MONTREAL – Rarely has a last-place team felt so good.
On Saturday afternoon, the Montreal Impact looked like a team that could get itself out of the Eastern Conference basement. Rampant going forward and composed at the back for pretty much the entire game, Montreal beat Real Salt Lake 4-1 at Stade Saputo.
In 90 minutes, Montreal grabbed four goals. They’d scored three in their previous five league games. Andres Romero tallied twice, Laurent Ciman scored his first goal in North America, and Dilly Duka completed the rout late on.
“We’re relieved,” assistant coach Mauro Biello – who replaced the suspended Frank Klopas on the sidelines – told reporters postgame. “It’s normal. We’ve gone through many emotions lately, but we wanted this win. It was a good performance, a complete one.”
For weeks, the Impact had talked about being more of a team, playing for each other. Some said that teammates tried to do too much. Others thought an adjustment in mentality was needed. It all came together on Saturday.
Ignacio Piatti fed Romero for Montreal’s second. Calum Mallace floated wide to deliver a cross for the third. Jack McInerney ran hard down the right flank to provide an uncredited assist for the fourth.
“We did good today,” Dominic Oduro said. “You could see everybody not being selfish. You saw it, when we started moving the ball well, once we started not being selfish, playing to each other, we had a lot of movement. We know that we have a good team. We know that it’s going to take time to get comfortable with each other, and it’s a step in the right direction.”
As for Ciman’s goal, well, it was a set piece goal. Montreal’s first, penalty kicks aside, since October 19… 2013.
When Montreal get going, they're all in.
“When you continue to work and continue to believe, good things happen,” Biello said. “We asked them to be aggressive in the box, take your time and believe you can score.”
But just as the attack finally showed signs of picking up steam on Saturday, Oduro came off midway through the second half against RSL with an apparent groin injury.
“Hopefully, it’s nothing really bad,” Oduro said. “There are injuries to the forwards, but we still have a good bench, at the end of the day.”
Olivier Tremblay covers the Montreal Impact for MLSsoccer.com.
