CF Montreal’s Josef Martinez left takes a shot against the San Jose Earthquakes goalie Daniel in the first half in MLS action at Stade Saputo in Montreal on Sat Sep 28, 2024 (Canadian Press via AP News)
By William Espy
The San Jose Earthquakes were on the road once again, this time they went north of the border to visit Stade Saputo in Montreal, Quebec to face CF Montreal. Montreal entered the night two points behind the Philadelphia Union for a playoff spot. Their 3-0 victory over San Jose on Saturday night wouldn’t be enough to put them into a playoff spot though, as the Union recorded a point of their own in a draw against Atlanta United on Saturday.
Montreal Starting XI: Sirois, Campbell, Alvarez, Waterman, Marshall-Rutty, Piette, Saliba, Edwards, Duke, Clark, Martinez
Earthquakes Starting XI: Daniel, Costa, Rodrigues, Munie, Akapo, Gruezo, Tsakiris, Pellegrino, Lopez, Espinoza, Ebobisse
The Earthquakes were able to keep Montreal off of the scoresheet in the first half, but it was pretty clear that Montreal was in control for most of the night. Right out of the gate, Caden Clark drew two fouls on Carlos Akapo.
The first ten minutes were all Montreal, as Daniel was forced to make two early saves before the Quakes got an opportunity of their own. Rodrigues nearly gave San Jose an early lead against the run of play, but his header went high to the left.
The next five minutes, the Quakes showed some life, getting quality chances of their own but they were unable to get them on target. From there, momentum swung back in the home team’s favor as they maintained a majority of the pressure for the remainder of the half.
Montreal’s Josef Martinez opened the scoring in the 51st minute off of a corner. The assist was given to Bryce Duke, who’s cross found Martinez’s head perfectly. Montreal picked up a couple of yellow cards early in the half, with Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty and Raheem Edwards each getting a booking within four minutes of one another.
Martinez made it a brace, scoring his second of the night four minutes later with a shot from inside of the box. At that point, the Quakes made a few changes to try to spark the team’s energy levels but ultimately Ii wouldn’t help. Clark would extend Montreal’s lead to 3-0 in the 72nd minute with another shot from inside of the box.
The Earthquakes applied some pressure as the minutes winded down, but they weren’t able to disrupt Jonathan Sirios’s clean sheet. Montreal would walk away with a 3-0 win in a pretty one-sided match up. Montreal lead in almost every category, including a dominant 57/43% possession percentage.
They took 16 shots, ten of which were on target, compared to San Jose’s 12 general shots but a majority were low quality as only two were on target. San Jose likely didn’t deserve to be on the other end of a shutout, they had some quality chances overall but it was clear right out of the gate that Montreal was likely taking home three points.
The Earthquakes are going to finish last in the MLS at this point, with just 18 points through 31 games but they’ll look to crawl out of the league’s basement as much as possible in their next game against FC Dallas at home.
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