Oct 08 Impact Honors Billy, Gerba and Donatelli at Annual Banquet

The Montreal Impact held their annual season-end awards and recgognition banquet last night and on the day after an uplifting 2-0 win in game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, the mood and outlook was positive. Oh, and some people were recognized for their efforts too! 

Aside from the bursaries granted to ten promising young soccer players from across the province,  The Impact took the time to honor players in 4 categories: the team’s MVP (Giuseppe Saputo award), Newcomer of the year, the Unsung hero and the defensive player of the year.

For the first time since the awards have been presented, Philippe Billy was designated BOTH the MVP and Defensive player of the year honours. Billy, a natural defender, played evey position but ‘keeper this season and did so with ease, confidence and perserverence as he had logged over 2,400 minutes while adapting to a new country, soccer market and team.

Below are quick recaps of the winners.

Philippe Billy: MVP (Giuseppe Saputo) & Defensive Player of the Year
 
Originally from France. Prior to joining to the Impact, he played for Stade Brestois in France's Ligue 2 and also played for the Italian club Lecce. His first season with the Impact he played in all 30 games, 27 as a starter. He was also the team's most used player with a total of 2,423 minutes played. He played both midfielder and defender throughout the season with a stint or two at the striker position.

Billy who joined the team from the beginning of the season was instrumental in providing solid support to both the back third and the midfield when losses via departure (Cedric Joqueviel, Stefano Pesoli on defense) and injuries (David Testo, Patrick Leduc, Felipe Soares, Stephen DeRoux etc) created gaps in the line-up.    
 
Ali Gerba: Newcomer of the Year 
 
If there was a reason why Joey Saputo, in his introduction speech, mentioned that this was not an end of season event, but rather a “mid-season” event, citing the playoffs, Ali Gerba has to be the determining factor. Gerba joined the club on July 15^th 2010 and after a slow start to the season, going 6 games without a point he finished the season as the team's leading goal scorer with a total of 9 goals and 1 assist for a total of 19 points.

He was the first Impact player to score a hat trick in regular season play and also scored the quickest goal in club history. Gerba was named the USSF’s player of the Month for August and his goals figured prominently in the Impact’s turnaround towards the last 10 games of the season where it looked possible that the Impact might not even make the post-season.
 
Tony Donatelli: Unsung Hero
 
He started in all 30 games this season, establishing a new club record and played a total of 2,359 minutes. He scored 7 goals and 3 assists for a total of 17 points, a new personal best and was the go-to guy when it came to penalty kicks, where he went 3 for 3. His offensive qualities and vision on the field were assets to the Impact throughout the season and if anyone is keeping count, I think the Impact won regarding the trade that saw Charles Gbeke go to Vancouver for Donatelli coming the other way. 

For all the details see the Impact site.

Tags: Ali Gerba \ awards \ Joey Saputo \ Montreal Impact \ MVP \ NASL \ Philippe Billy \ playoffs \ soccer \ Tony Donatelli \ unsung hero \ USSF