The Houston Dynamo’s slump carried on in spectacular fashion on Sunday night.
A Jack McInerney brace and Marco Di Vaio’s second goal of the season handed Houston their fifth straight MLS defeat as the Montreal Impact won 3-0 at Stade Saputo. The Dynamo (5-10-2, 17 pts) have now been scoreless through 479 minutes, a club record, and sit eighth in the East.
Montreal (3-7-5), meanwhile, climbed to the ninth spot, past the Chicago Fire on total wins. McInerney’s been a big part of that, as he’s now scored nine goals in all competitions since joining on April 4. Eric Miller provided the assist on the opener, his first in MLS 10 games into his professional career.
That opener came in the 42nd minute. Pushing forward down the left, Miller cut in on his stronger right foot in front of Kofi Sarkodie then curled a perfect cross to McInerney, who had ghosted behind Jermaine Taylor and was unmarked in the box. His header easily beat Tally Hall.
While Montreal outshot Houston 6-3 in the first half, the visitors had the best unconverted chance of the half in the 30th minute when Omar Cummings channeled his inner James Rodriguez, cushioning a long Giles Barnes pass with his chest and hitting the ball straight at the woodwork on the turn from outside the box.
Both teams made changes at halftime, but of Eric Brunner and Di Vaio, it was the latter who made his presence felt the strongest. As Houston pushed for an equalizer, Di Vaio was sent through on the counter twice by Felipe around the 55th-minute mark. The Italian striker could only win corner kicks off of the Houston defense, but he would do better later.
McInerney added a splendid second in the 75th minute. Justin Mapp muscled Corey Ashe off the ball near the byline and crossed in the general direction of McInerney, who – back to goal – swung his foot at the ball and somehow placed it in the opposite top corner.
Di Vaio added the third four minutes later, tapping in after Hall could only parry Andres Romero’s close-range attempt into the striker’s path.
The Dynamo will be back at BBVA Compass Stadium next Friday, July 4, hosting the New York Red Bulls. The Impact, for their part, travel to Los Angeles to face Chivas USA the next day, July 5.
Houston Dynamo at Montreal Impact
MLS regular season
June 29, 2014 – Stade Saputo, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Attendance: 16,752
Scoring Summary:
Montreal: Jack McInerney 5 (Eric Miller 1) 41
Montreal: Jack McInerney 6 (Justin Mapp 5) 75
Montreal: Marco Di Vaio 2 (unassisted) 79
Montreal Impact: Troy Perkins; Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Heath Pearce, Eric Miller; Andres Romero, Gorka Larrea (Marco Di Vaio 46), Felipe Martins, Patrice Bernier ©, Maxim Tissot (Justin Mapp 60); Jack McInerney (Calum Mallace 86)
Unused Substitutes: Evan Bush, Mamadou Danso, Karl Ouimette, Santiago Gonzalez
Houston Dynamo:Tally Hall; Kofi Sarkodie, Jermaine Taylor (Eric Brunner 46), AJ Cochran, Corey Ashe ©; Boniek García, Warren Creavalle (Ricardo Clark 73), Giles Barnes, Andrew Driver; Will Bruin, Omar Cummings (Brian Ownby 59)
Unused Substitutes: Tyler Deric, Servando Carrasco, Alexander López, Jason Johnson
Misconduct Summary:
HOU: AJ Cochran (caution) 16
MTL: Maxim Tissot (caution) 22
HOU: Will Bruin (caution) 52
Referee: Jose Carlos Rivero
Assistant Referees: Richard Gamache, Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
Fourth Official: Mathieu Bourdeau
