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Loons ends winless skid against Sporting Kansas City with 2-1 victory

andy greder, pioneer press
·4 min read

The 2Pac song “Picture Me Rollin’ ” boomed out of Minnesota United’s dressing room at Allianz Field on Saturday.

With a 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, the Loons ended a five-game winless streak against their closest rival, earned three points in a home match for the second time this season, and with last Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Charlotte, they have stacked two straight victories.

Picture them rolling, indeed.

But — record scratch. That was not how head coach Eric Ramsay saw it.

“That’s not how we want to win games at home,” Ramsay said in his post-match news conference. “We want to be the dominant team. We don’t want to feel like we are on the back foot for large periods, which was the case (Saturday). But I do feel like the slight caveat is probably that when you do score as early as we scored, then suddenly (it’s) very difficult to go again and be the front-foot team.”

In the second minute, Joseph Rosales’ corner kick was met with Robin Lod’s flick-on header and tapped in by Michael Boxall at the back post. After not scoring on a corner in the first seven games, the Loons have now recorded one in each of the past two.

After some crisp combination play from teammates, Tani Oluwaseyi doubled the lead with a tap-in at the back post in the 26th minute. Oluwaseyi might have been offside, but it held up through a video review. Kansas City coach Peter Vermes disagreed and went to his postgame press conference with a paused image that he felt showed Oluwaseyi was offside.

In the 38th minute, Sporting Kansas City cut the lead in half when Daniel Salloi’s pull-back pass was finished by Allan Pullido.

Neither team was too threatening for the final 50 minutes, with Ramsay saying his team sat back too much.

“He wasn’t overly happy; you are never mad at three points,” captain Michael Boxall said. “I think he was more pleased with the Salt Lake and Houston performances.”

When the Loons lost to Houston and tied Salt Lake, Ramsay pointed to the bravery and amount of chances created as a reason for positivity. Without that attacking gusto after they scored a second goal Saturday, Ramsay said it would have been “contradictory” to just look at the win and not the bigger picture.

Ramsay tinkered with the starting lineup and formation to great success in North Carolina last weekend. His latest wrinkle was starting both strikers, Teemu Pukki and Oluwaseyi, who primarily had substituted for each other in the opening eight games.

The striker partnership lasted only one half as Ramsay subbed out Pukki after 45 minutes.

“I think we got the benefit in some senses early on in the game,” Ramsay said. “This is no doing of the players we ended up taking off at halftime in any way at all, and I stressed that to them. It was much more to do with the system as opposed to individual performances.

“I think sometimes with a front two, it’s easy to get pinned in and can’t cover the width of the pitch as well. That was pretty evident I would say after 20 minutes. We wanted to make sure we were proactive in changing. Once we made those changes, we were able to get better pressure on the ball. … We did restrict them in the second half, and I don’t think they created many chances of genuine quality.”

Briefly

— Lod’s assist moved him into a tie for the MLS lead with six this season. Cristian Espinoza of the San Jose Earthquakes and Dante Vanzeir of the New York Red Bulls came into Saturday with six assists apiece.

— Central midfielder Hassani Dotson (hamstring) missed his first game of the season.

— Micky Tapias returned from a four-game absence for a hamstring injury.

— MNUFC2 goalkeeper Alec Smir was signed to a short-term loan for Saturday’s game. He was called up with backup keeper Clint Irwin suffering a “slight” groin injury. Smir can now be called up for only one more MLS match this season.

— Mexican club Necaxa, which the Loons will play in the Leagues Cup on July 30, are in ninth place (7-3-6) in Liga MX Clausura going into their final regular-season match Sunday. Necaxa finished in last place, 18th, in the Apertura portion of the schedule.

— Carlos Harvey, who scored a hat trick for MNUFC2 last weekend, made his MNUFC debut in the 80th minute.

— Victor Eriksson and Moses Nyeman weren’t on the bench Saturday; they traveled with MNUFC2 for their match in Kansas on Sunday.

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