Minnesota United doesn’t have much to show for their summer’s worth of work. The Loons beat Sporting Kansas City on the first day of June, but since then, had managed only one MLS victory.
Saturday night, the Loons got another, winning at San Jose 2-1 — the second time this summer they have beaten the Earthquakes, who are far and away the last-placed team in the league.
For all the changes the Loons have made, maybe they just need to work on figuring out how to schedule more matches against San Jose.
The winner came from Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the 64th minute, with a goal that won’t win any goal of the week awards. A long throw-in by Joseph Rosales deflected straight to Hlongwane in front of the San Jose goal, where Hlongwane ended up needing three tries to get the ball into the Earthquakes net. His first attempt from 2 yards away hit the keeper and the crossbar; his second hit a defender; his third, after the ball rebounded to him yet again, finally found the net, though not before getting stuck between the feet of yet another defender, who happened to be standing a yard into his own goal.
It was Minnesota United’s first road victory since beating Atlanta on May 4. The Loons had managed only two draws and six losses away from Allianz Field since then, in all competitions.
The Loons dominated the early stages of the game, especially whenever San Jose attempted to play the ball out of defense. Minnesota was first to every loose ball, and the Earthquakes couldn’t string three successful passes together. Just nine minutes in, midfielder Hassani Dotson picked off a pass in midfield, then beat a defender to win a 50-50 ball and deflect a pass to fellow midfielder Robin Lod. Lod threaded a pass behind the San Jose defense for Hlongwane, who gave the Loons a 1-0 lead.
The two goals gave Hlongwane the team lead this season, with nine goals on the year.
Despite the first goal, the Loons couldn’t make its control of the first half-hour pay off. Kelvin Yeboah stung the palms of goalkeeper Daniel with a close-range drive, and Hlongwane swung and missed on a chance to flick a corner kick into the San Jose net. And the Loons paid for their wastefulness when San Jose finally came back to life.