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Despite making the playoffs for the first time since joining Major League Soccer, Montreal Impacts 2013 season ended with a massive letdown. It wasnt just the 3-0 loss at Houston in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round that hurt; it was the manner of the defeat and the total loss of discipline. As the team prepares to head to Orlando for the final stage of their training camp, there is a different feel around the Impact squad following the appointment of new head coach Frank Klopas to replace the fiery Swiss manager Marco Schallibaum. "Frank is settling in. He has put certain messaging and systems in place," Impact sporting director Nick De Santis said on TSNFC this week. "We made the right decision to move forward and go in a different direction and up until now, we have a very good relationship with Frank. We know what he wants and he knows what we want." "If we go back to that game in Houston, the result, the actions by certain players can give you an idea of what went on for the last two months, the last 10 games of the season. It was very frustrating." "In my position and in Joeys (Impact president Joey Saputo) position, the easiest thing to do was to reconfirm Marco because we set out our objectives at the beginning of the season and we met those objectives – being in the playoffs, winning the Canadian Championship – but when you are making decisions of what is best for the club going forward and whats best for the players, we felt that we needed to go in a different direction." With just over three weeks until the Impact open up the 2014 season, and after a quiet offseason in terms of player signings, De Santis says the club is still looking to add "one or two pieces" to the team. It seems the club is close to announcing the signing of young Uruguayan striker Santiago Gonzalez, who De Santis first met in Argentina on a scouting trip in November. "I managed to see him in my last trip to Argentina and watched him live," De Santis told TSNFC. "Hes a young player but a player with certain qualities that I think can help our team get better up front. Were still dealing with a few issues but were hoping that is something that can get done, hopefully even before we get to Orlando on the weekend." While Montreals squad hasnt seen as many additions as most teams across MLS, De Santis believes some of the players they have retained from last year will be in a better position to produce top quality performances on a consistent basis. "Hernan Bernadello played half a season last year and I think now you can say that hes basically a new addition because the first six months was an adaptation period. With him now being with the team from day one, he will bring a lot more to the table. We have Nelson Rivas healthy and hopefully we can manage him well and he can give us a good amount of games because when he is on the field feeling well physically and with his head in the right place, he can be a dominant defender in this league." On Monday, the Impact announced the return of Argentine midfielder Andres Romero, who joins the team on loan from Brazilian club Tombense for the second successive season. Romero showed glimpses of his ability in 2013, scoring two goals in 30 regular season appearances, but De Santis expects there is much more to come this season from the former Argentina U20 international. "Were happy that Romero is back because he is another player that showed very good signs in certain moments," said De Santis. "When his wife gave birth to twins, she went back to Argentina and thats when we saw his consistency level had gone down. We just want to make sure now that hes in the best environment for him to be as consistent as possible." With other teams getting much stronger during the offseason, the Eastern Conference will be a fierce battleground in 2014. Repeating the accomplishment of making the playoffs will be a difficult task for Montreal, but with the core of a squad that led the East on a number of occasions throughout the first half of the 2013 season, the Impact feel they are well positioned to hit the ground running when their season opens in Dallas on March 8. Joel Eriksson Ek Wild Jersey . Catch the game on TSN starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. Tampa Bay currently holds the last of the Atlantics three automatic bids to the playoffs, but the Maple Leafs are just one point behind. 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Vietnam won the first leg 2-1.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Venus Williams pummeled Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-1 in a second-round match between former world No. 1s at the Dubai Championships on Wednesday. Williams showed the form that once delivered her seven Grand Slam titles. Ivanovic couldnt take advantage of the two break-point opportunities Williams offered in the sixth game of the first set. "Im just trying to play well every day, take one point at a time and learn from my mistakes every match, try to go out there relaxed with a clear mind," said Williams, who won back-to-back Dubai titles in 2009 and 2010. A wild card entrant, Williams lost only seven total points in her other six service games as she moved to a 9-2 record against Ivanovic. However, the Serbian had won their last encounter in a three-set Auckland final last month. "Weve played many times in the past," Ivanovic said. "I definitely think she was a lot more aggressive (than in Auckland). She was stepping in the court way more, coming to the net more often." In the quarterfinals, Williams will play Italian qualifier Flavia Pennetta, who upset second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-1. "The conditions for me are tough," Radwanska said. "The balll was really flying.dddddddddddd "When I dont feel the ball, its not good." She led 4-1 then lost eight games in a row to be 6-4, 3-0 down. Radwanska, the 2012 Dubai champion, also was ousted in the second round at the Qatar Open in Doha last week. In another upset, third-seeded and defending champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic joined Radwanska on the sidelines. Kvitova had a 6-1, 4-2 lead, but couldnt close the door on tenacious Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, who won their two hour, 16 minute battle 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). "I start really well, I play pretty aggressively, I made a lot of winners, and she didnt have really time to hit well as she did after," Kvitova said. "And when I was leading in the second set, I lost very badly my serve, and I think that from that moment I was like a little bit mentally down." Sorana Cirstea of Romania upset fourth-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, to land a quarterfinal berth against eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. Wozniacki defeated Annika Beck of Germany 6-4, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-4 to earn a quarterfinal shot at top-seeded Serena Williams. ' ' '