MONTREAL -- Montreal Impact management are confident that new coach Frank Klopas will get the team back on track after a horrendous start to the Major League Soccer season. Breeland Speaks Chiefs Jersey . Sporting director Nick De Santis said Thursday that Klopas has done a good job preparing the club for games and that he still has the players support. The winless Impact (0-4-3), who were leading the league at this time last season, are last in MLS heading into a home game Saturday against the Philadelphia Union. "The coaches, I can guarantee you, from the first day have done good work," said De Santis. "You can see the intensity from the players in every practice. "Yes theres tension and pressure, less confidence, but thats pro sports. I think the team believes in the coach and will come out of this." There has been speculation about Klopas future among fans and media as the winless run to start the season -- the worst in the teams 21-year history including its pre-MLS days -- drags on. It hit a fever pitch after last weeks 4-0 loss at Kansas City. If Klopas is feeling the pressure, he didnt show it. "I know its about results," he said. "Im not here to make excuses. "Im very thankful to be part of this organization. I think Nick and all of us work hard. Thats all I can do. I dont think about the other stuff. The only thing I can do is prepare the team and make sure we do as well as we can to get the team back on track." The Impact will play their first game on the grass field at Saputo Stadium after three home games indoors at Olympic Stadium, where they had a loss and two draws. Another defeat -- in the first meeting between the clubs since Montreal sent Andrew Wenger to Philadelphia for Jack McInerney in a swap of strikers last month -- would put more heat on Klopas, the former Chicago Fire boss who replaced the fired Marco Schallibaum in December. There has also been criticism of De Santis, who made no major off-season moves despite a late-season tailspin and a one-sided loss to Houston in the first round of playoffs in 2013. "I understand the frustration," said De Santis. "Im from Montreal. "I live here every day and I know how people feel. They have a right to criticize and Im in a position where I have to accept that. But Im very confident in this team and that, with a few additions, we can improve this team." Since the start of training camp, the Impact have added former New York fullback Heath Pierce, little used forward Santiago Gonzalez, and made the McInerney trade. De Santis said he is looking at adding a third designated player to go with striker Marco Di Vaio and midfielder Hernan Bernardello, and that he has his sights on Argentine midfielder Ignacio Piatti. He wont be able to sign anyone until the July transfer period, however. In the meantime, the Impact have been pleading for patience. Team president Joey Saputo wrote this week on Twitter: "Very frustrating start to the season. We need and will turn this around. Lets stay focused and determined. More than ever, we need our fans." Despite their record, the Impact are only five points out of a playoff spot as the entire Eastern Conference has had trouble winning. Kansas City and Columbus share the conference lead with 11 points, including only three wins each in six games. De Santis said that missing Di Vaio for the opening three games to a suspension and injuries to Bernardello and midfielder Sanna Nyassi have hurt. He said the team has also been unlucky and could have won a game or two that slipped away. Missing injured central defenders Nelson Rivas and Adrian Lopez has also been a problem as veteran Matteo Ferrari has found himself working with youngsters most weeks. Lopez, who blew out a knee after only one game for Montreal last summer, had his first full-field practice Thursday, but is not yet ready to play. The oft-injured Rivas looked ready to return two weeks ago, but is back to running laps during practice. Ferrari said he hasnt given up hope. "I like the coach and the job hes doing because hes very professional," the former AS Roma and Everton defender said. "He likes the details and he prepares the game well. "Theres nothing I can say negative. If I look at the standings, its bad, but the first place team has three wins, not five or six. So lets win a couple of games and then well be talking about something else." Klopas also talked about Jeb Brovsky, a workhorse under Schallibaum last season who became a fan favourite for his toughness and his extensive work for charities and other causes. The third-year fullback has spent most of the season on the bench while Pearce played left fullback. Brovsky is likely to stay there for now. "He played on the left side and Im looking for more of a natural left-footed player," said Klopas. "On the right side, we have (Eric) Miller and (Hassoun) Camara, so theres competition. "Jeb has handled it well. But to be fair, when you put him on the left side, its not ideal, even if he played well last year. Im looking for a left-footed guy that can open up the field, that can get crosses in. But hell get opportunities." Chad Henne Jersey . Didnt need any help this time. Wood beat Cincinnati for the first time in his career, repeatedly pitching out of threats for seven innings, and Chicago stalled the Reds week-long surge with a 2-0 victory Monday night. David Amerson Chiefs Jersey . Off-season additions Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley did not train with the club today, prompting Nelsen to declare its too early to tell if either will be ready for Saturday. