MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact bumped into a strong and collected defence on Saturday in a 1-1 tie against the Philadelphia Union at Stade Saputo in front of a third straight sellout crowd of 20,801 despite the pouring rain.
Forward Didier Drogba scored in a third consecutive game for the Impact (4-3-4, 16 pts), while Philadelphia (4-3-3, 15 pts) replied through C.J. Sapong, who tallied his fifth of the season.
“We wanted the three points, but sometimes, an opponent just won’t give you those opportunities,” said head coach Mauro Biello. We know that we can do better. We’ll keep working. We are going to find solutions, and we’ll regain our confidence.”
Montreal frustrated by Blake after taking early lead
The Impact opened the scoring in the third minute. After Dominic Oduro worked hard to win a corner kick, Sapong cleared Marco Donadel’s delivery. The ball landed at the feet of Drogba, who slammed a perfect strike into the top left corner for his fourth goal of the season and his 15th regular-season goal since joining the Impact.
Philadelphia drew level in the 24th minute. Tranquillo Barnetta, between the lines, played the ball wide left to Chris Pontius, whose cross reached Sébastien Le Toux at the far post. With one touch, Le Toux unsettled goalkeeper Evan Bush by centering the ball to an onrushing Sapong down the middle. Sapong tapped the ball home into an empty net.
“There will be moments in a game when you suffer,” said Impact captain Patrice Bernier. “We started well and scored early, after that we thought we could score a second and a third. It didn’t come. We then made mistakes that opened spaces and they were able to use them. We have to address this.”
Union goalkeeper Andre Blake left his mark on the game with five saves – almost all crucial stops. In the ninth minute, on a 2-v-2 with Oduro, Piatti had a left-footed strike beaten away by Blake. In the 31st, Blake blocked a fierce Drogba free kick, and he frustrated Drogba again in the 40th, stopping his close-range header on a Maxim Tissot cross.
Blake’s Montreal counterpart Bush swiftly replied with a fine save on the next play, denying Vincent Nogueira as the Frenchman burst into the penalty area. Bush made four total saves.
In front of its home crowd, the Impact put more and more pressure as the game went on. Head coach Biello played his attacking substitutes, and his team could well have been rewarded in the 80th minute. Piatti and Oduro found themselves racing through on a 2-v-1, but Raymon Gaddis fouled Piatti in the centre circle to put an end to the sequence.
“When it doesn’t go in, you think it won’t be easy tonight,” said centre back Laurent Ciman. “We still created a lot of chances and didn’t give many away, so that’s good. We have to play as we did early in the season, and we’ll work this week to try and keep a clean sheet.”
Upcoming games
The Impact’s next game will take place on the road against Orlando City SC, on Saturday, May 21, at 7:30pm EDT at Camping World Stadium (RDS, TSN, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690).
The LA Galaxy will be the visitors for the next home game, on Saturday, May 28, at 8pm EDT (RDS, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690). The Impact would like to remind supporters that this game has been rescheduled from Sunday, May 29, and that all tickets dated May 29 for this game will be valid at all Stade Saputo entrances on May 28. Excellent individual tickets, as well as season tickets and Pick-4-Packs, are still available on impactmontreal.com.
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Ambroise Oyongo, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Maxim Tissot; M-Marco Donadel, Patrice Bernier (Lucas Ontivero 73’), Dominic Oduro, Harry Shipp (Kyle Bekker 56’), Ignacio Piatti; F-Didier Drogba (Johan Venegas 70’)
Subs not used – GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Wandrille Lefèvre, Hassoun Camara; A-Michael Salazar
PHI – GK-Andre Blake; D-Keegan Rosenberry, Joshua Yaro, Richie Marquez, Raymon Giddis; M-Vincent Nogueira (Brian Carroll 74’), Warren Creavalle, Sebastien Le Toux, Tranquillo Barnetta (Roland Alberg 85’), Chris Pontius; F-C.J. Sapong (Fabian Herbers 66’)
Unused subs – GK-John McCarthy; D-Fabinho, Ken Tribbett; M-Walter Restropo
GOALS
MTL – Drogba 3’
PHI – Sapong (Le Toux, Pontius) 24’
CAUTIONS
MTL – Piatti 36’
MTL – Donadel 50’
MTL – Oyongo 80’
PHI – Gaddis 81’
