Impact ends winless streak
Team breaks losing streak with first home-game win since early August
The roar of the crowd at Saputo Stadium had become an unfamiliar sound for the Montreal Impact until Evan Bush made a save on a penalty shot that may have salvaged their season.
Bush dropped to the ground to stop Chris Wondolowski’s shot in the 87th minute to preserve the lead in what would become a 3-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday night.
The victory, only the second in the last nine games for Montreal (10-10-11), ended a four-game home winless run during which they had been outscored by an embarrassing 11-3.
“It’s like a weight off your shoulders,” said Impact captain Patrice Bernier. “Usually, when it’s a penalty, you always think it’s going to be a goal but you’re hoping for something big.”
It was a game Montreal looked to have safely in hand after firsthalf goals from Dominic Oduro and Ignacio Piatti, but a secondhalf let down and Wondolowski’s 120th career goal in the 62nd minute seemed to have many of the 16,318 at Saputo Stadium fearing the worst.
Then San Jose was awarded a spot kick after Laurent Ciman put a little tug on substitute Shea Salinas in the penalty area.
Wondolowski stepped up and drilled a low shot up the middle, but Bush was ready for it, and the spectators erupted in their loudest roar in many weeks.
“I haven’t heard the crowd like that here in a while and for good reason — we haven’t been good at home recently,” said Bush, who said he had been tipped by goalie coach Youssef Dahha that the Earthquakes’ striker likes to shoot up the middle. “It was a situation where we could have given away points.
“I over-dove the ball a bit and reacted with my legs, but it was a big save.”
The win kept the Impact safely in a playoff position in fifth spot in the Eastern Conference with 41 points with three games left to play. With D.C. United beating Columbus and Orlando’s 0-0 draw in Toronto, they would have been passed by sixthplace D.C. and only three points up on seventh place New England if they had to settle for a draw.
More important, the mental effects of their slump would have only worsened after blowing a lead at home.
Instead, they are upbeat going into a game Sunday in Orlando.
“This is the first step in regaining some confidence — scoring some goals,” said coach Mauro Biello. “Sometimes things turn for you.
“Bush was able to step up at a big moment for us.”
Substitute Johan Venegas scored an insurance marker in added time for the Impact, which won for the first time since a 2-1 victory in Toronto on Aug. 27 and posted a first home win since a 1-0 result over Houston on Aug. 6. It was the first time in 11 matches that Montreal scored more than one goal in a game.
San Jose (7-10-13) extended its winless run to seven games.
Matteo Mancosu, starting at striker in place of Didier Drogba, took a short pass from Bernier and drilled a shot that was stopped by David Bingham, but Oduro rushed in to score on the rebound in the 22nd minute. It was the Oduro’s fifth of the season but first since May 7.
Ten minutes later, Piatti picked off Marvell Wynne’s pass and played a give-and-go with Mancosu to score his 15th of the season from close range.
San Jose poured on the pressure in the second half and Wondolowski scored when he turned in the 18-yard box and slotted in the rebound of Darwin Ceren’s shot from distance in the 62nd minute.
It was the first home game at Saputo Stadium this season in which Drogba started on the bench. He replaced Mancosu in the 70th and was stopped twice from close range by Bingham.
Centreback Victor Cabrera was shown the yellow card in the 55th minute for pulling down Alberto Quintero. Cabrera will sit out the next match for his fifth yellow of the campaign. Impact midfielder Hernan Bernardello sat out a onegame suspension for yellow card accumulation.