A second-half comeback sparks the Union’s first win of the season, 2-1 at Montreal

The Union came from behind to beat Club de Foot Montréal on Saturday at Olympic Stadium, 2-1, registering their first win of the season.

Alejandro Bedoya and Dániel Gazdag scored in quick succession early in the second half after Lassi Lappalainen opened the scoring in the first, and the visitors survived the last 25 minutes down a man after Julián Carranza was ejected for earning a second yellow card.

Here are some observations on the game.

The big news before the game was that Union manager Jim Curtin benched starting right back Olivier Mbaizo for second-year academy product Nathan Harriel, after Mbaizo’s rough game last weekend.

Harriel played an overall good game: 69 touches, 26-of-38 passing, nine recoveries, three clearances, three interceptions, and 11 duels won out of 16 attempts.

Yet he was also a victim on Montreal’s goal, scored in the 32nd minute. After some neat short passing around the Union’s 18-yard box, Lappalainen took a shot that hit Harriel, looped high up over Andre Blake, then dropped down just in front of the goal line before bouncing in.

It wasn’t a surprise that Mikael Uhre didn’t start, but there was still going to be a question of who would. The answer was a pairing of Carranza and Sergio Santos.

In fact, Santos was the only answer, because Cory Burke wasn’t available due to his wife giving birth to their new son — the family’s second child.

Carranza forced a good save from Montreal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza in the 15th, and the Union registered four of the game’s first six shots.

Montreal seemed to have scored a second goal, a dazzling run and finish by U.S. national team midfield prospect Djordje Mihailovic in the 49th minute. But it was struck off by the video replay booth because Mihailovic fouled Carranza to get the ball.

That moment proved to be the game’s turning point. Four minutes later, Bedoya equalized after the ball emerged from a big scrum of players. Mihailovic got it first, but Bedoya picked his pocket, settled the ball, turned, and placed a perfect shot past Breza’s far post.

Just three minutes after that, the Union scored a goal that was well-worked from start to finish. The ball went from Jack Elliott at midfield to Kai Wagner, who lofted it over Montreal’s back line into an ideal place for Carranza to run onto in full stride. Carranza was right on time, chested the ball down, then with his first touch squared for Gazdag, who finished with two defenders sandwiching him.

That sort of chemistry bodes well for the Union this early in the season.

Uhre came in for Santos in the 68th minute, and did not take long to show his potential. Six minutes after arriving, he was sprung on a breakaway down the right side with a terrific first-touch pass over the top from Bedoya. Alas, he shot narrowly wide. Uhre broke away again in the 90th and had Quinn Sullivan arriving to his left, but chose to shoot and was stuffed by Breza.

“As soon as I got the ball, that second ball [that set up the pass], I knew that I wanted to hit it over the top and that he was going to get there,” Bedoya said. “Those goals, they’ll come; he’s just got to get his feet under him. … I think you guys saw some of his strengths there: able to get behind defenses and show his speed and some of his strength.”

» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre takes the field as a new Union player, and as a new father

After first being booked in the 64th minute, Carranza got another yellow card in the 71st. He protested, but there was no doubt that the clip of Zachary Brault-Guillard that got him dismissed was worth the punishment.

That means Carranza will miss Saturday’s home game against San Jose. It also means Union fans will have to wait another week to see Carranza and Uhre start together. (And surprisingly, Jamiro Monteiro won’t be there either, because he was red-carded in the Earthquakes’ 3-3 tie with Columbus on Saturday.)

Curtin didn’t have to make an immediate tactical change, as the Union dropped from a 4-4-2 to a 4-4-1. In the 75th minute, he put some more defense on the field by withdrawing Gazdag and sending in Mbaizo.

Olympic Stadium’s artificial turf was as bad as everyone feared it would be. If it makes any Union fans feel better about it being bad for both sides, on Friday veteran Montreal defender Rudy Camacho called the hard surface “dangerous for the players’ health.”

Hopefully some day, Stade Saputo will get undersoil heating that will allow Montreal to play home games there at this time of year.

Before kickoff, the two teams stood together at midfield with a banner that said, in French, “NON À LA GUERRE” — No To War — in the colors of Ukraine’s flag, as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues. A banner with the same words hung on the railing in front of Montreal’s 1642 supporters’ club section.

“I think it’s important to stand against the war,” said Gazdag, whose hometown of Nyíregyháza, Hungary is around 45 miles from the nation’s border with Ukraine. “It’s a sad situation, and hopefully it will end really soon.”

Major League Soccer is also running a donation drive to UNICEF. Fans can donate by going to unicefusa.org/mls.