DENVER – It’s been a whirlwind six months for Montreal Impact star defender Laurent Ciman.
Since joining the Impact in late January, the Belgian international has has helped lead them to a CONCACAF Champions League final, a Canadian Championship final and kept them in contention for an Eastern Conference playoff spot, leading to a well-deserved call to the 2015 AT&T All-Star Game.
“It’s an honor to be here. I’ve worked hard since I got to Montreal in January to get to this point,” Ciman told MLSsoccer.com through a translator. “For me, it’s a showcase for back home in Belgium so that the national team coach continues to see me play and my progress so I can get recalled back to the national team.”
The 29-year-old has certainly made a strong impression so far. He has started and gone the full 90 minutes in all but one of the Impact’s 18 MLS games this far, plus all of the team’s games in the ACC and CCL, providing some much-needed stability in defense. He’s also contributed on the offensive end with two goals and an assist, including the game-winning tally last Saturday against the Seattle Sounders in a win that moved the Impact into a playoff place.
Ciman thinks highly of the squad he’s played with through the first half of the season. But reinforcements are on the way, as Montreal will be looking to both take advantage of their games in hand to put themselves in a playoff place and capture a third consecutive Canadian Championship against the Vancouver Whitecaps in August.
Chelsea and Ivory Coast superstar Didier Drogba was announced as the Impact’s latest reinforcement on Monday afternoon. Costa Rican midfielder Johan Venegas, who Ciman and the Impact faced off against in the Champions League, is reportedly set to follow.
“We think we already had a strong team as it is. But for sure, like any team midway [through the season] you need reinforcements and these would be two huge reinforcements for the team,” Ciman said. “This would really help us to achieve our goal, which is to make the playoffs this year, and of course competing for the MLS Cup.”
In the meantime, Ciman will prepare, along with 21 other MLS All-Stars, to showcase his skills against one of the top teams in the English Premier League on Wednesday night (9 pm ET; Fox Sports 1 and UniMás in US, TSN and RDS in Canada).
Though he hasn’t been a recent call-up against Belgium, a good showing against a Tottenham Hotspur side that features four of his compatriots on its roster (Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld) could just earn him a trip across the Atlantic to play for his home country sooner rather than later.
