attention to the standings? Do you tell your players to or not to?
LC: Well yesterday, I think for the first time I showed the guys the standings at half-time. We had a long break. We talked about several things and for one scenario of the game, I thought they were within our reach. I said: “Not only do we have the opportunity to position ourselves well if we draw at half-time, but if we manage to get the winning goal, this is where we’ll be.” But for the first time, I showed the ranking to the players to see that we’re in the money time, as they say.
Q: We understand you arrived late from New York. There’s also a TV crew here to document your week. How does all this affect your preparation? Is it obviously coming back late on the energy and all that, the distraction of having had eyes on you, how does that affect the days leading up to the Toronto game?
LC: That’s not a question of being happy, not happy, finding this or that, it’s there and you have to go with it and if there’s one thing I’m learning this year, you can’t let those things bother you. It’s just how we try to move forward. Of course, the plane’s delay wasn’t easy, but we had a good day yesterday. The legs must be a bit heavy for some of the guys, but I think there’s so much excitement to get to this game and as you said before being up against Toronto and not far from the playoff spot. And now there’s a little documentary being made. These are good problems. The weather’s fine, we’re going to meet the fans after the session too, they’re good problems.
Q: John Herdman said after their Toronto game in Miami that he felt his group lacked freshness in that match. They were playing on the other side of the country and they have to come back. When you think that an opponent can come to you lacking a bit of energy, what do you think is the best strategy? Do we want to get in their faces at the start, to take advantage of their vulnerability when they leave, or do we try to wear them down?
LC: I’m wary of making statements about the opponent’s state of freshness, because it’s a bit misleading. On top of that, maybe there will be some rotations. As for us and the pace we want to set at home, it’s a bit strategic in the sense that we don’t want to push too hard. We don’t want to push too hard too quickly either, whereas our opponents are more in a wait-and-see phase, especially against us, especially in the scenario we’re in today, away from home for them. So we’re going to try to impose our style and certainly show the fans that we want this win and that we want to correct the image of the first leg, that’s for sure.
Q: Joel and Sam both talked about the first game against them earlier this season. Is that part of the preparation? Do you feel you’re going into this challenge with a sense of revenge?
LC: Yeah, but more in relation to ourselves, because we saw the welcome the fans gave us at the hotel and the journey they made. And we wanted to give them another copy of what was given. And really, for that reason alone, we want to correct it now, it’s another scenario too, another moment in the season. You can’t be blinded by emotions, you have to keep a cool head. But there’s no doubt that it wasn’t us and that we want to show our fans something different.
Q: We’ve seen Sunusi Ibrahim who, even though he’s the team’s top scorer and has been consistent during the absences, hasn’t been in the squad recently. Can you tell us why this is an injury? Is it a coach’s choice strictly for the best chance of winning please?
LC: Coach’s choice.
Q: Over the last month and a half there’s been a lot of rotation, especially at the front three or the front two depending on the formation you play. How close to finding your prototypical starting attacking unit? And what’s the challenge of maybe getting some consistency given the injuries and the international break and then the fact that there’s always people coming in and out of the squad?
LC: If you look at the line up a lot of changes obviously and to answer the previous question, Sunusi Ibrahim was the guy who was able to build a little bit more of a consistency regardless of the performances. So, he is probably the one that was able to build most game fitness. Now that was not the case for most of the rest of the front three players. Lots of injuries, coming back from injury, managing the load, chemistry, and performance. So, there were a lot of factors that made us either modify or experiment a few scenarios. But we think we have profiles and players that would like to build a little bit more consistency and references, but they struggle to stay healthy or consistent so that’s the issue. But we also know that when they click on the same page, they can be deadly too.
Q: We’ve seen David Bugaj and then Tom Pearce training with the regulars in the group, but at the same time, they’re not in match form. When can we expect to see them in action?
LC: Not now. The closest they’ll get is perhaps physically, but that’s not really soon. We’ll see. But it’s a long way off. Fitness-wise it is still a long way off.
Q: In relation to the opening of the transfer market. You said that right-wing back was a position you were targeting for this transfer window. Is Bugaj the right man for the job? Is he the guy you had in mind, or can we expect another arrival in the coming weeks?
LC: no, in fact, when I spoke about this a few days ago, it was because we had already identified some players at the start of the season, but as the season progressed, with Lassi Lappalainen often injured, Ruan didn’t have many alternatives. That was what I meant. As for the rest, we’ll work and see. There are already a lot of games coming up. For now, we’ll make do with what we’ve got.
Andy's Impact Zone 
Leave a comment