Recap: Danladi’s late winner gives Loons three points against Impact

There must be something about winning on the road that appeals to Minnesota United. The Loons paid a visit to the Montreal Impact, and ran away with a full three points from the Eastern Conference contenders.

Manager Adrian Heath made a fair few changes from the Loons midweek loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Kevin Molino, Francisco Calvo, Marc Burch, Miguel Ibarra, Christian Ramirez, and Collin Martin were all added to the starting eleven.

Despite the changes, the game still got off to a rough start for United. Patrice Bernier put the hosts ahead after just eight minutes of action, tucking away a very loose ball in Minnesota’s box. Things almost got a lot worse when a penalty was granted to Montreal after a VAR review. Ignacio Piatti’s attempt wasn’t far enough to his left, and Bobby Shuttleworth had no issue keeping it out of his net.

The game took a better turn just before the 20-minute mark when the Loons were awarded a penalty kick after a Montreal handball. Molino stepped up and had no issue putting his side level.

The Impact struck for a second time in the 55th minute. A beautiful sideways finish from Blerim Dzemaili left Shuttleworth with absolutely no chance at a save. It wasn’t long before the Loons were back in business when Ramirez put a header away past a rooted Montreal keeper and several defenders, his first goal since July 29th.

United began to retreat into a shell almost immediately after the equalizer, appearing to settle for a tie. Montreal looked up for breaking through the Minnesota defense, but it was ultimately the visitors who would break the deadlock. Minutes after Ethan Finlay put a shot inches wide, Abu Danladi fired an absolute rocket past Bush giving the Loons three points to bring back to the states.

This match wasn’t done entertaining until well after the final whistle, with a couple Impact players landing punches on Abu Danladi.