By: Aeden Evenson-McDermott

After many disappointing results and matches leading up to the Round of 32 Match, the Loons would look to turn the page and set their sights on advancing in the Open Cup further. Kickoff was at 7:30PM which has become a primetime kickoff for most fixtures with MLS and U.S. Soccer Federation scheduling this year.

After an enticing game against Vancouver, the Loons would fall short once again with a 3-2 loss. A first goal from newly signed South Korean striker, Jeong Sang-bin, in Minnesota colors and a first goal of the season for captain Michael Boxall. Vancouver’s goals came from Brian White and Simon Becher.

With coming off the road loss, the Loons would be at home at Allianz Field. Only half the stadium was used plus the supporters section but it was still a decent crowd for a midweek match.

The Loons and Philadelphia Union would play a highly competitive first half with neither side striking first. Good to see the higher intensity and better game flow as Loons have been pretty lackadaisical as of late. The second half would be even more exciting with both teams exchanging chances. The drama would ensue when the 68th minute came and South African Striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane got a diving header and sent the ball through the hands of Philadelphia Union’s André Blake.

In the 73rd minute, Honduran midfielder Joseph Rosales received a fantastic play in which Hlongwane dribbled the defenders and dished it off to Rosales for a slotted shot into the right corner. 2-0 for the Loons!

The excitement wouldn’t last for long when the Union’s Chris Donovan got one back and it was 2-1 Loons in the 78th minute. As the clock neared closer to the 90 minutes, it became clear that Loons fans were becoming nervy. It’s been an unfortunate statistic this season that in the closing of the 90 minutes the Loons can’t hold on. Kai Wagner, the substitute defender, would smash it home in the 90+4th minute to get the game at 2-2 and send it to overtime.

Disappointing how the Loons blew the lead being up 2-0. But in the first half of extra time, Hlongwane would rejuvenate the Loons with another goal, thus being in the 103rd minute. Loons and Philly would go at it further with both sides pushing themselves and fighting to stay alive.

Disaster struck again for the Loons when in the 120th minute, and once again near the end of the match, Kai Wagner would bag his second and end Loons celebrations for the moment. It would send it to penalties!

The Loons thankfully won the first kick and got it down on the side of the supporters section for the penalty shootout. Franco Fragapane would get the first kick for the Loons and Dániel Gazdag equalizing with his kick. Second round, Will Trapp and Jack Elliot would get their second kick as well. In the third set, Kervin Arriaga and Matthew Real would miss their shots. The fourth set, Rosales and Torres would get theirs. The fifth set, Dunbar and Carranza would get theirs! Heavy drama as it would still be tied and now it would be sent to sudden death penalty shots.

Kallman and Rafanello would get theirs for the sixth round. Boxall and Lowe would also get theirs for the seventh round. In the eighth round, Tapias would get his shot for the Loons and back up goalkeeper Clint Irwin who got the start to give rest to the main goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair would deny the man who saved Philly before; Kai Wagner would be ultimately denied on the incredible penalty save made by Irwin and Loons would survive another day and get the only win of the season at home to sing “Wonderwall”.

They advance to the Round of 16 and will be facing Houston Dynamo in Houston on 5/23 for a 7:30 kickoff with streaming to most likely be through the BR Football YouTube channel.

The Loons would return to regular MLS play by traveling on the road to Sporting KC on Saturday 5/13. With a quick turnaround, the Loons would be lackluster and concede 3 goals to unfortunately lose 3-0.

They most recently played on Wednesday 5/17 back at Allianz. The game started out fast paced with much running. The Loons looked more energized and more collective in their play.

The play of the game would come in the 14th minute, early on when a costly mistake from Houston’s left back, Escobar, passed it back, which went through the Houston team and made it to the Loons, and Bongokuhle Hlongwane tucked it past Houston’s goalkeeper Steve Clark and into the right corner. 1-0 to the Loons!

The rest of the first half would have its chances and many were almost point blank on a few attempts. The second half would be quite physical and fast paced as Houston pushed for an equalizer. Thankfully there was no equalizer and the Loons held on despite at least 3 minutes of stoppage time and the ref letting play continue for Houston as they seemed to want to make it more interesting.

