First, pardon the pun.
Ok, now that is out of the way, Montreal Impact’s Didier Drogba has made a splash already in MLS, scoring a hat trick in his first start and second game against the Chicago Fire.
The 37 year old striker scored a perfect hat trick (goals with the right foot, left foot and head) and Montreal stormed out to the 4-3 win over Chicago.
Drogba’s first goal, with his right foot, was the result of a great cross by Nigel Reo-Coker and a sublime touch with a little physicality to spin around and have an open lane to the goal. The rest was just simple for the former Chelsea striker.
The second goal occurred in the second half and it seemed like Drogba caught the Chicago Fire back line napping a bit. He again was able to get open and simply blasted the ball with his left foot into the top of the goal to tie the game 3-3.
Drogba’s third goal, what would be the game winner, was the result of a rebound off of a save by Sean Johnson. Drogba volleyed the strike right to Johnson, who had to make an instinctive save. The power of the shot knocked Johnson back into the goal, leaving Drogba to head in the rebound from inches outside of the goal. That capped off the 4-3 win for Montreal and gave the Impact three big points in the run to the MLS Cup playoffs.
It’s unclear whether or not Drogba can keep this up but it’s certainly a great start. While many people expect a big name European DP would be able to “clean house” like this in MLS, it’s certainly not that easy. Didier Drogba and Sebastian Giovinco may be doing great but for every Drogba, there is Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo, players who haven’t done that well in beginning their MLS careers. More than likely, don’t expect Didier Drogba’s hat trick to be the norm, just appreciate him for his skills because at 37, they aren’t going to be there forever.