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth-Kendall-Fuller-Chiefs-Jersey/ . According to the Red Wings Twitter feed, Zetterberg plans to practice with the team on Thursday and is aiming for a second round comeback.ASPEN, Colo. - About a dozen Winter X Games stars — more than a few of them owners of Olympic gold medals — were milling about the tent before the action began.Only one drew a crowd.Shaun White.Now 28 and coming back after the most humbling year of his life, White will be a multimillionaire megastar regardless of whether he wins or loses Thursday night, when he drops into the halfpipe for his first competitive trip since the disappointments of 2014.But behind the clothing lines, the guitar, the new life as an event promoter and those 1.46 million Twitter followers is one, simple fact: White wouldnt have any of that if he wasnt great on that snowboard.He doesnt want that to change — one reason he finds no use dwelling on his less-than-successful year.I guess, going forward, yeah, why look back? White said. I definitely learned some lessons and definitely feel better off than before, in a way. I think that, for me, it was a learning experience and Im pumped to be riding still.The inevitability that White brought to almost every contest he entered was washed away last year, with a series of injuries, falls, withdrawals and, finally, that fourth-place finish on the halfpipe that pushed the snowboarding world off its axis at the Sochi Olympics.He wasnt happy about it, said his coach, Bud Keene. Such is the risk you take when you put on a bib and lay it on the line. His career is far from over, athletically. Hes still, hands down, the best halfpipe rider in the world, and not by a small margin.For the first time since he won his first Winter X gold in 2003, there are some people who would argue that.Whites chance to end — or at least stall — that discussion comes at the event where he brandished his reputation with eight gold medals on the halfpipe, five more in slopestyle. (He has another two golds in X Games skateboarding.)But for the first time in a while, it matters who else is in the field.—Theres the Olympic champion, Iouri Podladtchikov — thhe iPod — whose invention of the 1440-degree Yolo spin, along with his ability land it in Russia when White could not, rewrote the book on 2014. Dorian ODaniel Jersey. —There are high-flying and technically precise Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka of Japan, who took silver and bronze in Russia last year, proving, if nothing else, that they could outscore White on any given day.—And theres the defending champion here, Danny Davis, who conceded after his win last year that it took a little of the thrill away because White had chosen not to attend while he prepared for the Olympics.Davis also struggled on that mushy halfpipe in Russia last year, falling on both his runs in the finals and finishing 10th.Some guys landed and rode well. Others didnt. Thats just the way it goes, Davis said.But the stakes, especially away from the halfpipe, are nowhere near as high for Davis, or iPod, or anyone, as they are for White.Such is the nature of celebrity.Before Wednesdays news conference, White posed for the most pictures and signed the most autographs, frequently handing his cup of hot tea off to a friend so he could grab a pen. When the questions started, he drew the most interest, fielding queries on topics that ranged from Russia, to fashion, to music, to his hair, to his pre-competition rituals.Currently, I dont have too many, he said of the rituals. Yeah, when theres a lot of contests, thats when it happens.But between business, music and, yes, practice, there havent been a lot of contests lately — or any — which makes Thursdays runs down the halfpipe that much more intriguing.He may have wiped away the past. A win might help his millions of fans do it, too.I guess in my mind, in some way or another, Ive kind of scratched it off, he said. It was a frustrating circumstance for me. In hindsight, you can always look back and question what you did. That was the beauty of being in the hunt of it.___Follow Eddie Pells on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epells Cheap Jerseys Store Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Camo China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Store Cheap Authentic Jerseys Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap ' ' '
