BRIDGEVIEW, Ill.— Mauro Biello labeled the Montreal Impact’s dramatic, 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday a “character win.” Goals from Didier Drogba and Ignacio Piatti extended the Canadians’ lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to three points.
Drogba’s 50th-minute introduction provided the impetus for the Impact to recover from Kennedy Igboananike’s 29th-minute opener and go on to secure all three points, with the Ivorian’s 56th-minute flick and Piatti’s stoppage-time winner giving the visitors (4-2-0, 12 points) the 2-1 win their possession and control of the game warranted.
“Down 1-0 on the road, we talked about it at halftime," Biello said. "If we want to be a top team in the East, you’ve got to come back and show character and be able to win games that we think we can.”
Biello admitted things did not go according to plan in the first half, but the … impact made by Drogba in his second appearance of the season turned things around.
“It was a difficult game for us in the first half, I thought they did a good job pressing us and we weren’t able to unbalance them and get forward,” Biello said. “For us, obviously the second half was much better and we were able to unbalance them and when you have Didier Drogba, who is a big presence and was able to score a key goal for us, and a great goal by Nacho at the end, I think these are the types of players that make a difference in a game and they did that tonight.”
Drogba, whose 40 minutes today followed a 20-minute cameo against FC Dallas in March, began full training with his teammates this week. Though he is far from 100-percent, the forward relishes being back on the field and is anticipating the opportunity for additional game time as his fitness improves.
“It’s good and I hope that I will get some more games now that I’m training with the team,” Drogba said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve been training all week with the team since I came back, since February, and it feels good to be back on the team and to have the chance to play like this and to see the atmosphere after the win.”
