MONTREAL – It's been an impressive start to the season for the Montreal Impact and head coach Mauro Biello hailed the whole squad for an inspired performance after winning their first home game of the season.
Back-to-back wins against the Vancouver Whitecaps and the New York Red Bulls is no small feat and the young head coach was proud on how the team managed the game in front of a raucous crowd of over 27,000.
"I think that it feels good when you beat a team that finished first in the standings last year," Biello said. "It’s one of the best teams in the league and we were able to manage the momentum while being strong on capitalizing on our scoring chances."
Out of the six goals scored by the Montreal Impact so far this season, five have come from Dominic Oduro and Ignacio Piatti, with the Argentinean offensive maestro leading the way with three -- including this Goal of the Week winner. With a mix of quick-plays in the first half and counterattacks in the second, the Impact’s style was reminiscent of the style employed during their run to the finals of last season's CONCACAF Champions League.
"So our whole idea was to trying to get them on the counter," Oduro said. "But I think that a couple of times we were trying to do way too much instead of being patient. But in the second half, we were able to get it right."
And it wouldn’t be a Montreal Impact game without talking about the ambiance at the Olympic Stadium. Acquired via trade from the Chicago Fire, Harry Shipp seems to be enjoying his time in Quebec as the North Star Bell rang three times at the Big O.
"It couldn’t get much better honestly from a team perspective," Shipp said. "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. For us, we were able to keep a clean sheet too and we controlled the game in the second half which allowed the crowd to really get into it and it was fun for us, it was fun for them, it was fun for everyone."
