"Toronto FC hasn't proven anything yet, We're still the best team in Canada and our goal is to continue to be the best team in Canada and, if we have the opportunity to play Toronto FC, our goal would be to prove it.”  

 Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo, March 1, 2007

 Joey Saputo has every right to be proud of the accomplishments of his Montreal Impact soccer club. Now playing in the United Soccer Leagues Div. 1, they’ve been tier-two soccer’s ongoing, on-field success story and they’ve enjoyed a consistently growing level of support throughout their 15-year history, now averaging around 12,000 fans a game.

 So there was a time when a brash comment like that quoted above would have been appropriate. It’s fair to say that it was appropriate when he said it earlier this year. But not any more.

 The truth is, his beloved and well-supported Impact squad aren’t even Canada’s best team in tier-two soccer, let alone the nation’s best team period.

 A unique and enjoyable two weeks of far-flung business commitments provided your correspondent with a first-hand sampling of the best in professional Canadian club soccer, on both sides of the continental and competitive divide.

 A visit to Vancouver's delightful Swanguard Stadium to watch the Whitecaps entertain USL Div. 1 rivals from Carolina and two rollicking MLS games at Toronto FC's pulsating BMO Field were sandwiched around an intriguing night in Montreal, where a packed house topping 12,000 witnessed the Impact host the first-place Whitecaps in a battle of USL leaders.

 All four games were tense, entertaining battles but the chance to watch games from both leagues in close comparison showed the difference in skill levels to be quite obvious.

 For all the hard running and purposeful effort put in by USL players, their games are ultimately undone by a lack of polish around the net and by the number of unforced errors. Stray passes and errant clearances frequently create midfield turnovers that quickly become dangerous opportunities.

 But when three top USL clubs can only combine to turn those chances into just one goal in two games, it gives clear indication of why USL Div. 1 is just a developmental league. It's a big reason why a cultured audience like the one in the Toronto area failed to support the USL's Toronto Lynx.

 It seemed like half the Whitecaps’ squad, searching for an equalizer in a 1-0 loss, had a crack at the Carolina goal in a second-half shooting gallery, wasting some fine chances created by good runs and well-placed crosses, often the result of crisp deliveries from standout winger Martin Nash.

A week later, Montreal’s lively fans were holding heads in disbelief as striker Charles Gbeke found the woodwork or missed the net on clear-cut chances from in close as Montreal and Vancouver ground out a scoreless draw.

The contrast couldn't have been sharper watching Toronto FC play against Colorado and New York, where superior finishing skills delivered memorable goals – Jeff Cunningham’s first for Toronto, pounded into the roof of the goal after crafty Andy Welsh’s nifty pass, Andrew Boyen’s textbook header of####reat corner kick from dead ball artist Ronnie O’Brien or Danny Dichio’s clinical touch inside the six-yard box to cap off Marvell Wynne’s sensational set up. All of them, first class stuff.

 MLS delivers much more quick, skillful interplay, numerous one-touch passing sequences used to relieve pressure, establish control or create time and space to set up a smart through ball. You just don’t see that very often in USL soccer.

 To be fair to Joey Saputo, his comments were made almost three months ago and Toronto were still scuffing about in pre-season training, giving no one a clear picture of what they were capable of. Still, you’d like to think that Saputo might be willing to give MLS some praise for putting on a better show than he gives them credit for.

Given the permanent small-time status of USL soccer, MLS is a league he may well want to be a part of sooner rather than later and it’s not the first time he’s courted controversy in commenting on MLS. It’s an attitude that could cause him some short-term pain if MLS honchos choose to make him sweat out a franchise acquisition.

He’s been outspoken before, balking at paying an MLS expansion fee of $10 million and taking issue with the quality of play in MLS compared to that served in USL Div. 1. He’s always backed up his words with his wealth, paying competitive wages to bring decent players to Montreal and building a new stadium that will open next year. Judging by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd that came out to watch the Whitecaps visit, he may well need to start planning to expand it beyond its initial size in the 15,000 range. A lot of Montrealers think a place in MLS is Saputo’s for the asking. He might want to consider asking nicely.

 If Toronto FC has quickly established itself as the best professional team in Canada, Vancouver is about to become the apple of MLS’ eye as the league views a list of prospective sites for its next round of expansion, a process that MLS president Don Garber says will increase the league by three teams to a total of 16.

 And Garber has indicated his awareness of the progress being made in Vancouver’s preparations to build a spectacular waterfront soccer stadium, with an initial capacity in the 20,000 range, expandable to 30,000. The target date for completion is 2010, which gives the Impact a two-year head start in playing in their new soccer-specific stadium.

 There’s every reason to believe, though, that Vancouver’s stadium, bordering on the lively Gastown district, with a spectacular view of the North Shore mountains, will be the site MLS will choose first in adding a second team Canada. If the league expands by three teams in 2010, two western teams and one eastern franchise would balance out the two divisions evenly at eight each. A rebirth of the mothballed San Jose Earthquakes and a return to glory for the Whitecaps would give MLS two additions with great soccer traditions to build on and an ability to quickly establish hot rivalries with the two L.A. clubs. Vancouver would also broaden appeal within Canada and their matches with Toronto will bristle with intensity.

 At first glance, the impending MLS expansion in the east can’t afford to include Montreal. The league needs to add another rival, beyond the New England Revolution, for Red Bull New York, whose on-field excellence is being met by fan indifference at having to watch games in sterile Giants Stadium. Philadelphia would make the most sense, a city where soccer fans would easily get fired up over games with D.C. United.

 However, questions continue to be asked about how viable the Kansas City Wizards operation will remain. They’re drawing little more than  family and friends currently at 70,000-seat Arrowhead Stadium and are facing an uphill run getting local municipalities to agree to provide funding for a soccer project that would include a soccer-specific stadium that meets MLS standards. The alternative is an image-crushing move into a refurbished high school football stadium.

 The creation of an expansion team in nearby St. Louis might save this situation. Maybe not.  This is heartland America and baseball country first and foremost every summer.

If it was necessary to move this franchise, it might make more sense to take a proven star like Eddie Johnston and a competitive squad like the Wizards into Philadelphia and let the geographic heat of rivalry add to the competitive sparks that have flown between Red Bull and the Wizards this year.

That would open the expansion door for another eastern city and Montreal would be worthy of consideration given the track record established by the Impact and the credibility created for the Canadian marketplace by Toronto’s sensational start. It may not be Don Garber’s first, or even second, choice, but he needs to take the game to cities where he knows it will be supported from the get go.

Maybe it’s time for Joey Saputo to start cuddling up a little to MLS. He’s established that soccer has strong appeal in Montreal and he’s already building a stadium that gives him a head start on other competitors for an MLS franchise.

 Everyone connected with MLS has taken notice of what Toronto has brought to the league this year and it’s clear that Montreal has the potential for a repeat success story.  A little diplomacy will go a long way towards earning Saputo and his loyal fans the rewards they deserve.