Impact look to Mancosu to stay hot for playoff games with first-place Red Bulls

MONTREAL — Matteo Mancosu was a mystery man when he joined the Montreal Impact in July but the 31-year-old Italian is now one of their key attackers.

Mancosu, who bumped Ivorian star Didier Drogba from the starting striker’s job, had two goals and an assist in Montreal’s 4-2 win over DC United in the first round of MLS playoffs this week.

He will likely be in that spot again when the Impact open a two-game, total goals Eastern Conference semifinal against the New York Red Bulls at Saputo Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

“He makes positive runs and that’s something we want,” forward Dominic Oduro said this week. “But the most important thing is he has a good click with me and Nacho (Ignacio Piatti) up front.

“Combining that with our style of play and commitment produces the result we want. Against D.C., it was almost a perfect game. Can we do the same? Yeah, that’s the plan.”

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The fifth-place Impact will be underdogs against the first-place Red Bulls, who are unbeaten in 16 games since July 3.

All-time, New York has gone 8-3-2 against the Impact, but Montreal has a 3-1-2 advantage at home. The Impact have never won at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., where the second leg is to be played next week.

Drogba, who missed the last three games, was to take warmup on Saturday to see if his stiff back was strong enough to play. If he’s ready, he will likely start the game on the bench and go in later as a substitute.

Mancosu arrived in Montreal on July 7 on a one-year loan from Bologna FC in Italy’s Serie A, whose chairman is Impact president and owner Joey Saputo. The Cagliari, Italy native was a prolific scorer in second division in Italy, but not so much in his time at the top level.

He fit right into the MLS club, however. Including the playoff game, Mancosu has five goals and five assists in 16 games, including eight starts.

More importantly, he quickly formed a bond with Piatti, the club’s scoring leader with 18 goals this year.

And he eased concerns over who will take over at striker next season, when 38-year-old Drogba is expected to move on or retire.

They are very different players. The rangy Drogba is a physical presence in front of the opponent’s goal, were he sets up as a target for teammates to either turn and score or make a decisive pass.

Mancosu is a more mobile striker, who likes to find openings and dart into open spaces.

“His intelligence is his biggest quality, the timing of his movement,” coach Mauro Biello said of Mancosu. “The goal he scored on the cross (in D.C.), he went on the blind side of the defender and ran off Nacho and tapped it in.

“This is someone who has played at the highest level and has been able to click with the players around him. My front three complement each other really well, with Nacho coming underneath and finding space and Oduro exploiting his pace out wide and the timely runs of Mancosu.”

Only three days separate the knockout game in D.C. from the first leg against New York, so fatigue may be a factor for the Impact’s veteran starting 11. Biello may need to go to his bench earlier for players like Drogba, Johan Venegas or Calum Mallace.

“It’s a quick turnaround but we want to keep the momentum; we don’t want to cool it down,” said Oduro.

The Impact are hoping for a full house. The forecast calls for a cloudy 7 Celsius at kickoff.

Bill Beacon, The Canadian Press