The San Jose Earthquakes came into Allianz Field on Saturday night with the worst record in MLS this season.

Minnesota United made it even worse and finally climbed out of its own long slump with a 2-0 win.

The Loons (8-10-6, 30 points) were able to snap what had become a 48-day winless grind across nine matches.

But the opening 30 minutes was a slog resembling two scuffling sides. Neither side took much control of the game nor produce a shot on target.

To shuffle the deck, head coach Eric Ramsay pulled starting midfielder Alejandro Bran in an apparent move to address it. Robin Lod moved from the right wing and into Bran’s spot in central midfield, while winger Franco Fragapane came off the bench.

Minnesota started to gain a foothold. The Loons connected approximately a dozen passes before getting a goal in the 38th minute. A threatening cross from Sang Bin Jeong ended up in an own goal from Tanner Beason.

Ramsay’s decision to start Bran was a bit of a surprise, but his quick adjust with a rare first-half substitute was instrumental in MNUFC taking a first-half lead.

United was fortunate to not be down a goal earlier in the game. Jeremy Ebobisse had two scoring chances in the 10th and 32nd minutes, but he put both of the attempts wide.

The Loons doubled the lead with Joseph Rosales’s cross met with a powerful header from Bongi Hlongwane in the 77th minute.

Coming into Saturday, San Jose (4-19-2, 14 points) was eight points behind the second-worst point total in MLS.

Minnesota was able to take advantage of a team that has allowed a league-high 61 goals this season and have managed only one win in 12 road games.

With the win, the Loons will enter the Leagues Cup break with positivity.

Briefly

New attacker Samuel Shashoua made his MLS debut as a sub in the 77th minute. … The transfer fee MNUFC is set to pay to Italian club Genoa for striker Kelvin Yeboah is in the ballpark of $3.2 million. Italian news outlet El Secolo XIX said compensation will also include bonuses and a sell-on percentage going to Genoa if the Loons transfer Yeboah to another club. …. Michael Boxall, who was suspended for Saturday’s match due to yellow-card accumulation, will depart Minnesota for the Olympics in Paris on Sunday. The 35-year-old center back is one of three over-age players for the New Zealand soccer team. He will miss the Loons’ two Leagues Cup matches against Seattle on Friday and Necaxa on July 30. … Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair wore the captain’s armband for the first time in an MLS game Saturday. It was his first professional captaincy; he wore the band at the University of Maryland.

ROCHESTER — As far as conclusions go, an investigation by the federal National Transportation Safety Board into a hot air balloon accident in Rochester that happened earlier this year doesn’t stray too far from what millions of people observed in the video that went viral.

The NTSB report released last week concludes in a succinct one-sentence statement that the probable cause of the accident was pilot Michael Lesmeister’s “failure to maintain clearance from power lines while landing in a field.”

An NTSB investigator did not travel to the accident site. A disclaimer notes that the purpose of its investigations is not to “assign fault or blame for an accident.”

Lesmeister was cleared to pilot again three weeks after the accident, he said.

The crash, which happened March 20, 2024, was the talk of the town for several days.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation video shows the balloon descending rapidly to the ground and making contact with power lines along U.S. Highway 63 South between 40th Street Southwest and 48th Street Southwest. The collision created an explosive burst of sparks and an electrical arc that separated the basket from the envelope.

The basket plummeted the rest of the way to the ground. Miraculously, Lesmeister and the two passengers climbed out of the basket with only minor injuries.

“(A) loud pop crackle was heard, momentary stop, then (a) crackle of shower of sparks,” Lesmeister stated in a three-page handwritten accident report about the terrifying moment. “I vaguely remember the fall, (the) impact with (the) surface. (The) Gondola lay down in a forward motion face down in (a) dry grass ditch.”

In addition to Lesmeister, there were two crew members who served on the ground: Dan Campion as a ground chaser and David Greenwaldt as a ground crew member. Mark Schafer of Oronoco and his stepson were the passengers.

