Mauro Diaz triggers late surge, FC Dallas beats Impact 2-0

FRISCO, Texas – Mauro Diaz opened the scoring in the 79th minute, Maximiliano Urruti added a fast-break finish in the 87th and FC Dallas beat the Montreal Impact 2-0 on Saturday night.

Diaz scored on a free kick from a few yards to the right of the penalty arc, hooking it over the wall and into the upper right corner of the goal past goalkeeper Evan Bush.

“For 75 minutes, we played a good away game against a good team,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “We might have lacked a bit of sharpness in the attacking third. It’s a shame that they scored towards the end, but we have to learn from this game. We can draw positives from this game.”

Tesho Akindele’s glancing header redirected goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez’s long ball. Urruti chased behind and sent home a right-footed blast on his first touch from just outside the 18-yard box.

With the late scoring flurry, FC Dallas (2-1-0) bounced back from its 5-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo last Saturday.

“It’s unfortunate, but overall, I thought we did well on the road, trying to keep possession,” said Impact forward Dominic Oduro. “We just had to find that ‘it’ factor of trying to penetrate through that defence. I don’t think we did that a lot tonight.”

Both goals came after former Chelsea star Didier Drogba made his 2016 debut for the Impact (2-1-0). He entered as a substitute in the 70th minute.