Josef Martinez scored twice early in the second half as CF Montreal continued their MLS playoff push with a 3-0 victory against the visiting San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.
Caden Clark added a goal and an assist and Bryce Duke had two helpers for Montreal (9-12-10, 37 points), which extended its unbeaten run to four matches (3-0-1).
Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirios made one save in posting the shutout.
Daniel made six saves for the Earthquakes (5-23-3, 18 points), who assured themselves of finishing with the fewest points in the league.
The opening goal came in the 51st minute off Duke’s corner kick from the right wing. The 5-foot-8 Martinez boxed out San Jose defender Rodrigues, who is 6-2, just inside the top of the 6-yard box and, with his back practically toward the goalmouth, leaped and put a powerful downward header into the right side of the net.
Montreal doubled its advantage four minutes later. George Campbell put a through ball to Caden Clark on the right wing. Clark dribbled to the edge of the penalty area and cut a low cross back to Martinez, whose right-footed shot from 15 yards found the lower right corner of the net. The goals were Martinez’s team-leading seventh and eighth of the season.
Clark tallied in the 72nd minute on a tap-in near the left post after a nifty passing combination from Dawid Bugaj and Duke.
It was scoreless at the intermission despite Montreal having 64.7 percent of the possession and an 11-5 edge in shots because of Daniel, who made six saves in the opening half.
Daniel stopped Martinez and Nathan-Dylan Saliba in the ninth minute, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in the 20th, Raheem Edwards in the 31st and Martinez again in the 38th and 40th.
The Earthquakes’ best chance of the half came in the final minute. Cristian Espinoza’s free kick from 25 yards out took one bounce before ricocheting off the left post and going out of bounds.
–Field Level Media
