Tucsonan Donny Toia has found a new stop in his soccer journey, this time in Canada. The 22-year-old will be playing for the Impact de Montréal, his fifth club in as many seasons.

Five clubs, but even though his early moves were for more typical reasons (Real Salt Lake cut him, and his play with FC Tucson got him a look with a higher-division club), his last two teams folded. With the dissolution of Chivas USA at the end of last season, Toia had the chance to be picked up by another team.

“I got lucky. There were only six that got picked up in the dispersal draft,” Toia said of the process that sent him to the Francophone section of our continent. “It was a pretty amazing feeling when that happens.”

Chivas USA teammate Nigel Reo-Coker was also picked up by the Impact.

The last four years of Toia’s career have been in the balmier parts of our country: Tucson, Phoenix and Los Angeles, all of those locations short drives from the family. Toia just arrived in Montreal last Friday and he’s still acclimating.

“It’s bittersweet because it’s so far from home,” said Toia. “At the same time you have to take that opportunity and run with it. I think it’s the best opportunity I have right now.”

Toia has already had the chance to bond with his teammates (“kickin’ it,” he says), and the team plays in its first public practice on Saturday.

Champions League

Montréal will not be among the teams training in Tucson or participating in the Desert Diamond Cup. They will be occupied elsewhere.

The team will be doing part of their preseason in Mexico in anticipation of their first leg quarterfinal matchup with Mexican club CF Pachuca in the CONCACAF Champions League. The match will be on Feb. 24, with the Tuzos making the trip to Quebec on March 3 for the second leg.

Should Toia play, he will be the first Tucson player to play in the tournament.

A team that needs some fixing

Toia’s team last year, Chivas USA, had been an ill-regarded team for a long time. They closed out their final season near the bottom of the league with 33 points and only 9 wins. One of the few teams that was worse was the Impact, who finished dead last.

Italian striker Marco di Vaio, one of the bright lights for the squad, is retiring and coach Frank Klopas has taken the off-season as the opportunity to re-tool the squad. Bringing in Toia is part of that.

Eleven players are in the same boat as Toia: experienced players that are transfers from other teams. It means that Toia will have a great deal of competition for a starting spot. It’s something he’s used to. Last season, he was expected to be a back-up for Tony Lochhead. After an injury took Lochhead out of the line-up, Toia took his starting spot and kept it for the remainder of the season.

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