Our second home win of the season, but the first win in MLS at home for the season. Loons survive by narrow margins and take all three points to move from 9th into 7th spot with 15 points.

They take on the Portland Timbers on the road this weekend with a 9:30PM kickoff on Apple TV+ which is the streaming service for all things MLS! The Loons will head to Houston to play in the Round of 16 matchup next Tuesday at 7:30PM as well, before they return to Allianz the following Saturday 5/27 to play Real Salt Lake (RSL)!

By Aeden Evenson-McDermott

On the evening of the home opener at Allianz Field, the Loons and Red Bulls would duel it out in the snowy conditions Saturday night. With the field having a good covering of snow, and the snow coming down during pregame and into the first half, the field became slippery and slick in many places. The grounds crew were using leaf blowers to dust away the snow in the goal keeper boxes while the rest of the field was nearly covered.

With the MLS season in full force, and already in its third week for most clubs, the Loons would be coming off a bye week. It allowed for players to rest up and recover from a couple early knocks and injuries. Players like Luis Amarilla would also finalize his paperwork for his green card as he is a Paraguayan International. With an open training session last week, which brought much enjoyment to an excited fan base, players did different ball drills and worked out to get the final preparations ready.

The previous week, which kicked off the MLS season for most clubs (not LAFC or LA Galaxy due to the inclement weather), had the Loons take on FC Dallas on the road. The Loons were successful and accomplished the task of picking up all 3 points after an early goal in the second half from Mender Garcia, which led to the final score of 1-0 for the Loons.

With the Loons turning the next page in the past two weeks, Snowy Allianz Field would captivate the attention of many as it would bring back memories of the snowy homeopeners in the early years of Minnesota United FC a few years back.

Both sides would kick off when the referee blew the whistle. It was primarily a test of how the sides would adapt to the pitch being covered with snow and how this would transfer to how they would play. The wintry conditions also made the usual matchball get a change as they used the orange winter variant of the Upcoming Women’s World Cup Ball, so it would be easier to see in the snow.

Red Bulls would wear their traditional red and white kits and the Loons would finally debut their long awaited Northern Lights kit which is stunning.

Striker Bongokuhle Hlongwane would get a nice shot and would retrieve the rebound to power his big shot into the back of the net. An early 1-0 lead to the Loons but would they be able to sustain it?

With both sides exchanging a few chances, and with many poor calls by the officials, it was a slow first half despite Hlongwane’s goal.

With a lot of the snow still on the pitch, groundskeepers were actively working at halftime to clear away the snow as it had still been piled up. As the second half moved on, the snow would stop coming down and also the fields melted off, but it was still slippery in places with slush being an issue. It was nice to see the green field at least!

The second half would start out in flying fashion with the Red Bulls getting a quick equalizer to put it back to 1-1! The ball from the corner kick, taken by Red Bulls John Tolkin, meandered its way to the jumping head of Andres Reyes which required a split second snap of the head to guide the ball into the back of the net, which even MNUFC goalkeeper Dayne St.Clair’s fast reflexes stood no chance.

New York would show more dominance and create some decent chances and United would as well, but both sides could not get the breakthrough for the win and +3 points.

A hard worked game by both sides saw New York get their second draw of the season and the Loons now with a win and a tie.

New York will face the Columbus Crew in Red Bull Stadium while the Loons will travel to face Colorado. Both games are on this coming Saturday and are available along with every other MLS game to stream on Apple TV+.

It will be a big week for teams as they train and work on getting the chemistry better. It’s also important to note, from a Minnesota United perspective, that the club is in active negotiations and are progressing in talks to sign young South Korean player Jeong Sang-bin as a U-22 Initiative signing. He was developed in the Korean league and then went to Wolverhampton and they sent him on loan in the 21/22 season to Grasshoppers in the Swiss top flight league.

We are in desperate need of another striker, as getting goals will be hard this year, as we don’t have the striking force needed to be a top mainstream team. Hopefully, the addition of Jeong Sang-bin will be vital in getting more goals and provide an extra depth piece to the existing roster!