Josef Martinez’s brace nets Montreal draw with Red Bulls

Josef Martinez scored twice in the second half as CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the host New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night in Harrison, N.J.

After a rain delay of nearly 90 minutes, Martinez capitalized on two New York mistakes and notched his first multi-goal game since May 6, 2023, for Inter Miami against Atlanta United.

Wikelman Carmona scored in the 18th minute and Montreal’s Mathieu Choiniere scored an own goal after Martinez’s first tally thanks to a mistake on a corner kick, but New York (9-4-11, 38 points) settled for its fourth straight draw and sixth in seven matches (1-0-6).

New York goalkeeper Carlos Coronel made one save while Montreal’s Jonathan Sirois stopped five shots.

Martinez scored in the 67th minute and struck again 14 minutes later due to costly mistakes by Noah Eile and Sean Nealis as Montreal (6-9-9, 27 points) moved to 3-2-6 in its past 11 matches.

First, New York’s Ellie committed a foul at the top of the penalty area on Choiniere and Ariel Lassiter took the free kick. Lassiter moved the ball to Martinez’s whose shot against New York’s six-man wall trickled off Carmona’s leg.

In the 77th, Nealis fouled Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and was kicked out when his yellow card was upgraded to a red card following video review. Martinez then scored on the penalty kick by sending a right-footed shot to the bottom right corner past Coronel.

After Martinez scored his second tying goal, both teams missed chances to get the extra two points.

In the 83rd, New York’s Andres Reyes saw his header sail to the left. Five minutes later, Coronel denied Bryce Duke.

Ruan appeared to give Montreal the lead in the sixth minute of stoppage time but Martinez was among several Montreal players ruled offsides. Two minutes later, New York star Lewis Morgan saw a shot clang off the post.

Carmona opened the scoring with a left-footed shot from outside the box following an errant Montreal clearing attempt. New York’s second goal came in the 75th minute when Cameron Harper’s corner kick was deflected in by Choiniere during a scramble near the net.

–Field Level Media