Minnesota United will not win the quadruple in 2025.
After a strong six-plus months to start the year, the Loons were eliminated from Leagues Cup with a 2-0 loss to Atletico de San Luis on Wednesday at Allianz Field.
MNUFC finished with four points in Phase One of the tournament with clubs from Mexico’s Liga MX, well short of what was required to be among the top four MLS teams to advance to the quarterfinals. They will be part of the 14 MLS clubs left out of the next round.
This year, United’s smaller roster size was stretching itself to try to compete in multiple competitions and will now get a chance to regroup and recenter its focus, with the MLS Supporters Shield, MLS Cup Playoffs and U.S. Open Cup still obtainable this year.
On Wednesday, MNUFC conceded a header goal off a corner kick in the final moments of Wednesday’s first half. The score from Joao Pedro was very similar to the one the Loons gave up in stoppage time to drop points in the 3-3 draw with Club America on Saturday.
The Loons set-piece defending was a culprit in being bounced out of the North American tournament.
San Luis sat back defensively and challenged Minnesota to break them down. This strategy was a winning one for Los Angeles FC in MLS play three weeks ago, and others are turning to that strategy.
MNUFC had scoring chances, but didn’t get a shot on target until the 76th minute, when Anthony Markanich’s header was denied by goalkeeper Andres Sanchez.
With Minnesota pushing for an equalizer, San Luis sub Sebastian Perez-Bouquet scored the second goal in the 90th minute.
Minnesota had a dream start to its Leagues Cup play with a runaway 4-1 win over Queretaro last Wednesday, but squandered three leads to America that made it much more difficult for the Loons to advance with only four points through two matches.
Training 1-0 at the half and needing a big second half, Loons head coach Eric Ramsay brought in Tani Oluwaseyi to join Kelvin Yeboah at forward as well as Bongi Hlongwane and Anthony Markanich. Ramsay usually likes to make these moves at halftime but surprisingly waited until the 54th minute.
With three games in eight days, Ramsay tried to be strategic in trying to keep his team fresh, while putting a team on the field strong enough to win. He didn’t put out his strongest lineup and that group couldn’t punch up on Wednesday.
San Luis was eliminated from the next round before the match due to a 4-0 loss to Portland last week and a 2-2 draw with Salt Lake last weekend, but their doomed fate didn’t diminish their ability to get a win on the road.
Briefly
The Loons’ unbeaten streak against Liga MX sides in Leagues Cup was snapped at five since 2023. … MNUFC called up rookie forward Luke Hille for his fourth short-term loan. The University of North Carolina product made his MLS debut at St. Louis on July 26. … The Gophers football team watched the Loons on Wednesday, taking a break from preseason camp.
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