MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact have now created three goals from set plays in 2015.
That’s three more than last season.
Set pieces can turn a losing team into a playoff team. Montreal finished dead last in the Eastern Conference in 2014; had they been proficient in such situations, they could have at least left the bottom of the standings.
This season, though, two of Montreal’s set play goals directly contributed to wins. After Laurent Ciman’s opener on a corner kick in a 4-1 win over Real Salt Lake in May, Donny Toia scored the winner – also on a corner – on Saturday as the Impact defeated Orlando City by a score of 2-0.
“It’s something that I put a lot of emphasis with Mauro [Biello, assistant coach], to keep working with the guys on set pieces,” head coach Frank Klopas told reporters postgame. “The delivery [by Marco Donadel] was very good. Mauro works extremely hard with the group, with their movements, the timing of the runs with the service going in. It was great, a much-needed goal at that moment. I'm happy for Donny. He’s been really positive for us in our squad.”
Toia’s movement on the goal was shrewd. He got a head start on his marker, Brek Shea, and ran in front of Darwin Ceren to use him as a shield. Toia had tried the exact same move three minutes prior. This time, Shea was powerless as Toia got his head on the ball.
“[Ceren] was standing there at the near post, in between the six-yard line and the near post,” Toia told MLSsoccer.com. “I just tried to get a body on, because Brek Shea, he got me a couple of times, the two corner kicks before that. He put a body on me, and I couldn't get to the ball. So I figured that I might as well try to put a body on him and get away from him early. I got the first couple of yards, getting away pretty quick.
“At that point, it just comes down to the moment,” Toia continued. “You’re in the right spot at the right time, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Dominic Oduro added the cherry on the cake in second-half stoppage time with the Impact’s historical bread-and-butter: a quick transition. It ensured a fifth win in seven games for Montreal, who now sit fifth in the East – fourth in the Points Per Game column. And set plays are a factor. Who’d have thought?
“It was a great win,” Klopas said. “A much-needed win.”
