Nothing artificial about Drogba's goal as Impact win

After sitting out the first five games of the Major League Soccer season to avoid playing on artificial pitches, Didier Drogba marked his 2016 debut with a goal as Montreal Impact beat Chicago Fire 2-1 on Saturday.

Chicago opened the scoring in the 29th minute through Kennedy Igboananike but Drogba, on as a second-half substitute, grabbed the equaliser in the 56th minute when he converted Dominic Oduro's low cross with a cute backheel flick.

Midfielder Ignacio Piatti curled home the winner in stoppage time to give the Eastern Conference leaders a second straight victory.

“In the second half, we played with more rhythm and created more chances,” said Drogba, who scored 11 goals in 11 regular-season games last year.

“We’re top of the conference and we have to show more ambition on the road. This win does us a lot of good.”

In Columbus, Justin Meram scored in the 80th minute as the Crew beat New York City FC 3-2 while Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco scored in the first minute in a 1-0 win over DC United.

Colorado's Dominique Badji scored with eight minutes left to give the home side a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls.

Juan Manuel Martinez scored in the 55th minute to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 win against the Vancouver Whitecaps while in Seattle, Jordan Morris put the Sounders two up in the 73rd minute in a 2-1 win over visiting Philadelphia.

Defending champion Portland scored a 3-1 home win over the San Jose Earthquakes.