MONTREAL - Down to 10 men in the 72nd minute, the Montreal Impact pushed through extremely rainy conditions to earn a 3-0 shutout victory over the Eastern Conference leading New England Revolution on Saturday night, in front of a third straight sellout at Stade Saputo, effectively ending the Revs six-game winning streak. Newcomers Didier Drogba and Johan Venegas, along with Dilly Duka, scored for the home side.
"We grew throughout the game. We suffered a little in the first half, but we were never off balance," said Mauro Biello, who is undefeated in four games since taking over as head coach. "We played against a really good team, played a really good second half and closed out the game.”
"We were very composed," added goalkeeper Evan Bush, who got a second consecutive shutout. "It was a very professional, business-like approach. We have a new energy and focus. Tactically we’ve been sharp."
The Impact opened the scoring early on in the 5th minute, when Nacho Piatti found Johan Venegas near the top of the box. The Costa Rican turned his defender and fired one that took a slight deflection, floating over the keeper and under the bar for his first as a member of the Bleu-blanc-noir.
Designated Player Didier Drogba scored his fourth of the season when he boomed a free kick past the wall, which deflected off of a Revolution defender and past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth in the 60th minute.
Then, despite a red card to Marco Donadel in the 72nd minute, IMFC found a third goal when Drogba played Dilly Duka in behind the defence four minutes later, lobbing the keeper far post for the insurance goal.
"We have a streak without a loss and everything has been going great, so you have to tip your hat to our head coach," said Duka. "We have to keep doing what we are doing now and look at it one game at a time."
The Impact is set to play its next two matches at home, first against Chicago on Wednesday night, at 8pm (originally scheduled in April but moved due to Champions League), and then versus D.C United on Saturday at 5pm.
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Donny Toia, Laurent Ciman, Victor Cabrera, Eric Miller; M- Calum Mallace (Nigel Reo Coker 54’), Marco Donadel, Andrés Romero (Dilly Duka 71’), Ignacio Piatti (Kyle Bekker 77’), Johan Venegas; F-Didier Drogba
Subs not used: GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Wandrille Lefèvre, Hassoun Camara; F-Dominic Oduro
NE – GK-Bobby Shuttleworth; D-Andrew Farrell, Chris Tierney, Jeremy Hall (Juan Agudelo 70’), José Goncalves; M-Jermaine Jones, Kelyn Rowe, Lee Nguyen, Teal Bunbury (Diego Fagundez 61’), Steve Neumann (Scott Caldwell 61’); F-Charlie Davies
Subs not used: GK-Brad Knighton; D-Kevin Alston; M-Daigo Kobayashi; F-Donald Smith
GOALS
MTL – Venegas (Piatti) 5’
MTL – Drogba 60”
MTL – Duka (Drogba, Bush) 76’
CAUTIONS
MTL – Ciman 63’
MTL – Donadel 69’
EJECTION
MTL – Donadel 72’
