The game in 100 words (or less):ย The Montreal Impact, onceย thought one of the doormats of the Eastern Conference, are officially into the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs after a 1-0 victory away to the New England Revolution, a side that weeks ago looked likely to finish second in the East and earn a knockout round bye but heads into the final weekend of the 2015 season having not yet clinched their playoff spot. Bizarr-o MLS world is bizarre, in case you forgot. Montrealโs victory on Saturday came courtesy of a surefire Goal of the Yearย candidate from Ignacio Piatti. Shockingly, Didier Drogba let his goalscoring ratio slip below a goal per game (now 9 in 10), though the Ivorian striker did play the full 90 on the artificial playing surface at Gillette Stadium. Both the Impact and Revs could finish the regular season as high as secondย in the East. The Impact could fall as far as sixth, while the Revs could (after a lot of craziness) lose the sixth spot to Orlando City SC.
[ MORE: East playoff scenarios | West ]
Three moments that mattered
10โฒ โ Jones scores, but is ruled offside โ Jermaine Jones thought he had given the Revs an early lead when he hammered home from close range Chris Tierneyโs free kick, but the U.S. national team star saw his goal rightly ruled out for offside, as he was a full body width behind the second-to-last Impact player.
55โฒ โ Piattiโs toe poke findsย the top cornerย โ Deft first touch, strength, balance, great close control in traffic, deceptive dribbling, vision and, last but not least, the gall and ability to pull off a toe-poked shotย from 23 yards out. Piattiโs wondergoal had it all, and itโs a beautiful sight to be hold.
57โฒ โ Bush dives left to thwart Nguyen โ Lee Nguyen found the tiny pocket of space more than 20 yards out from goal that he needed to unleash tough-to-handle, bouncing effort on Evan Bushโs goal. Fortunately for the Impact, Bush was up to the challenge and pushed the would-be equalizer around the post.
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Man of the match:ย Ignacio Piatti
Goalscorers:ย Piatti (55โฒ)
