Gazette: Impact gets its kicks on 401

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Impact gets its kicks on 401
Faces Lynx in T.O.; Soccer squad a happy family on the road

JOHN MEAGHER
The Gazette

http://www.canada.com/montreal/sports/s ... 9B1C31561F

Saturday, May 10, 2003

CREDIT: RICHARD ARLESS JR., THE GAZETTE

Impact forward Nick DeSantis offers a hot danish to goalkeeper Greg Sutton before boarding bus yesterday morning for trip to Toronto.

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The bus trip to Toronto is off to a good start for the Montreal Impact, thanks to wily veteran Nick DeSantis, who is both prompt and prepared for the 10 a.m. departure from the Catalogna Soccerplexe in Lachine.

Under one arm is a pillow to cushion the long ride. The other holds a bag full of sweet-smelling baked goods.

"Anyone want a pastry hot from the oven?" asks DeSantis while standing at the entrance of the comfy coach bus that will soon ferry him and 17 of his teammates and a handful of staff to T.O. for today's 4 p.m. contest against the hometown Lynx.

"Try one, they're from San Pietro Bakery on Jean Talon St.," says the 35-year-old midfielder who is living up to his enhanced title as Impact player/coach.

When the bus pits near Trenton, Ont., some 3 1/2 hours later, DeSantis will not set foot inside the Tim Hortons or other roadside fast-food joints.

Instead, he will find a concrete bench in the parking lot where he will serve up fresh panini's made from the finest Italian cold cuts.

Fifteen years of pro soccer have taught him that to travel well, one must eat well.

- - -

At 10:49, five minutes across the Ontario border, a video called Crime Scene is popped into the VCR, a luxury of modern bus transport.

However, it soon becomes apparent the A-League boys are watching a B-grade movie.

The dialogue is so bad it's comical. Soon the heckling begins from the back of the bus and works its way to the front seat, where coach Bob Lilley sits with his face deep in work papers.

After one particularly brutal line of dialogue, Impact PR man Stéphane Banfi yells: "And the Oscar goes to ...!"

When the flick suddenly gets a little, shall we say, risqué, Lilley decides he's seen enough. He rises from his set and hits the eject button.

Leadership obviously starts at the top, er, front with this team.

And besides, there is a lady on board. Athletic therapist Christina Pensato sits idly, doing her best to distract herself.

DeSantis is now all over team manager Mike Moretto for choosing the film.

Moretto, the players' confidante and Best Man at DeSantis's wedding a while ago, takes the ribbing in stride.

"We're like a family on this team," said Moretto, now in his 12th year as team caretaker.

"We come together on the road, which is important for a pro team."

The players are quickly appeased with Lilley's next selection, an action flick called The Transporter. The video breaks up the monotony of the 51/2 hour drive along the 401, where the trees are only now budding and the brownish landscape is at its seasonal ugliest.

Soon DeSantis, lying in a mummy-like position with arms folded, is asleep on his pillow with his feet extended across the middle aisle.

Sitting quietly behind DeSantis is his brother-in-law Mauro Biello, an intelligent but rather unassuming pro athlete. The 30-year-old striker has scored more goals than other player in franchise history, but remains as humble as they come.

"The long bus trips are the worst part," said Biello, who recalled a "trip from hell" in the early '90s when the club, under previous owners, was on the verge of folding.

"We were on the road for a week and guys were calling their banks in Montreal to see if their paycheques were bouncing.

"Now the franchise is strong again," Biello added, "but road trips are always better if you win."

Across the aisle, Zé Roberto, the Brazilian-born midfielder, is living up to his great soccer name.

He's the guy catching all the zzzzzz's.

- - -

A quick inventory by Moretto finds that 44 tickets are needed for today's game.

Chris Williams of Scarborough, one of several Toronto-area natives on the Impact, has requested 10 passes for his family and friends

He is also bringing himself to ask the coach if he can skip the team dinner planned for later that night so he can join his family for supper, perhaps a plate of his favourite home-cooked meal, peas and rice.

Although eager to make his hometown pro debut, the 21-year-old Williams appears relaxed for someone who is slated to undergo a little, um, trim later in the evening. Something called rookie initiation.

Fellow rookie Sita-Taty Matondo is the youngest player on the squad at 18. He is below the legal drinking age in Ontario, which is 19.

Too young to imbibe, but not too old for a haircut, it seems.

"We all went through it," said Biello, who will strategize in hushed tones with DeSantis and Lloyd Barker, the team's other senior veteran, before offering rudimentary makeovers.

"When I was a rookie I had to put lotion on the guys back, fetch towels and pump up the soccer balls," recalled Biello.

"Then Eddie Firmani, our coach back then, called the rookies up to his hotel room in Florida. We were all excited because the coach wanted to talk to us. Then he opened the door and handed us a garbage bag full of laundry. 'Be sure to keep the whites separate,' he told us."

Biello, who sports a mane of long dark curly locks, does not recall getting his head shaved.

"No, but they put me through everything else," he says with a smile.

"But it was all good, clean fun. Still is."

- - -

With the experienced Reggie at the wheel, the Impact is making great time.

Reggie is also pleased because the Impact has given him a signed soccer ball, which is prominently displayed on the dash.

Just as 401 traffic slows to a crawl past Yonge St., the bus exits the monster highway and pulls into the Travelodge Hotel at 3:30 p.m.

Coach Lilley is impressed. "This is the best trip ever to Toronto," he said, although he probably means the fastest.

The Impact has managed to beat the dreaded Toronto rush hour with relative ease.

Today it must find a way to beat the Lynx.

jmeagher@thegazette.canwest.com

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