MONTREAL — Getting draws instead of wins finally caught up to the Montreal Impact.
After leading the Eastern Conference through the first third of the Major League Soccer schedule, the Impact dropped to second place when New York City earned a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC on Wednesday night. NYC (4-3-5) now leads Montreal (4-3-4) by one point, although the Impact have a game in hand.
"We gave teams a chance to get back in it, but it’s a long season," midfielder Kyle Bekker said Thursday. "It’s still early so we’re not worried about it."
The Impact are winless in their last five games, including draws in their last four in a row. Next up is a match Saturday at Orlando, which has gone six games without a win, including three ties.
"It’s a difficult league to get points," said Bekker, an Oakville, Ont. native. "In the last few games we feel we could have done more and that we could have definitely had three points in a few of those games, so we’ve got to go into Orlando with that focus and bring three points back."
Only four points separate the top seven clubs in the East, which is still waiting for a team to catch fire. Mostly, there has been a stream of draws, led by seventh-place New England with seven in 12 games played.
NYC’s 17 points would only give them a tie for sixth place in the Western Conference, where only one team, the L.A. Galaxy, has as many as four draws.
"When you see the results from week to week it gives you an indication of the parity in this league and how difficult it is to win games," said Impact coach Mauro Biello. "For us, it’s about being ready every game and accumulating as many points as we can because we’ll need them when it comes down to August and September and the team is in full rhythm and ready to make a push for the playoffs and the championship."
The Impact’s current funk began with a 2-0 loss at home to TFC on April 23. Since then they have settled for ties twice at home, blowing leads both times, and earned two draws on the road by scoring dramatic, last-minute equalizers. They are 2-2-2 away from home this season.
They will be without scoring star Didier Drogba in Orlando. The 38-year-old does not like playing on artificial turf and is also nursing a hip flexor injury. Drogba is in London to visit his family and get treatment and is to return on Tuesday.
The Impact will also be without central defender Victor Cabrera, who missed practice with a calf injury.
"We’re going on (artificial) turf and we don’t want to risk it," Biello said of the Cabrera injury. "We want to monitor that closely; get him treatment over the weekend and hopefully he’ll be OK next week."
The team trained on a synthetic surface Thursday and will have another practice on it in Orlando on Friday to prepare for the match.