The Impact faces off against the Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday as the club plays its first ever home game at the revamped Stade Saputo, and will have their hands full for the occasion. The Impact’s former USL foes have three Designated Players on its roster, one of only three teams in Major League Soccer to have filled up all-three DP spots along with Toronto and the L.A.
Argentinean Mauro Rosales joined Colombian Fredy Montero and Uruguayan Alvaro Fernandez (both in 2010) this offseason to complete the triumvirate of DPs in the Emerald City, and all have made significant contributions to the team’s success. Rosales has been a stalwart in midfield, while Montero has scored four goals this year, adding to the 22 he’s scored over the previous two seasons. Fernandez has been limited to seven games this season, but scored nine times in 2011.
But the trio of Designated Players is the only thing they have in common with TFC and the Galaxy in 2012..
Seattle as a whole is having another good season, sitting in third place in the Western Conference with 24 points, while the Galaxy and TFC are the basement dwellers of their respective conferences, combining for a measly 14 points. Toronto’s DP’s include international stars Torsten Frings from Germany, Danny Koevermans from Holland and Canada’s Julian de Guzman, while everyone knows that Englishman David Beckham, Irishman Robbie Keane and American Landon Donovan now play in L.A.
What’s interesting is that Seattle’s DPs make under $1.5 million combined, less than any one of the big name players in Hollywood or the T-dot.
And they are much younger as well. The Sounders trio average 27 years of age, with Rosales the elder statesman of the group at 31. LA and TFC average out at 33 years of age, with only Donovan younger than Morales at 30. Beckham is 37 and Frings is 35.
And the youngest of the group at 24 years-old is probably the most exciting. Montero has scored a number of highlight real goals this season and over his career and is a really thrilling player to watch.
Hopefully, he’ll leave some of that flash at home come Saturday.
