Evander and Brenner scored goals in the second half to lift host FC Cincinnati to a 3-0 win over CF Montreal on Saturday.
The win clinched the second spot in the Eastern Conference for Cincinnati (20-9-5, 65 points) on Decision Day for Major League Soccer. Montreal finishes 6-18-10 with 28 points.
Cincinnati, which needed a win to hold off Miami for the second seed, will start the playoffs at home next weekend against Columbus. Cincinnati will have home field advantage throughout at least the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Evander’s goal came in the 56th minute. It was his team-leading 18th goal and third this season against Montreal. He finished the regular season with a team-record 22 goals over all competition.
Brenner scored in the 88th minute to put the game away.
Cincinnati led 1-0 at halftime and it easily could have been much more.
Nick Hagglund scored the goal in the 33rd minute for his first goal of the season and 10th of his career.
Evander set up the Cincinnati native with a corner kick that Hagglund was able to head into the goal.
Cincinnati had two other chances to score in the next two minutes.
In the 35th minute, Brenner missed a wide open goal on a header off a corner kick.
A minute later, Kei Kamara intercepted a pass just outside the box right in front of the goal. He rushed his kick, however, and the kick sailed above the goal.
Hagglund was involved in another key moment in the first half.
In extra time, Prince Owusu broke free toward the net. Hagglund was able to catch him enough to get his foot on the ball, but he tripped Owusu to set up a penalty kick.
Owusu, Montreal’s leading scorer with 13 goals, was 3-for-3 on penalty kicks this season. He hesitated to draw Cincinnati goalie Roman Celentano to the left.
Owusu left-footed his kick to the right, but he hit the post to keep Montreal scoreless.
Montreal had control of the ball for 54 percent of the time in the first half and had as many shots on goal (2) as Cincinnati.
–Field Level Media
