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who finished atop the money standings
MONTREAL -- Marco Schallibaums future as coach of the Montreal Impact remains in limbo. At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. And the answer may not come soon. "We had excellent discussions with Marco (on Monday)," said Saputo. "But we have dont want to make a decision too quickly. "We will continue to analyse the situation in the coming weeks." Saputo denied a report that Impact defender Alessandro Nesta would be the new coach. He said he never discussed a coaching job with the 37-year-old Nesta, the former Italy and AC Milan great who retired as a player at the end of the season. "I dont know where that rumour comes from," he said. "Alessandro has the qualities to eventually be a coach, whether an assistant or a head coach, in this league. But hes barely finished playing. "He has to go for his coaching license. But I think he does have the potential." Saputo and sporting director Nick De Santis met with the media to review the 2013 season, but they were either unable or unwilling to pass on anything concrete about the coach, where the team needs to improve or which players will or wont be back next season. He said management needs time to interview players and coaches before decisions are made. Overall, the season was step forward from their expansion campaign in 2012. The team finished 14-13-7 for 49 points, the most ever by a Canadian-based MLS club, and made the playoffs in only their second season. They also won the Amway Canadian Championship, although they bombed out in CONCACAF Champions League play. Schallibaum has said he wants to stay on. His contract was automatically extended through the 2014 season when the Impact made the playoffs, but Saputo said that wont factor in on whether he keeps the job. The club is also reportedly still paying Jesse Marsch, the coach in 2012. Schallibaum, a 51-year-old former Switzerland defender, was suspended four times for a total of fives games in his first MLS campaign, but looked to have his temper under control in the second half of the season. Saputo remarked that the team did better on the field when Schallibaum was being suspended every other week than it did when he calmed down, but added there was surely no correlation between those factors. The Impact shot out to a 9-3-2 start and were still in the hunt for first place in the Eastern Conference in August, but then went into a tailspin that saw them lose seven of their last nine games. A dismal effort in a 1-0 regular season-ending loss in Toronto left them with the fifth and final playoff spot, but they were even worse in their single-game knockout round loss in Houston last week. Not only did they lose 3-0, they had three players sent off, including midfielder Andres Romero for kicking at a ball that was underneath a fallen Dynamo player, and star forward Marco Di Vaio for jumping to Romeros defence. The incident in the final minutes of the match was one of the first issues addressed by Saputo, who called it an embarrassment. "A particular apology on my behalf to the MLS family for the way we conducted ourselves last Thursday," he said. "Thats not the image we want to project. There was a lot of frustration, but thats no excuse." Di Vaio, a 20-goal scorer who is expected to be named the teams player of the year on Wednesday, and Romero will each be suspended for the first three games of 2014. Defender Nelson Rivas, also set off in Houston, will be suspended for one match. Romero became a target for fans for his frequent giveaways in midfield, and one could imagine committing a foul that causes the team president to make a public apology would mark the end of his stay in Montreal, but De Santis vehemently defended the 23-year-old Argentine. "I get the feeling that a lot of you think that hes not good enough, but I think Andres has a lot of potential," said De Santis. "Everyone goes through a phase, an adaptation period, but Andres showed a lot of good things at the beginning of the season. "And remember, hes 23. If you look at our 20-to-23 year olds, hes played at a high level. He needs to be mentally strong in certain situations. His wife had twins who stayed in Argentina. That plays a big part in your personal life. We have to see what his situation is with his family." Team management also wants to examine how playing in the Canadian championship and the Champions League affected its performance in MLS. The team looked physically and mentally drained at the end of the season. "When a team slides like that, you ask many questions," said De Santis. "For two moths we were hoping that the last game in Toronto wouldnt be do or die. "In the end, thats where we were, and I dont think we got there with a team that was hungry and ready to do anything to get into the playoffs." Air Max 90 Sale . Best has been bothered by concussion problems and hasnt played since Oct. 16, when the Lions lost to San Francisco. After starting 5-0, Detroit has lost four of six, beginning with that game against the 49ers. Cheap Red Air Max . