Monterey Bay v El Paso Locomotive — prediction, stats and goal analysis

USL Championship · Sunday, 21 June 2026. Final score 1–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 54% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals54%46%Over
Over 3.5 goals30%70%no pick
Both teams to score56%44%Yes

The result model puts Monterey Bay at 30%, the draw at 25% and El Paso Locomotive at 45%, from expected goals of 1.25 and 1.59.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. USL Championship has produced over 2.5 goals in 50% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Monterey Bay have 7 in 13 this season (4 of 7 at home), El Paso Locomotive 10 in 12 (5 of 6 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 51% and 61%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 13 and 12 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 50% and 58%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 54%.

Head to head. These sides have met 7 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 57%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 54%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 54%, from expected goals of 1.25 for Monterey Bay and 1.59 for El Paso Locomotive. Folding in 30% of that view gives 54%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Monterey Bay1354%31%54%
El Paso Locomotive1283%58%83%

Head to head

15 Mar 26Monterey Bay 0–3 El Paso LocomotiveO2.5
17 Aug 25El Paso Locomotive 2–2 Monterey BayO2.5
22 Jun 25Monterey Bay 1–2 El Paso LocomotiveO2.5
25 Aug 24Monterey Bay 0–0 El Paso LocomotiveU2.5
14 Mar 24El Paso Locomotive 1–1 Monterey BayU2.5
3 Sept 23El Paso Locomotive 1–2 Monterey BayO2.5

More: Monterey Bay season stats · El Paso Locomotive season stats · USL Championship table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.