Prince Owusu scored his team-leading 11th goal and league-worst CF Montreal defeated the New England Revolution 3-1 to halt a four-match winless run on Friday night in Foxborough, Mass.
Dante Sealy had what proved to be the match-winner later in the first half and Olger Escobar scored a third in second-half stoppage time for Montreal (4-15-6, 18 points), which earned a victory two days after the club published an open letter to fans apologizing for its extended struggles. The Canadian side began the day 18 points out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Tomas Chancalay scored his fourth goal for New England (6-11-7, 25 points), which lost its third straight and saw its own winless skid extended to nine.
The Revolution have conceded 21 times in their last nine games, and 10 in their last three.
Owusu pulled Montreal level with some ruthless striker play in the ninth minute, and only six minutes after Chancalay’s opener.
After receiving Dawid Bugaj’s pass from the right with his back to goal, the brawny striker used his body to shield a defender, spun, then fired a low finish past Aljaz Ivacic from near the penalty spot.
Sealy’s go-ahead strike in the 36th came from a similar area but was simpler, with Caden Clark providing the final pass into the box and Sealy hammering a half-volley past Ivacic in stride.
Chancalay and Carles Gil were at the root of New England’s best chances to pull level.
In the 53rd minute, Gil played Chancalay down the left, whose cross took a heavy deflection and forced Jonathan Sirois into a scrambling stop at his near post. In the 70th, Gil unleashed a powerful strike that had Sirois beaten but rattled the crossbar.
Then in the 85th, Chancalay also got the ball past the Montreal keeper, only to see his effort cleared off the line by defender Joel Waterman.
On the other end, Owusu nearly doubled his total for the night in the 90th minute when his low effort beat Ivacic but struck the right post. Then came Escobar’s finish from close range, hammered emphatically into the roof of the net to seal the outcome.
–Field Level Media
