Didier Drogba may have failed to score a goal in the Impact's conference semi-final against Columbus, but the Impact likely would not have made it to Ohio were it not for him.

Impact star Didier Drogba challenges members of the Impact Academy to a dance off in the team dressing room in October, 2015. (Montreal Impact) The Drogba effect on the field is right there in black and white: 14 games, 12 goals.

But off the field, the charismatic Ivorian tra-la-la'd his way into Montreal and into the hearts of Impact fans with his love of music and his locker-room presence.

'Straight up Africa'

The video of Drogba's impromptu "dance off" with Impact Academy players sums up perfectly what kind of teammate he is.

I noticed the Impact seemed to have a different swagger, right from the moment that player Dominic Oduro told me that music-wise, the locker room was "straight up Africa right now."

Scoring a hat trick in his first start didn't hurt Drogba's popularity with the fans either.

Suddenly everywhere I went in this town, people were talking about the Impact.

They were excited about this team and the new star who picked us! Montreal! to continue a career that spanned the Premier League with Chelsea as the fourth highest goal scorer of all time and, on the international pitch, with the Ivory Coast national team.

Brokered civil-war truce

The man stopped a civil war in his country, for goodness sakes.

When his team, the Elephants, qualified for the World Cup for the first time in Ivorian history in 2006, the country was five years into a bloody civil war.

Dropping to one knee in the locker room after the winning match, Drogba – the team captain – led his teammates in a plea for peace.

"Let us come together and put this war behind us," they said – a plea which helped to broker a nationwide truce.

Playing with Drogba 'just fantastic'

Drogba is, by all accounts, a great guy – a point underscored when you talk to his African teammates on the Impact.

"A kid growing up in Africa, you hear 'Didier Drogba,' you start beaming," says Oduro, a Ghanaian. "For me to be playing next to him, even having a conversation with him, you know, trying to teach you some stuff! ...I have guys calling me from back home, asking, 'How is it to play with him?'... It's just fantastic!"

And Drogba's contagious energy transformed Impact games into a frenetic, bell-ringing, anything-can-happen spectacle for traditional soccer fans as well as for newcomers who have just woken up to discover Montreal's other team.

We will find out Nov. 23 if Drogba has won over the MLS as well, when the winner of this season's Newcomer of the Year award is announced.

Drogba is a finalist, along with Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco and Mike Grella of the New York Red Bulls.

On mobile? Check out Didier Drogba's dance off with Impact Academy players here.

Credit: The Montreal Impact