MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact, playing its third game in eight days, drew 2-2 with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday afternoon in front of another sell-out crowd of 20,801 at Stade Saputo. Didier Drogba and Maxim Tissot scored for the Bleu-blanc-noir.
The Impact (4-3-2, 14 pts) is still undefeated when scoring and remains top of the Eastern Conference, while the Rapids (5-2-2, 17 pts) momentarily take the lead in the West.
“I can’t question the effort by my team, which worked extremely hard,” said head coach Mauro Biello. “My players were tired after three games this week, but they pushed very hard. We made a couple of mistakes that cost us three points, and the draw is disappointing, but we’re going to learn from this.”
As he had done in Colorado last October, Drogba opened the scoring in the first quarter-hour on a direct free kick. After Ignacio Piatti charged down the middle only to be brought down by Bobby Burling on the edge of the penalty area, Drogba lifted his attempt over an 11-man wall and into the net, to goalkeeper Zac MacMath’s right.
The Rapids levelled the score shortly after halftime, when Skhëlzen Gashi ran between the Montreal centre backs to redirect a Mekeil Williams cross past goalkeeper Evan Bush.
Montreal took the lead back three minutes later. The Rapids only cleared the ball to the edge of the area, where Harry Shipp recovered. His back pass reached Tissot, who slammed in a low strike to MacMath’s left. With five career goals, Tissot is the all-time leading scorer among Impact Homegrown Players.
Burling scored his team’s second on a set play. His central defence colleague, Axel Sjöberg, nodded a Gashi free kick into the 6-yard box, where Burling roofed the ball home.
“We started this game well, leading 1-0,” said team captain Patrice Bernier. “We were perhaps guilty of a lapse in concentration, and we let them back into the game. In the second half, it was an open game. But we let two points slip today.”
The Impact played a solid first half, denying the Rapids any chance to fire with their big guns. Evan Bush’s only significant save came in the 30th minute, as he did well to follow Gashi’s in-swinging free kick and catch Kevin Doyle’s header.
Taken aback by Gashi’s swift reply after the break, the Impact could still have scored a third goal after Tissot’s go-ahead strike. Only two minutes after Burling made it 2-2, Laurent Ciman shot just over the bar on a somewhat chaotic sequence.
The Rapids, whose previous game was last Saturday, showed their extra freshness in the second half and only made their first substitution in stoppage time.
“It’s disappointing, because we took the lead twice in this game,” said Wandrille Lefèvre. “We have to pull ourselves together. But a good challenge awaits next week, and we’ve already gone and won points on the road.”
The Montreal Impact’s next game will take place on Saturday, May 7, at 7:30pm EDT at Columbus Crew SC (RDS, 98,5fm &TSN Radio 690). The team will return home to Stade Saputo on Saturday, May 14, at 5pm EDT, taking on the Philadelphia Union (RDS, TDS, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690). 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, Wandrille Lefèvre, Laurent Ciman, Maxim Tissot; M-Patrice Bernier (Lucas Ontivero 80’), Kyle Bekker (Marco Donadel 62’), Dominic Oduro, Harry Shipp, Ignacio Piatti; F-Didier Drogba
Subs not used – GK-Maxime Crépeau; D-Victor Cabrera; M-Johan Venegas, Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé; F-Michael Salazar
COL – GK-Zac MacMath; D-Marlon Hairston, Bobby Burling, Axel Sjöberg, Mekeil Williams; M-Michael Azira, Sam Cronin, Jermaine Jones, Luis Solignac, Shkëlzen Gashi (Dillon Powers 90’ + 2’); F-Kevin Doyle
Subs not used – GK-Chris Froschauer; D-Marc Burch, Conor Doyle, Eric Miller, Jared Watts; M-Dillon Serna
GOALS
MTL – Drogba 9’
COL – Gashi (Williams, Jones) 47’
MTL – Tissot (Shipp) 50’
COL – Burling (Sjöberg, Gashi) 73’
CAUTIONS
COL – Hairston 45’
COL – Sjoberg 61’
MTL – Ciman 66’
COL – Gashi 78’
