MONTREAL -- Talk about a win-win situation for Laurent Ciman.
Last Sunday, he left Standard de Liège a hero, scoring the winner in a 2-0 triumph against archrivals Anderlecht. He has moved to Montreal, where his four-year-old autistic daughter will benefit from better support than in Belgium.
And professionally, it’s for the best, too, Ciman said.
“MLS, to me, is of the same [caliber], maybe even stronger than the Belgian league,” Ciman told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a step forward for me in my sporting career. ... MLS is a really attractive league to me. I’ll be able to play against top players.”
Ciman will wear the No. 23 Impact jersey. He met the press before a training session that he ended up skipping: he had played on Sunday, traveled on Monday and been feeling jet-lagged since.
Despite all that, Ciman is excited to join his new teammates on the field, likely on Wednesday. He approaches this new challenge humbly – “I’ve got plenty of experience, but there’s still everything to learn,” he said –, but with a ton of ambition.
“I’m not turning up out of nowhere, out of a club with no ambition,” Ciman said. “The Impact has a lot of ambition. I’ve spoken to them on the phone. They’ve got a sporting project, full of good stuff. Then, it all starts with a zero in our end, and if we can, every time, score a goal, we can win games.”
Ciman’s baptism of fire will occur in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals against Pachuca. He’s looking forward to it: Ciman recalled, on Tuesday, never advancing this far in a continental competition.
The return of the CCL knockout stage to Montreal has excited the Impact fans. Ciman’s arrival has, as well, not only because of the player’s quality, but also because of his reasons to make the move. The Cimans only want the best care for their daughter. Ciman’s wife had to halt her career to take care of her full-time. And Ciman doesn’t understand why Belgium fails to support such children.
“They don’t do much, in Belgium, for children with issues,” Ciman said. “I speak of autism because it affects me, but there are other issues as well. Hopefully, in the future, then can improve and use Canada and the United States as examples, see where they are and apply that in Belgium.”
