Photo by Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports

By RYAN TOLMICH

NEW YORK – While the off-the-field headlines generated by the signing of Didier Drogba proved to be a major win for the club, Saturday’s on-the-field performance by the Montreal Impact proved to be the week’s most impressive achievement.

Visiting Yankee Stadium, the Impact bested the New York City FC backline time and time again, earning a hard-fought 3-2 road win to pick up the team’s third victory in four games.

The win, which gives the Impact 27 points through 19 games, was just the team’s second road win of the season and eighth in the franchise’s three-and-a-half year MLS history.

Led by the performances of Dominic Oduro and Ignacio Piatti, the Impact displayed a bit of swagger in picking apart NYCFC’s defense, continuously pinging passes up and over opposing backline to create chance after chance.

Oduro, who provided the game’s opener, said that was all part of the plan, as the Impact were fully prepared to exploit space left unoccupied by NYCFC’s less-pacey defense. For the Imapct, it was all about execution, something made all the easier by the confidence generated in recent weeks.

“I think Didier coming in put a little spark into the team,” Oduro said. “Everybody is excited. The city of Montreal is excited. Coming here, we came with great confidence and I think him coming to join the team, it will be a great push. We’re confident going into our next game. We have a couple of games coming up and hopefully we can get points.

“The gameplan was to be patient, keep the ball as much as possible, and there will be openings, and that’s what happened,” Oduro added. “We kept our cool. We were able to keep the ball a majority of the time, and we were able to find a lot of openings and finish our chances. Overall, the game plan was executed.”

Despite emerging with the three points, Saturday’s win wasn’t all smooth sailing for the visiting Impact, with Oduro admitting that the team “fell a sleep a bit” in giving NYCFC a late goal.

Still, head coach Frank Klopas was proud of his team’s performance while stating that he was glad to see the group’s recent training fully implemented on the field of play.

Citing the team’s recent health, Klopas believes that his team is beginning to find its edge. As the club continues to make up ground from its early-season CONCACAF Champions League run, Klopas says that the Impact are on the upswing at the moment, but he also the pendulum could easily swing the other way at a moment’s notice.

“When you make changes like we did the beginning, we clicked a little bit,” Klopas said, “but you knew that finding the right combination, in certain spots, wasn’t there. I think we have right now and I knew we had a good group. Sometimes managing the group the right way, I think, is importnat, but we’ll continue to work and have everybody committed. I think we’re in a good moment right now, but that can change quickly.

“We can’t get too high or too low. We have to be even keel. We have been, and we’re focusing on every training session and making sure we’re on top of every little thing. There’s a gameplan and everybody knows their role. We’re crystal clear about that with every opponent that we face and we’ve got to go out there and play.”

The Impact will now begin a run of home games back in the friendly confines of Stade Saputo. Facing off with fellow Eastern Conference opposition in the New York Red Bulls, D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union in consecutive weeks, Klopas and the Impact are fully aware that stretches like the one upcoming can make or break a team’s postseason hopes.

Still, the Impact are fully optimistic, especially in the aftermath of Saturday’s performance. Riding a wave of confidence and with Drogba’s true arrival imminent, the Impact know that more performances like Saturday’s could make all the difference, especially as the team enters a crucial sequence of games.

“If you look at the last month or so, we’ve been playing pretty well, especially at home,” said goalkeeper Evan Bush. “Three games at home, where we’re very comfortable, I think the stadium will be packed with the Drogba signing. It will be an exciting atmosphere for sure.”

“We have games in hand, but if we don’t start winning and adding points, it’s going to be difficult,” Klopas added. “Against a quality team (in NYCFC) with the players they have and the team they have, it’s a great win. We’ll enjoy it, but we have to put it behind us.”