Eric Ramsay was questioned Wednesday and validated Saturday.
The Minnesota United head coach’s decision to make a startling eight changes to the starting lineup at Houston midweek led to a disjointed 2-0 loss. His revision back to his primary starters on the weekend ended with a rejuvenated 3-0 win over St. Louis at Allianz Field.
Minnesota (7-4-3, 25 points) cut down on its habit of dropping points to clubs much lower in the West standings. Mired in 14th place, St. Louis (2–75, 11 points) is now winless in a club-record 10 matches since mid-March.
Tani Oluwaseyi scored in the 33rd minute off a corner kick from Joaquin Pereyra and an assist from Nico Romero. The crafty back heel finish was the Canadian’s first goal in more than six games since an opening-minute tally against New York City on April 6.
Joaquin Pereyra doubled the lead in the 62nd minute, benefitting from Robin Lod, Bongi Hlongwane and Oluwaseyi’s playmaking.
Julian Gressel subbed into the match in the 76th minute and scored in the 78th, burying a nice cross from Pereyra.
After making eight changes to its starting lineup for the 2-0 loss to Houston on Wednesday, Minnesota returned to the same XI they used in the 4-1 home win over Inter Miami last Saturday.
The Loons’ 5-4-1 formation had Oluwaseyi as the lone striker, Pereyra and Robin Lod as attacking midfielders, Carlos Harvey and Wil Trapp as defensive mids.Anthony Markanich came back from an ankle injury to play left wingback. The center back trio were Romero, Michael Boxall and Jefferson Díaz, with Bongi Hlongwane at right wing back. Dayne St. Clair started his 14th straight game in net.
Up 3-0 in the 78th minute, Ramsay used his last four subs, bringing in Kelvin Yeboah, Sang Bin Jeong, Owen Gene and Sam Shashoua, with a U.S. Open Cup match against St. Louis coming Wednesday in St. Paul.
City will travel back to Missouri before returning to Minnesota early next week.
Three tidbits
MNUFC has held moments of silence when opponents are dealing with tragedies back home. On Saturday, Loons did one pregame for deadly tornados in St. Louis. In April, United did another when Vancouver was mourning fatalities at a Filipino street festival. … Gene returned to field after missing seven MLS matches since injuring his ankle on March 29 vs. Real Salt Lake. … Timberwolves fan Boxall has “confidence they can go all the way” to the NBA championship. He believes they match-up better against Oklahoma City with Denver’s big man Nikola Jokic “is just scary.”
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