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork. http://www.airmax2018womens.us/. - The New England Patriots needed help on defence so they added three experienced players at midseason. White Air Max Online . -- Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will be out three to six weeks with a stress fracture of the third finger of his right hand. Cheap Air Max 2018 . - San Diego Padres centre fielder Cameron Maybin is going to be out two to three months after rupturing his left biceps tendon during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.The curling landscape shifted dramatically over the last month of the 2013-2014 season. When Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones won the season-ending Players Championship, many rinks – especially on the mens side – had played their last game together. A legend retired, a skip left his Brier-winning team, old friends reunited and the best stayed together. With this being an Olympic year, many curlers felt it was necessary to join a new squad at seasons end in order to have a better shot at competing in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. With all the changes, which rink do you think is the favourite going into next season and beyond? Lets start from the beginning. Going into the mens world championships in Beijing, China earlier this month, Canadian champion Kevin Koe announced that he was leaving his team to join a new rink next season, comprised of Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert from Martins team as well as Brent Laing from Glenn Howards rink. This group is an interesting one. They definitely have a lot of experience as Kennedy and Hebert won Olympic gold with Martin back in 2010, while Laing captured world titles as Howards second in 2007 and 2012. Laing and Hebert will remain in their familiar positions, but Kennedy will be bumped up to third stones after spending the last 11 years throwing in the two hole. Is Koe the favourite despite a third who has never played the position professionally? As a result of his team finding new homes and – more importantly – a lack of desire to devote four years to an Olympic run, curling legend Kevin Martin retired at seasons end. Martin played 26 seasons, racking up four Briers, one world championship and, of course, Olympic gold in 2010. Pat Simmons, Carter Rycroft and Nolan Thiessen will return to the Brier in 2015 as Team Canada after winning the national championship this season with Koe at the helm. With Koe jumping ship, the threesome were able to convince John Morris to join them as their skip. Morris had previously skipped Jim Cotter, Tyrel Griffith and Rick Sawatsky to the finals at the 2014 Brier where they lost to Koe. The 35-year-old, who had planned to take a year off from curling unless a good opportunity presented itself, wiill play a limited schedule due to work commitments next season.dddddddddddd Hes a two-time Brier champion (2008, 2009), a world champion (2008) and an Olympic champion (2010). Will Morris be able to keep this team back at the same level? Another veteran skip on the Grand Slam circuit also made news recently. Glenn Howard, 51, will reunite with an old friend next year, as Richard Hart will come out of retirement to play third. The pair were able to capture a Brier and world championship together back in 2007 before Hart decided to leave the game in 2011. Howard is also bringing in Jon Mead to replace Laing at second after he played third for Jeff Stoughtons rink for the past five seasons. Craig Savill will remain the teams lead. After a disappointing year for Howard, will there be a revival of past success with these changes in 2014-2015? Then there is Jeff Stoughton, who had his entire team leave him this season. Mead went to Howard, Mark Nichols left to throw third stones for Brad Gushue (they won Olympic gold in 2006 together) and Reid Carruthers will skip his own squad next year. With Morris taking the Team Canada position, Stoughton had to start from scratch. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, the 50-year-olds new rink will be comprised of Rob Fowler at third, Alex Forrest at second and Connor Njegovan at lead. Can Stoughton surprise some people with this new group? One of the few teams that is staying pat is Brad Jacobs Sault Ste. Marie rink. The foursome is coming back for another shot at Olympic glory. Will they continue to roll or will an Olympic hangover set in after reaching the top of the sport at such a young age? As seen above, Gushue will have a new/old look next year. Does he have what it takes to get back to the top of the sport with the move? Then theres a few under-the-radar teams that may surprise some people. Is there a chance Mike McEwen, who finished atop the money standings this season, Jim Cotter, John Epping or Steve Laycock could make some noise on the curling circuit? It should be an interesting season of rock throwing next winter. With all the changes, which rink do you think is the favourite as we prepare for another run at Olympic gold? As always, its Your! Call. ' ' '