Montreal Stun New England With Second-Half Fightback

Fifty-nine minutes. That's when Prince Owusu's goal hit the net and Saputo Stadium finally exhaled. Not a winner, mind you — just an equalizer — but given where CF Montreal had been an hour earlier, staring down a two-goal hole against the Eastern Conference's third-placed side, it felt like a rescue job. This was a smash-and-grab from the home side in the truest sense: outshot 21-15, out-possessed 54-46, and with an xG of just 0.86 against New England's eye-watering 4.03, interim coach Philippe Eullaffroy's men had no business earning a point. But football, as ever, had other ideas.

The first half belonged entirely to the Revolution. Marko Mitrovic's side, sitting third in the Eastern Conference on 30 points, dictated tempo from the first whistle and broke through at the 30-minute mark in the most MLS way possible. Alhassan Yusuf — dangerous all night with 12 key passes to his name across the season — saw his shot clip a Montreal arm inside the box, and Carles Gil stepped up to do what Carles Gil does. The Spaniard, fresh off two assists in the MLS All-Star Game midweek according to match reports, buried the penalty into the upper-left corner to make it 1-0. Then six minutes later, Dor Turgeman arrived to twist the knife. Peyton Miller played him in and Turgeman — four goals and four assists in 17 appearances this season — tucked home to put New England 2-0 up before halftime. At that point, with goalkeeper Sebastian Breza picking up a yellow card, the afternoon looked ominous for a Montreal side mired in 14th place on just 16 points.

Credit where it's due — Eullaffroy changed things at the break. Matty Longstaff, who has been one of Montreal's more reliable outlets all season with 2 goals, 3 assists and 23 key passes in 18 MLS appearances, was replaced at the interval as the home side shuffled their shape. Within seven minutes of the restart, the game had a completely different feel. Brayan Vera — the Colombian defender who had never scored in MLS before this campaign — pulled one back in the 52nd minute, converting from a ball served by Efrain Morales for his first MLS goal. The stadium woke up. And then in the 59th, the moment that mattered most: Owusu, Montreal's top scorer with 10 goals and 6 assists in 17 MLS appearances this season, latched onto a Luca Petrasso assist and finished to make it 2-2. Owusu has been the standout performer in an otherwise difficult campaign for this club, and on Saturday he reminded anyone with a fantasy football lineup why he belongs in it. The Revs, despite generating far more — 6 goalkeeper saves for Montreal's keeper versus just 3 for Matt Turner — couldn't find a third.

The subplot hanging over this specific match was delicious. Just days before kickoff, CF Montreal had acquired center-back Brayan Ceballos directly from New England in a deal worth up to $850,000 in GAM. Ceballos was listed as inactive for this fixture, so he didn't get the chance to face his former employers just yet — but the transfer added an undeniable edge to proceedings. Turner himself, meanwhile, is only on loan from Ligue 1 side Lyon, and the goalkeeper's season-long rating of 7.7 across 17 MLS appearances tells you exactly the kind of quality New England are working with between the sticks. The Revs also remain without Leonardo Campana through hamstring injury and Andrew Farrell through a lower-body issue — absences that clearly affected their ability to finish the job in the second half.

Truth is, this point does almost nothing for either side in terms of the wider standings picture. New England stay third on 30 points, knowing they let two points slip in a match their xG suggests they should have won comfortably. Montreal, with a W4 D4 L10 record and a goal difference of -11, stay deep in the Eastern Conference basement — this wasn't a result that changes their season's trajectory. But for a team that has shipped goals for fun and is playing under an interim coach following the sacking of Marco Donadel, a fightback like this at least offers something to build on. The less said about the quality of their first half, the better. But the second half? That was a different team entirely. Next up for Montreal is D.C. United at Saputo on August 15 — another match where fantasy football managers tracking MLS standings and predictions will want to keep a close eye on Owusu's fitness given his yellow card situation.

Clubs in this story

Lyon