Montreal Impact 3, New York Red Bulls 0 | 2016 MLS Match Recap

Benjamin Baer

The first 45 minutes between the Montreal Impact and the New York Red Bulls at the Big O didn't produce many chances. But all that changed in the second half.

The Impact hit the Red Bulls on the counter twice in the second half with Dominic Oduro and Ignacio Piatti providing two of the goals for Mauro Biello's side. Montreal move to 2-0-0, without the services of Didier Drogba, while the Supporters' Shield-holding Red Bulls have now lost the first two games of the season without scoring any goals.

Anthony Jackson-Hamel added a third for the Impact in the dying moments, after a beautiful chipped through ball from Harry Shipp.

Box score

58' - MTL - Dominic Oduro (Johan Venegas, Ignacio Piatti)
71' - MTL - Ignacio Piatti (Donny Toia)
94 - MTL - Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Harry Shipp, Eric Alexander)
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Three Things

PIATTI ON FIRE: With Didier Drogba missing the start of the season, many wondered if the Impact could score enough goals to continue their winning ways from the end of the 2015 season. Those questions have been answered with the play of Ignacio Piatti: two goals and an assist last week in Vancouver, and then another goal and assist this week. There's little doubt who has been the best player in MLS thus far.

BAAH MISTAKES:
The Red Bulls brought in Gideon Baah as the replacement for Matt Miazga, after the Homegrown player left for Chelsea. Baah showed well, despite the loss, against Toronto FC last week and he had a solid first half against Montreal on Saturday. But after that, his game seemed to fall apart. He easily gave a ball away, which directly led to Montreal's first goal and then he was made to look silly by Piatti on the second.

RED BULLS SCORING DROUGHT: New York was the highest-scoring team in MLS in 2015, when they scored 62 goals. But they struggled to score in the MLS Cup Playoffs, scoring just three goals in four games, and were knocked out by Columbus Crew SC in the Eastern Conference Championship. Those problems seem to have creeped into 2016 as the Red Bulls have yet to score through two games. After registering no shots on target in the first half, Bradley Wright-Phillips had a few quality chances in the second half but failed to get the ball past Evan Bush.

They Said It

"It couldn’t get much better honestly from a team perspective. It was loud in the second half, it was good. The more we could get them [the home crowd] involved by being exciting and being entertaining, scoring goals."

Harry Shipp, Impact midfielder