Vancouver thrashes San Jose with goals from Montero, Techera

The Vancouver Whitecaps ran roughshod over the San Jose Earthquakes in a 5-0 MLS knockout round playoff win on Wednesday.

Chances were hard to come by in the opening half hour as the two teams felt one another out, with Tony Tchani heading over from a Yordy Reyna free kick on a chance he'd probably like to have back.

But the hosts found their first just past the 30-minute mark when Fredy Montero popped up at the back post following a corner to redirect a Kendall Waston header into the back of the net.

San Jose came close to levelling twice before the break -- both from corner kicks -- but Jakob Nerwinski poked the first effort from harm's way in first-half injury time before Stefan Marinovic punched another late effort away from his goal.

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Vancouver doubled its lead 12 minutes into the second half, when Cristian Techera curled an unstoppable free kick past Andrew Tarbell to make it 2-0 in favor of the hosts.

Waston then added a third on 64 minutes following a wild goalmouth scramble that left him all alone to tap in from very close range and effectively seal the win for Vancouver.

However, the Whitecaps weren't done, substitute Nicolas Mezquida scored back-to-back goals in the 78th and 80th minutes to complete the rout and send the crowd into a frenzy.

The Whitecaps, who set a record for the largest margin of victory in the MLS knockout rounds, will face the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference semifinals.