Columbus Crew defeated Montreal Impact 2-0 at Saputo Stadium on Saturday evening in a regular season meeting of the Major League Soccer. The visitors took control after a controversial offside decision in the second half, then added a second goal to secure all three points away from home. It was a result that shifted the balance between two sides sitting close together in the table.
Mohamed Farsi opened the scoring in the fifty-seventh minute, but the momentum shifted when Patrick Owusu's equaliser was cancelled by VAR for offside in the sixtieth. And here's the thing — the home side had created nothing of real quality before that moment, and the decision seemed to settle the game more than it unsettled Columbus. By then, the visitors were already showing signs of being comfortable with the scoreline.
Bryce Mendez doubled the lead in the sixty-eighth minute, and the result was never really in doubt after that. Montreal made several changes in an attempt to find a way back, bringing on G. Synchuk, F. Herbers, and B. Ceballos among others, but the visitors defended their advantage without panic. The hosts picked up two bookings in five minutes — S. Piette in the eightieth-fourth — which suggested frustration rather than creativity.
The statistics told a familiar story. Montreal held possession at fifty-five percent and completed 550 passes compared to 465, but their expected goals figure of 0.46 stood in stark contrast to Columbus's 0.91. The hosts registered two shots on target and one off target, while the visitors managed three on target and five off. To be fair, Montreal created no big chances all evening, which made the lack of a goal less surprising when you looked at the numbers.
The result leaves Montreal fifteenth on twenty-one points from twenty-six games, while Columbus move to thirteenth with twenty-six points. Both sides have lost fifteen and fourteen matches respectively, but the gap between them widened by five points. Montreal have not won since their last home match, while Columbus have now won two of their last five away fixtures.
We had given a prediction of a home win at forty-two percent confidence before kickoff. The match went another way, and the turning point was clear — the cancelled goal removed the only real opportunity Montreal had to change the game. Without that chance, they never found a rhythm that could trouble a visitors' defence that had already established itself.
