Evander scored his 11th goal on a sensational strike from 35 yards out in the 82nd minute and FC Cincinnati rallied from behind twice to earn a 4-2 victory over the visiting San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.
Evander also assisted on the three other goals for Cincinnati (7-6-5, 26 points), which won its third out of four overall and its second out of three since returning from the World Cup break.
The creative Brazilian midfielder has scored 10 of his 11 goals and 10 of his 11 assists in his last eight league matches stretching back to May 2.
Substitute Tom Barlow leveled it at 2-2 in the 79th minute and Bryan Ramirez knotted it at 1-1 in the 33rd of a match that kicked off more than two hours late due to severe weather. Ayoub Jabbari added an insurance tally in second-half stoppage time.
Timo Werner scored his fifth goal and assisted another for San Jose (10-5-3, 33 points), which has won only once in its last nine across all competitions.
Daniel Munie scored an early goal for San Jose in just the Quakes’ second road loss of the season.
The visitors just had no answer for Evander late.
First, he played an incredible throughball across his body directly into the path of Barlow’s surging run.
Barlow had plenty left to do, and he finished emphatically with a low strike past Angus Gunn and inside the left post.
Three minutes later, Evander took the ball in a seemingly harmless location well beyond the penalty area, picked his head up, and unleashed a sensational bending strike that beat the sprawling Gunn to the top left corner.
After pulling level just after the half-hour mark, Cincinnati began the second half looking the more likely side to take the lead, only to be stung by a well-worked Quakes counter.
Ousenni Bouda collected a pass near the midfield line, turned and fed the ball forward for Preston Judd, apparently just in time to beat Cincinnati’s offside trap.
Judd immediately hit an early low cross into the path of Werner on the opposite flank, and Werner guided a first-time finish past the charging Roman Celentano and into the net for his first MLS tally since late April.
–Field Level Media
