MONTREAL – The Impact are hurt by international call-ups, but they’re catching a break on the injury front.
Designated Players Didier Drogba and Ignacio Piatti will be “options” back from injury – barring any setbacks – this Saturday at home to the Chicago Fire, interim head coach Mauro Biello confirmed on Thursday. Both Drogba and Piatti took part in full training, having overcome injuries to their toe and calf, respectively.
“We’ll see. We’ll check the GPS and all the data,” Biello told reporters. “We’ll see how they’ve recovered in training, and we’ll make a decision based on that.”
The two DPs are timely additions to the roster in the context. Montreal will be without internationals Laurent Ciman (Belgium), Ambroise Oyongo (Cameroon), Kyle Bekker, Maxime Crépeau (Canada), Johan Venegas (Costa Rica) and Eric Miller (USA) against Chicago.
“Obviously you’d like to count on all of your elements to help you and help the team,” Biello said. “Considering the players that we’ve lost due to international duty, they’ll help us and give us more options. It’ll also help the group in terms of confidence.”
Biello didn’t confirm that either Piatti or Drogba would start. Piatti played his last game on Aug. 8, a 1-0 home loss to D.C. United. Drogba, for his part, still lacks match fitness after a two-month offseason and a half-hour cameo for Montreal in a 1-0 loss to Philadelphia on Aug. 22.
Also back in full training this week has been Hassoun Camara, who has missed the bulk of this MLS season with knee and quad injuries. Team captain Patrice Bernier, however, has had cortisone injected to treat plantar fasciitis and will not be available this Saturday.