Montreal rallies twice to draw LA Galaxy as Owusu's header saves a point in stoppage time

CF Montreal twice fell behind and needed a late man advantage to make the difference, but it came away with a 2-2 draw against LA Galaxy at Stade Saputo thanks to a Prince Owusu header ten minutes from time. The MLS matchup swung end to end and included a red card that changed nearly everything in the second half.

The start was breathless. In the 15th minute, Daniel Rios poked home from close range off a corner kick to put the hosts up 1-0, but the celebration at Stade Saputo lasted just three minutes: Ruben Ramos leveled things with a left-footed strike from the top of the box. With the score tied 1-1, the first half wrapped up with two minutes of stoppage time and no further goals, though chances came from both ends, including a shot from Matty Longstaff that had already tested the home goal before Rios broke through.

The second half opened in the worst possible way for the home side. Just two minutes after the restart, in the 47th minute, Maya Yoshida rose in the box to make it 1-2 on another set piece, this time off a cross from Joseph Paintsil. LA Galaxy looked well on its way to leaving Montreal with all three points.

But the match turned on its head in the 67th minute: JT Marcinkowski was sent off with a straight red card, leaving LA Galaxy down to ten men for the final 23 minutes plus stoppage time. With the extra man, CF Montreal poured forward and found the equalizer in the 78th minute: Luca Petrasso whipped in a cross and Owusu headed home to make it 2-2. No further goals came despite eight minutes of stoppage time signaled by the fourth official and late chances from Hirving Lozano and Brayan Ceballos.

What the numbers say

CF Montreal controlled possession and generated more offense, and the stats back that up clearly.

The xG generated in the match, calculated after the fact based on shots taken, backs up that home dominance: 2.013 for CF Montreal versus 1.079 for LA Galaxy. Those numbers reflect what actually happened on the field, especially in that final stretch with a man advantage, rather than a pre-match projection.

As for projections, there was one published before kickoff: our model gave CF Montreal a 41% chance of winning, 29% for a draw, and 30% for LA Galaxy, with a combined total of 2.65 expected goals between the two sides, 1.45 for the home team and 1.2 for the visitors. The final result lined up fairly well with that read: there was a draw, four total goals, and neither team came out clearly on top, though the road to that 2-2 took turns no percentage could have predicted, like Marcinkowski's ejection.

What it means in the standings

The draw leaves CF Montreal in 14th place in the Eastern Conference with 21 points from 21 games played (5 wins, 6 draws and 10 losses), sitting in the lower half of the table where every point matters. LA Galaxy, meanwhile, does not appear among the teams in that group in the available standings table, but leaves Montreal knowing it let a two-goal lead slip away against a team that, with a man advantage, made the most of the extra numbers to snatch a point that looked out of reach until the 78th minute.