MONTREAL – Patrice Bernier isn’t naïve. He isn’t delusional, either.
Better than anyone, Bernier knows Wednesday night was, barring some sort of miraculous discovery in the field of sports medicine, his first and last opportunity to hoist a cup no Canadian – or MLS player, for that matter – had ever laid fingers on.
Alas, it wasn’t to be for Bernier, the Montreal Impact or the 61,004 fans who packed Olympic Stadium for the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final.
Thanks to a ruthless second-half performance from Club America, the Impact captain and Montreal native instead watched as the LigaMX giants lifted the cup and bathed themselves in confetti celebrating a CCL title and Club World Cup berth earned via a 4-2 result and 5-3 aggregate victory.
“It’s still not sunk in, but it’s tough as I know I probably won’t be at this stage ever again,” Bernier told reporters. “It’s tough to be so close. Not to be able to lift the trophy, especially at home, I would have wished for it tremendously. Club America is a good team, great quality, technically sound and we lost to a better opponent.”
Better doesn’t always equate to winner, however, and the Impact certainly had reason to believe things could have turned out differently.
They nearly nabbed a famous victory in Mexico City a week ago, leaving instead with a 1-1 draw thanks to an 89th-minute slip-up, and they were a tidy Ignacio Piatti finish from being up 2-0 on Wednesday night with America on the ropes.
Instead, Piatti was stoned by America goalkeeper Moisés Muñoz, and the second half saw the visitors smother the Impact’s dreams of regional (and international) glory in a touch more than 15 minutes.
“We liked the underdog role, but we believed we had enough quality and a good enough team to go out there and win today,” said Jack McInerney, who scored a consolation goal in the 89th minute. “We went to Azteca and got a result, and not too many teams around the world can say that. We had an advantage coming home and at the end of the day we screwed up. We have no one to blame but ourselves.”
Montreal head coach Frank Klopas wasn’t quite so blunt, though he admitted he was a bit surprised by the way his team performed followed a encouraging first half.
“It’s hard. In the end, it was all about making history,” Klopas said. “I do feel we made history, even though I know we didn’t win. Whatever you say, you’re going to be disappointed. The only thing I [told my team] was I was proud of the group for what they accomplished.”
Of course, the Impact would rather that list of accomplishments include more than just getting to the final.
In the end, it simply wasn’t to be. But that won’t keep Montreal from applying the lessons learned against Pachuca, Alajuelense and Club America in MLS, where they current sit last in the Eastern Conference after four games.
“I think everyone is disappointed right now. If you walk in the locker room, you know everyone’s head is down,” McInerney said. “But I think a week or two from now we’ll look back at this and we should be proud of ourselves. Only one other MLS team has gotten to the final. We knocked out a Mexican team. Right now we’re in last, but you know we have five games to catch up with anyone else. We’re in a good spot and we’re happy and we can move on.”
