[ad_1]
Josef Martinez scored his 23rd and 24th goals of the season as Atlanta United, the MLS leader, beat the Impact 2-1 in a game delayed by the rain on Saturday night.
With 11 regular season games to play, Martinez is three points behind the MLS record with 27 goals scored by three players in one season
Ignacio Piatti scored for Montreal (9-13 -1), who lost at home for the first time in six games. Atlanta (14-4-5) has an unbeaten run of four games.
Montreal dominated the first period, but Atlanta had the best opportunity to fight in the counterattack, with Martinez bouncing off a Julian Gressel shot in the 17th minute and Evan Bush stopping a Miguel Almiron blast in the 28.
Hector Villalba won a race for a ball on the right flank and pbaded a ball past defender Rudy Camacho missed just before a leaping Martinez
The 75-minute rain delay, which started during the intermission, was announced as a rain of thunder pbaded over the Saputo stadium, soaking the ground while the fans were looking for a shelter under the stands
The game resumed, the players slipped on the # Shining grbad and Atlanta enjoyed another pawn when, after a game of ping-pong in the 18-meter penalty area, Jukka Raitala stopped a shot on the goal line, only to see Martinez steal the ball and press on the 57th minute
It was Venezuela's fifth goal in his last two outings, having set an MLS record with a sixth-career hat-trick last week against D.C. United. Martinez was relegated to the 83rd minute
Montreal lobbied the Atlanta box throughout the match, but could not get into the defense until the 87th minute, when Alejandro Silva attacked the area and slipped a pbad to Piatti. on the left side for an explosion under the crossbar for his 11th season.
Goalkeeper coach Joel Bats acted as Montreal coach while Remi Garde served a one-game suspension. Guard was shown the red card in a 2-2 draw in Portland last week.
ESPN statistics reported that Martinez is second in the MLS history for goals in the first two seasons of a player with 43, a record 44 short John of Columbus in 1998 and 1999. Martinez doubled David Villa of New York, who had 41 in his first two seasons
Atlanta was without rookie star Ezequiel Barco, who was suspended two games by management for breaking a team rule. . He will return Wednesday to the MLS All-Star Game against Juventus in Atlanta
[ad_2]
Source link
