MONTREAL -- The bell rung early in Montreal on Wednesday, but there was no song in the air for the home side the rest of the night.
The Montreal Impact got the result they deserved in a 4-1 loss to Orlando City SC on Wednesday, according to coach Mauro Biello, who wants to see his players compete consistently with the same intensity he sees whenever they fall behind. Orlando City moved to within three points of Montreal, who are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points.
"We're not that good of a team," Biello said. "We're not. A good team is in first place and we need to understand that. We need to be a team that has to fight for their life to make the playoffs. And to me, that's what has to change, is that mentality because at the end of the day, when our backs are against the wall, that's when we show up."
Impact striker Didier Drogba put Montreal up 1-0 when he drove a free kick from left of the 18-yard box through the hands of Lions goalkeeper Joe Bendik just two minutes into the game.
But Orlando evened it up on Brek Shea's goal in the fourth minute, and Kaká put them ahead 36 minutes in after a mistake from Impact defender Laurent Ciman.
"I think we were nonchalant in our defending," Biello said. "We gave up two goals, 'Here, go score. Here. Here's the ball, go score.'
"At this level, you can't do that. You can't make those mistakes. We don't finish. We didn't finish actions. We created chances also, their goalie makes a big save, and in the end you've got to play with that urgency, and it wasn't there."
Kaká then scored his second goal of the game on a penalty kick against substitute goalkeeper Eric Kronberg 54 minutes in, after Evan Bush was shown a red card for a trip on Carlos Rivas.
"Other teams know we're good so they know when they come here they have to play their best game," said Impact midfielder Patrice Bernier. "And us, we have no choice. We have to play to the same level or higher. It's simply about concentration. At the elite level, you can't afford to make mistakes. You saw when we played Roma [in a friendly this summer], you make a few mistakes and you pay the price. Today, we made mistakes and we paid the price."
Drogba had an opportunity to draw the Impact to within one in the 70th minute after Matteo Mancosu was taken down in the box, but Bendik made the save on his penalty kick. Bendik also made a spectacular diving save with his hands to deny Drogba the tying goal in the first half. After the game, he was clear on what the team needs to do moving forward.
"I believe we played better with 10 men that with 11 in the first half, and that's something that we have to work on," Drogba said.
