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Drogba, newly acquired Shipp, set to join Impact for pre-season MLS tournament

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Montreal Impact arrived in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Monday for a pre-season tournament that will see them play four times in 11 days.

The Impact are among six Major League Soccer clubs to take part in the Tampa Bay Rowdies Invitational tournament, beginning with a match Wednesday against New York City. They are to face D.C. United on Saturday, Toronto FC on Feb. 24 and the Rowdies on Feb. 27.

Star striker Didier Drogba, who has been working with a trainer in Qatar, is to join camp on Tuesday, while recently acquired midfielder Harry Shipp was expected in late Monday.

The Impact ended a week of indoor workouts in Montreal on Saturday with a 1-1 draw in a scrimmage against their reserve team FC Montreal.

It was a busy weekend for the front office, which sent general and targeted allocation money to the Chicago Fire for Shipp on Saturday and sent right back Eric Miller to the Colorado Rapids for general allocation money and a 2018 first round draft pick the next day.

Shipp, 24, a popular home grown player with the Fire, posted an emotional farewell to his former team and city on social media after the trade.

In two seasons with Chicago, which finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2015, he had 10 goals and 14 assists in 66 regular season games, including 55 starts.

Many Fire fans were disappointed to see him go.

"It was a very, very difficult decision for us," the Fire's new coach Veljko Paunovic told mlssoccer.com. "Harry is a fantastic kid.

"But again, we think it's important, in this case, for the team and Harry, too. We can't guarantee Harry he will play and have the role that he's expecting. At this point, we had the situation where we had to decide. We believe Montreal can provide him with everything for him in order to be happy and play and enjoy soccer."

The Impact lost two midfielders in the off-season. Justin Mapp left as a free agent while Dilly Duka was not offered a contract, so there is playing time up for grabs for an attacking midfielder.

"He is a player who has already shown he can produce in this league and we feel that he will fit well into our team and into our style of play," said Impact technical director Adam Braz.

Miller, the fifth overall pick in the 2014 draft, played 30 games in two seasons for the Impact.

Whitecaps FC Residency earn win and draw against Crossfire Premier

BURNABY, BC - Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency teams hosted Crossfire Premier on the weekend. The U-18s played to a 1-1 draw, while the U-16s won 3-1.

U-18

Thomas Gardner had the goal for the U-18s as they maintained their spot at the top of the Northwest Division standings.

The 'Caps were without regulars Kadin Chung and Alphonso Davies, who both played with WFC2 in their 2-0 preseason win over UBC that evening.

Whitecaps FC U-18 vs. Crossfire Premier
Aidan Aylward; Andre Baires. Vana Markarian, Quinn Bredin, Eric de Graaf; Thomas Gardner, Marcello Polisi (Matthew Baldisimo 60'), David Norman; Daniel Sagno (Cole Morokhovich 60'), Gloire Amanda (Patrick Izett 71'), Terran Campbell

U-16

The U-16s came away with a 3-1 win, also firming their spot at the top of their Northwest Division.

Theo Bair opened the scoring only two minutes into the match. Alan Camacho then added second on 53 minutes. Crossfire pulled one back on 76 minutes, but Bair scored his second of the match five minutes later to ensure victory.

"A good display today against a determined team who are deservingly sitting in second place in our division," said U-16 head coach Adam Day. "I thought we controlled the game from start to finish. We did make things edgy with a lapse of concentration to allow them a goal from nowhere in the last five minutes of the match, but overall a competent performance from the boys."

Whitecaps FC U-16 vs. Crossfire Premier
Evan Ince; Nicolas Apostol (c), Liam Robinson, Joel Harrison, Terrell Smith; Andres Charles-Barrera, Noah Verhoeven (Jonas Hakkinen '65), Nicholas Fussell (Christopher Guerriero '65); Georges Mukumbilwa (Travis Selje '70), Alan Camacho, (Rees Goertzen '70), Theo Bair 

Toronto FC To Face Orlando City SC in Preseason Action

Toronto FC announced two preseason scrimmages will take place during their two-week stay in Orlando, in addition to matches against the Montreal Impact and Philadelphia Union as part of theTampa Bay Rowdies Suncoast Invitational.

The Reds will face Orlando City B (USL) on Wednesday, February 17 at 12:30 PM ET. TFC will also play Orlando City SC (MLS) on Sunday, February 21 at 1:00 PM ET. Both matches are closed to the public, but the club will provide game updates via Twitter and provide video highlights following both matches.