Minnesota United’s two hottest players — Tani Oluwaseyi and Robin Lod — produced goals Saturday, but it was the little preceding plays before that were the differences in a 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City at Allianz Field.
Sang Bin Jeong’s pressing action caused a Kansas City turnover before Oluwaseyi’s goal in the first half, and Devin Padelford’s long throw-in preceded Oluwaseyi’s assist on Lod’s goal in the second half.
Padelford’s toss was noticed. Dayne St. Clair ran from his goal to praise the left wingback. Head coach Eric Ramsay also showed appreciation.
MNUFC (8-3-4, 28 points) got back in the win column after dropping points in its past two matches and moved into a tie for second place in Western Conference. They kept last-place Kansas City (2-9-5, 11 points) down. Sporting has now lost seven straight and is winless in 10.
Kervin Arriaga also did important little work, but he did so to set up his goal in the 83rd minute. His sprinting in an overlapping run put him in a great spot to blast a shot in the side netting.
Oluwaseyi’s seventh goal of the season padded his team lead. Bongi Hlongwane, who fed Oluwaseyu a nice cross, notched his first assist of the season.
The Loons produced three shots on goal in the first half. Kansas City didn’t manage one in the opening 45 minutes.
Johnny Russell got a goal back for Kansas City in the 86th minute.
Briefly
The U.S. women’s national team will play South Korea in a friendly match at Allianz Field on Tuesday night. The USWNT beat South Korea 4-0 on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. New head coach Emma Hayes won her debut match. Mallory Swanson and Tierna Davidson each scored two goals. … Caden Clark was scratched from the starting XI less than an hour before kickoff due to a toe injury. He was slated to make another appearance as a right wingback. DJ Taylor, who stepped in for Clark, had to exit with a leg injury in the first half. Joseph Rosales came off the bench. … MNUFC will have eight players head to national team duties next week, including Dayne St. Clair, Robin Lod, Teemu Pukki, Joseph Rosales, Kervin Arriaga, Carlos Harvey, Alejandro Bran and Zarek Valentin. They will all miss next Saturday’s match versus FC Dallas. … Rosales was issued his fifth yellow card in the second half. He will be suspended for Saturday’s game vs. FC Dallas.
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