Prince Owusu's Three-Minute Brace Lifts CF Montréal Past FC Cincinnati 3-1

In the 70th minute, FC Cincinnati were a post's width from taking the lead in Montréal. Then the header came back off the woodwork, play went the other way, and the night flipped for good.

Prince Owusu scored twice in three minutes, first from the penalty spot and then from the middle of the box, and CF Montréal beat FC Cincinnati 3-1 on Saturday night at Stade Saputo. Daniel Ríos opened the scoring and set up the clincher, while Tom Barlow's equalizer turned out to be the only thing Cincinnati had to show for 18 shots. For a Montréal side that arrived on a five-match losing streak, it was a long-awaited exhale.

Ríos Strikes, Cincinnati Can't Answer

The hosts were scrambling before they ever got going. Center back Brayan Ceballos went down early and was replaced by Fabian Herbers in the 11th minute because of an injury, forcing an early reshuffle of Montréal's back three.

Cincinnati had the better of the opening half hour on paper. Teenage Hadebe headed a chance narrowly wide in the 13th minute, Sébastian Breza saved a Barlow strike from distance in the 16th, and Gerardo Valenzuela sent one over in the 22nd. Then Montréal struck. Ríos finished a slick attacking move with a left-footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom right corner in the 25th minute. Per the club, it was his fifth MLS goal of the season and seventh in all competitions.

Cincinnati kept knocking. Breza stopped Ayoub Jabbari from close range in the 36th minute, Evander fired over moments later, and Bryan Ramírez went close from distance in the 38th. Montréal nearly doubled the lead deep in a six-minute stoppage period, but Ríos missed twice from the right side, once from a fast-break cross by Owusu. It was 1-0 at halftime.

Barlow Levels, Then It All Falls Apart

The second half looked like it was tilting Cincinnati's way. Kenji Mboma Dem had two shots blocked, Valenzuela pulled one wide after a corner in the 62nd minute, and two minutes later the pressure paid off. Valenzuela found Barlow at close range, and the forward's left-footed finish went in through the middle of the goal for 1-1 in the 64th minute. Cincinnati's own site said it was Barlow's 10th goal of the season across all competitions.

Then came the 70th minute. Mboma Dem met a Ramírez cross with a header from the center of the box and clanged it off the right post. In the same minute, Owusu drew a foul from goalkeeper Roman Celentano inside the area, and the penalty was given. Celentano was booked, and Owusu sent his spot kick into the bottom left corner in the 72nd minute.

Three minutes later, Ríos teed him up in the middle of the box and Owusu drove a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner. In the span of five minutes, Cincinnati had gone from nearly leading to trailing by two.

The visitors threw on bodies late. Breza saved a Barlow header in the 80th minute, and substitute Tah Brian Anunga smacked the crossbar from outside the box in the fifth minute of stoppage time. It was that kind of night.

Owusu Ran the Show

Owusu put three of his four shots on target, scored twice and drew the penalty. MLS named him to its Team of the Matchday and noted that the brace made him the fourth player in Montréal history to score 15 or more goals in a regular season. The captain was the difference in the one stretch that mattered.

Ríos was nearly as important: three shots, one goal, one assist, and three fouls drawn. Between them, the strike partners accounted for all three goals, and Ríos landed on the league's Team of the Matchday bench.

For Cincinnati, Barlow was the lone bright spot in attack, with five shots, three on target and the goal. David Doudera, making his club debut after coming on in the 58th minute, earned public praise from head coach Pat Noonan, who said that "at least it looked like a player who understood the moment and cared."

Post at One End, Penalty at the Other

There is no cleaner turning point than the 70th minute. Cincinnati were level, on top and a post's width from a lead when Mboma Dem's header hit the woodwork. Montréal went straight back up the field, and in the same minute Owusu drew the foul from Celentano. Instead of 2-1 Cincinnati, it was 2-1 Montréal two minutes later.

Noonan did not hide from what he saw.

"Really strange that we didn't have the energy and urgency that we needed. We had a great week of training, and it didn't translate at all," he said.

By the Numbers

• Shots: Cincinnati 18, Montréal 15. On target: Montréal 5, Cincinnati 4.
• Possession: Cincinnati 54.6 percent, Montréal 45.4 percent.
• Crosses: Cincinnati attempted 23 to Montréal's 11.
• Clearances: Montréal 27, Cincinnati 15.
• Woodwork: Cincinnati hit the post and the crossbar.

A Losing Streak Ends, a Winless Run Grows

Montréal improved to 6-6-15 with 24 points. The win ended a run of five straight league losses dating to a 7-1 defeat at Inter Miami on Aug. 29, and it was Montréal's first league win since a 2-1 victory at Columbus on Aug. 19. It also flipped the script from March, when Cincinnati won the first meeting 4-3. According to the Cincinnati site, it was Cincinnati's first loss to Montréal since 2024.

Cincinnati fell to 8-9-9 with 33 points and are now winless in six league matches. The club's site said the three goals conceded pushed their season total to 64, tied for the most in the league, and that Montréal's penalty was the 10th Cincinnati have allowed this season, a league high. The same story described the club as ninth in the East both before and after the match, with eight games left.

"It just didn't look like a group on the field that had that desire to go win a game," Noonan said.

Up next, Montréal visits Toronto FC on Oct. 10, while Cincinnati travel to Atlanta United the same day.

The Uncomfortable Mirror

Noonan sounded like a coach staring at a problem he cannot quite name, and he hinted at lineup changes. "There are guys that we could probably make changes with," he said. He also insisted, "It's not a talent issue." That is the hard part. Cincinnati keep generating volume, 18 shots here, and keep paying for every lapse. Montréal needed one ruthless five-minute spell to put the game away. Cincinnati spent 90 minutes looking for theirs and found a post.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes and match notes as reported by FC Cincinnati (fccincinnati.com) and CF Montréal (cfmontreal.com).