No other team in the league has more players selected on the first team, as well as overall. Picks were made by the A-League’s coaches and general managers.
Biello has been picked for the fifth time of his career, while Gervais has been selected for the third straight year and Sutton, the second consecutive season. It’s a first for Pizzolitto, a 10-year A-League veteran, and Grande, playing his first season in North America after a stint as a professional player in Italy. Gervais and Grande have been called up by the Canadian national team for Wednesday night’s World Cup qualifier in Costa Rica.
"It’s an honour for the club," said Impact head coach Nick DeSantis. "It’s a testimony to the strong performances we’ve had, both individually and collectively, throughout the year. I think everyone feels good about the fact that our players are being recognized around the league."
Defenders Gabriel Gervais and Nevio Pizzolitto as well as goalkeeper Greg Sutton helped Montreal set a club record this year with only 15 goals allowed in 28 regular-season games. The Impact had a stretch of eight consecutive shutouts, a club record, and collected a total of 19 shutouts, an A-League record.
Sutton picked up 16 of those shutouts, a club record that also ties the A-League record. He had two stretches of 503 consecutive minutes without allowing a goal, a team record. Sutton now has 43 career shutouts with the Impact, a club high.
Captain Mauro Biello, moved from the position of striker to offensive midfielder this season, became the Impact’s all-time leader in games (236) and minutes played (18,527), ahead of Nick DeSantis (219 games, 18,245 minutes), now the team’s head coach.
Although he was playing in the position of defensive midfielder, Sandro Grande often sparked the attack with his long passes and his booming shot made him a constant threat on free kicks. He scored four goals, including two winners.
The Impact had a club-record undefeated streak of 12 games this season, on its way to a 17-6-5 record that gave the team its second straight Eastern Conference regular-season title.
Montreal, now presently in the A-League playoffs, will be facing the Syracuse Salty Dogs this weekend in the Eastern Conference final. The home-and-away, aggregate-goal series will kick off Friday night in Syracuse (7:30 pm) and end Sunday afternoon at Montreal’s Claude Robillard Sports Complex (4:00 pm).
The complete 2004 All A-League teams are listed at www.uslsoccer.com.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
