Recap: Minnesota rolls over Houston

With Minnesota United’s roster returning back to normal the Loons went with a familiar looking 4-2-3-1 for their home clash with Houston Dynamo. The entire Starting XI returned untouched from MNUFC’s clean sheet against LA Galaxy. On the bench the Loons finally had enough players to not have two goalkeepers listed as substitutes.

Less than 60 seconds in, MNUFC got on the board. Reynoso played the ball to Franco Fragapane on the left wing. After about 15 yards he sent a pass to a charging Lod who sent a first touch shot from the side of the six yard box past Houston’s Michael Nelson for the opening goal.

Just barely over a quarter hour later and the Loons sent number two in on a play that had the ball go from Reynoso to Finlay to Lod and back to Finlay. After the trio of passes, Finlay briefly lost the ball inside the 18 before regaining it moments later and shooting after spinning around to get an open look.

Dynamo’s Michael Nelson did get a hand on the ball nearly preventing it from crossing the line before Zarek Valentin sent the ball flying back out. But after just moments of confusion the goal was called as the ball clearly, but barely, did cross the line.

While MNUFC did outscore the Dynamo, Houston did not make it an easy win. Out-shooting the Loons both in total shots and on goal, while also having the Loons end with zero blocked shots. This resulted in Miller having to make some absolutely spectacular saves to keep the clean sheet.

Minnesota United will have two matches this week. The first against D.C. United on Wednesday at Audi Field in the Nation’s Capital, the second against FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX. Wednesday’s match is set for a 6:30 PM kickoff while Saturday’s is set for a 7 PM kickoff. Both matches can be seen on Ball Sports North+ and heard on SKOR North while Saturday’s will also air on The CW Twin Cities.