VANCOUVER — It’s a toe. That’s the Montreal Impact’s story and they’re sticking to it. But it’s still a foot to the seat of the pants for soccer fans in Vancouver.

In the days before Wednesday’s Canadian Championship final, before what could be a historic night for the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place against an Impact side that four months ago nearly became the first Major League Soccer team to win the CONCACAF Champions League, the player everyone talked about isn’t even here.

Didier Drogba could be the next Thierry Henry, the supremely accomplished forward who came to MLS from Europe but never played in Vancouver for the New York Red Bulls because the grass here is fake.

Another global star, David Beckham, played one MLS game in Vancouver after leaving Europe for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He hated artificial turf, too.

Now it’s Drogba, the former Chelsea icon who made his MLS debut Saturday but didn’t travel to Vancouver after Impact coach Frank Klopas assured reporters in Montreal the Ivory Coast forward would be available for the second leg of the Canadian final.

“It’s not because we didn’t want to bring him or he didn’t want to be here,” Klopas explained before the Impact practised at BC Place Stadium Tuesday. “In the last game, he had an injury to his toe. We wanted to bring him with us and be available for the game, even if he was 20-25 minutes. But the recommendation from the doctors was that the travel and the turf … it could have been a situation where now he could be out two or three weeks, and it was a situation we couldn’t risk.”

Klopas said all this with a straight face and, indeed, seemed earnest. He didn’t duck any questions. Still, it’s an interesting injury.

Not only did Drogba come on as a sub and finish his first MLS game without any problems and Klopas declare plans to bring him to Vancouver, but the club has already determined with a degree of certainty that the 37-year-old should be fit for this weekend’s vital league game against archrival Toronto FC.

“It’s just a weird situation,” Klopas said. “All along he was to come, then yesterday before we left in the morning, we had him examined again by our team doctors and they felt that the best situation was not to bring him because of the travel. A little bit of the swelling that he had in his toe and not to make it worse. Plus, it’s a turf thing. Maybe he could have played, but then it could have been a situation where the guy is out three weeks.”

So the artificial turf is an issue, but only because Drogba already has a sore toe.

But that means he’ll happily play on turf when healthy?

“We were going to bring him,” Klopas reiterated. “We would have brought him. All along when he came (to MLS), this was something that when we looked at the schedule … we knew the plan was he was going to be available to play 30 minutes the last game. And we talked about this trip and it’s a final and he said: ‘Coach, I want to be with the team. I want to be there.’ The plan was to be here, be available. I’m not saying he would have started, but coming in (as a substitute) and playing a role like he did in the last game, then being in a position where he could start in Toronto. He wanted to be here.”

We’ll have to take Klopas’ word on that, too, because Drogba’s other Week 1 contribution to MLS was creating a public relations tire fire by refusing to talk to reporters after his debut in North America.

It is a strange way for the MLS to grow soccer — signing recognized stars for millions, then having them sit out some games while refusing on occasions to talk to the media, thus also restricting the ticket-buying public’s access to them.

Will Drogba really play next season in Vancouver which, unlike when Henry and Beckham were not playing here, now has the best artificial turf available according to FIFA officials who installed it in June for the Women’s World Cup?

Heck, will new MLS arrivals David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo play Sept. 26 when New York FC makes its first visit to Vancouver? Or will they have toe injuries?

We wanted to ask league commissioner Don Garber if he thought MLS’s biggest stars should choose their playing surfaces, but our query was handled ins tead by vice-president of communications Dan Courtemanche, who wrote in an email: “The Montreal Impact have stated that Didier Drogba is not traveling to Vancouver due to an injury. I encourage you to follow up with the club regarding the player’s status.”

A cynic could interpret that non-answer — and the fact Garber did not respond personally — as the league not caring if a star player snubs soccer-loving Vancouver, Seattle or Portland, where teams don’t own their stadiums and play on artificial turf.

MLS apparently does care, however, that their players speak to the press.

“Regarding Didier Drogba not speaking with the media this past weekend,” Courtemanche said, “we are addressing it at the highest levels and fully expect the player to speak with the media prior to and after future Impact matches in league play.”

Well, good luck with that. Drogba arrived in North America with his own media relations team. They work for him independently of the Impact’s communications staff. That’s Drogba’s deal.

But even if we don’t hear from him, at least we can see him play. For now, only on television if you live in British Columbia.

imacintyre@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/imacvansun