Kamara leads way as D.C. United secures win over Montreal

D.C. United was coming off a three-game MLS losing streak, needed a road win Saturday night to right the ship and a convincing one they got, thumping the Montreal Impact 3-0.

D.C. (11-10-9, 42 points) had gone 1-5-1 in its last seven MLS matches, but broke out in a big way, getting a pair of goals from Ola Kamara to lead the way. The win keeps D.C. right in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff race heading into the International break.

Montreal (11-15-4, 37 points) came into the game in the last Eastern Conference playoff spot, but severely hurt its chances with the loss, as only four regular season games remain.

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D.C. was playing its second straight match without attacker Wayne Rooney. Rooney -- who will be back Sept. 15 at Portland -- was serving a suspension from a red card against the New York Red Bulls, but this time it did not slow the team down.

D.C. took the 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when a Junior Moreno took a free kick from about 30 yards out that deflected off the Montreal wall and went towards the Impact goal. Kamara got to the ball first for D.C. and slotted it home for the first goal of the game.

Three minutes later it was 2-0.

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D.C. goalie Bill Hamid launched a goal kick to midfield where Montreal midfielder Samuel Piette went for the header but knocked it backwards, over the backline of the defense. Paul Arriola got to the ball first, outran the Montreal defense and beat Evan Bush for the second goal.

Less than 10 minutes later, the rout was on when Luciano Acosta hit a corner that Frederic Brillant headed towards the goal and Kamara redirected with another header for the goal.

In the second half, Montreal did wake up a bit, but any good chances were thwarted by the excellent play of Hamid.