FRISCO, Texas – The Montreal Impact conceded two late goals on Saturday night, losing 2-0 against FC Dallas (2-1-0, 6pts) at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. Tallies from Mauro Diaz and Maximiliano Urruti stopped an MLS regular season road winning streak to three as Montreal dropped its first points this year.
“For 75 minutes, we played a good away game against a good team,” said head coach Mauro Biello. “We might have lacked a bit of sharpness in the attacking third. It’s a shame that they scored towards the end, but we have to learn from this game. We can draw positives from this game.”
The Impact (2-1-0, 6 pts) went behind in the 79th minute, after a foul on Diaz just outside the Montreal box. Diaz’s free kick skimmed the underside of the crossbar and beat goalkeeper Evan Bush to his left.
Urruti added the second in the 87th minute. Canadian forward Tesho Akindele flicked on goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez’s goal kick into the path of Urruti, who let the ball bounce to volley it into the back of the net.
“It’s unfortunate, but overall, I thought we did well on the road, trying to keep possession,” said forward Dominic Oduro. “We just had to find that ‘it’ factor of trying to penetrate through that defence. I don’t think we did that a lot tonight.”
Yet the Impact had put forward a fine first-half performance, preventing the Texas team from capitalizing on offensive transitions. Impact winger Lucas Ontivero even got the best chance of the half, in the 38th minute, when an Ignacio Piatti cutback allowed him to drill a low shot from inside the penalty area. But Jesse Gonzalez made the save.
“They were really compact defensively,” said midfielder Calum Mallace. “Moving forward, they moved the ball quickly. They did well when they lost the ball. But we’re off to a good start, even with this loss. We’ve just got to have a short memory with this one and pick ourselves up.”
Of the 11 starters that had defeated the New York Red Bulls, 3-0, on March 12, no fewer than 10 appeared on head coach Mauro Biello’s lineup this Saturday. Hassoun Camara replaced Ambroise Oyongo and defended the right flank, while Donny Toia shifted to the left.
Forward Didier Drogba, after roughly a week of training on natural grass with the USL’s Sacramento Republic, made his first appearance of the 2016 MLS season in the 70th minute when he replaced Lucas Ontivero. The Ivorian striker managed a shot.
On his first start this season, Hassoun Camara played his 7,471st minute for Montreal in MLS, moving past former Impact player Felipe as the all-time club leader in MLS minutes played.
The Montreal Impact’s next game will take place on April 2, at CenturyLink Field, against Seattle Sounders FC. Kick-off is scheduled for 10pm EDT on TVA Sports and TSN Radio 690. The Impact will then return to the Olympic Stadium on April 9 against Columbus Crew SC (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690). Excellent tickets are still available on impactmontreal.com. Season tickets starting at only $339, as well as Pick-4-Packs, are also available on impactmontreal.com.
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Donny Toia, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Hassoun Camara; M-Calum Mallace, Eric Alexander, Lucas Ontivero (Didier Drogba 70’), Ignacio Piatti, Harry Shipp (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 81’); F-Dominic Oduro (Johan Venegas 85’)
Subs not used – GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Maxim Tissot, Wandrille Lefèvre; M-Kyle Bekker
DAL – GK-Jesse Gonzalez; D-Walker Zimmerman, Ryan Hollingshead, Maynor Figueroa, Matt Hedges; M-Michael Barrios, Fabian Castillo (Tesho Akindele 75’), Mauro Diaz, Victor Ulloa, Carlos Gruezo (Kellyn Acosta 77’); F-Maximiliano Urruti (Mauro Rosales 90’)
Subs not used – GK-Chris Seitz; D-Zach Lloyd; M-Juan Esteban Ortiz; F-Atiba Harris
GOALS
DAL – Diaz 79’
DAL – Urruti 87’
CAUTIONS
DAL – Zimmerman 34’
MTL – Toia 43’
DAL – Figueroa 72’
