Minnesota United will try to snap a six-match winless streak against the team that knocked them out of the Western Conference playoffs last season when they host San Diego FC on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Loons (6-6-5, 23 points) enter the contest in ninth place, three points ahead of San Diego (5-7-5, 20 points) in the race for the final playoff spot. It’s a rematch of last November’s Western Conference semifinal final, won by San Diego 1-0 on a goal by Anders Dreyer in the 72nd minute.
Minnesota is 0-3-3 in its last six matches and comes in off a 0-0 draw with defending Western Conference champion Vancouver last Saturday. The Loons haven’t won a game since May 2 at the Columbus Crew, 3-2.
Goals have been hard to come by for Minnesota, which has scored just 19 times in 17 games. Only Atlanta United (17) and Sporting Kansas City (18) have scored fewer in the MLS this season. Kelvin Yeboah has eight goals and Anthony Markanich has four, but none of their teammates has scored more than one.
Still, despite failing to score a goal, the outcome was a positive for the Loons. First-place Vancouver has scored a Western Conference-best 37 goals and drilled Minnesota 6-0 in the first meeting on March 15 in Canada. That set the team record for largest margin of defeat for Minnesota.
Loons coach Cameron Knowles says good defense is a catalyst for his team’s offense.
“Most of our goal attacking comes from good defending, and we have to maintain that,” Knowles said.
San Diego, just 1-4-2 on the road this season, comes in off a 1-0 home victory over FC Dallas last Saturday.
Forward Alejandro Alvarado Jr., making his first start after undergoing right knee surgery 13 months earlier, scored his first MLS goal on a right-footed blast from about 10 yards above the box in the 50th minute. CJ Dos Santos made one save for his first clean sheet.
San Diego dominated possession, roughly 70-30, and in total passes, 867-299, while also finishing with an 8-1 edge in shots on goal.
“Just really happy for Alejandro,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. “It’s his first goal at the first division level, and he took the goal really well. Ultimately, I think we created a lot of chances on the night, (and) overall it was a really complete performance by our team.”
–Field Level Media