On the bottom of the basket is a picture of Ben Schafer, Mark Schafer’s son. A veteran, Ben was 37 when he died tragically at home, according to his obituary. Lesmeister gives free air balloon rides to veterans and their families to honor their service.

Lesmeister said that the forecast that day predicted strong, gusting winds in the morning that were expected to drop off later in the day. The sky was clear when the hot balloon was launched around early evening.

Fifteen minutes into the flight, the balloon began a descent. As Lesmeister approached a landing spot parallel to Highway 63 on the west side of the road, the wind abruptly shifted. Because of the speed of the wind shear, there was not enough time to lift the balloon clear of the fast-approaching powerlines.

With the surface wind picking up speed, Lesmeister tried to get to the ground as soon as possible by pulling the deflation port at the top of the balloon down to release heat from it.

He told his passengers to sit low in the basket because a hard impact with the surface tends to eject the passengers.

The 16 steel cables connecting the gondola to the envelope hit three power lines. The collision created an arc that severed 12 of the 16 cables. The four remaining wires snapped as a result of the overload.

After the crash landing, the three crawled out of the gondola, and except for bumps and bruises, miraculously free of grievous injury. The shower spark caused dozens of small grass fires in the field. With the help of some volunteers, the gondola was dragged away from the fires. The balloon envelope drifted away and was retrieved a mile away from a tree line.

Lesmeister believes there was an intervention that spared them from a more tragic outcome. He said the first 911 calls reported that there were four passengers in the basket when in actuality there were only three.

Lemeister believes Ben Schafer, whose memory is honored with his picture on the basket, was the fourth man.

“He broke our fall,” he said.

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A roadmap to follow for the beach volleyball competition during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Athletes to watch

Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, Norway: Mol had surgery in March to repair a broken bone in his left foot.

Chase Budinger, United States: The 6-foot-7 former NBA player earned a berth with Miles Evans as the No. 2 U.S. men’s pair.

Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, United States: The reigning world champions are hoping to keep alive a streak of U.S. medals on the women’s side. Cheng could be the only American with Olympic experience.

Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, United States: Going to their first Olympics. Kloth is 6-foot-4 and Nuss is 5-foot-6.

Storylines to follow

One of the Olympics’ most telegenic sports will bring its beach party vibe to the Champ de Mars, between the Eiffel Tower and the École Militaire, in a park that once served as the training grounds for Napoleon Bonaparte.

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There is a passing of the torch among the super-successful American women, who have won four of the past five gold medals. Misty May-Treanor is retired, Kerri Walsh Jennings is 45, and Tokyo champions April Ross and Alix Klineman each took time off to start families.

Key dates

The preliminary rounds start July 27. The women’s gold medal will be awarded on Aug. 9, followed the next night by the men’s.

Reigning champions

Men: Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, Norway
Women: Alix Klineman and April Ross, United States

A roadmap to follow for the badminton competition during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

Athletes to watch

Beiwen Zhang, United States: After winning the women’s singles gold at the 2023 Pan American Games, the 33-year-old is the best shot at the first American badminton medal at the Olympics since its debut as a medal event in 1992. Born in China, Zhang moved to Singapore as a teenager in 2007 and has represented the U.S. internationally since 2013.

Viktor Axelsen, Denmark: Axelsen was Europe’s only medalist (gold) in Tokyo three years ago, and he was the top qualifier for Paris. At 30, this will be his third Olympics; he won bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Chen Yu Fei, China: The defending women’s singles champion led China to a tournament win in May and finished behind only An Se-young of South Korea in the Paris qualification rankings.

Storylines to follow

The U.S. mixed doubles team of Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai qualified at the Pan Am Games. It still will be an uphill climb for them to medal.

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Pablo Abian of Spain and Kevin Cordon of Guatemala are just the third and fourth players to make it to a fifth Olympics. Neither has medaled.

El Salvador, Kazakhstan and Nepal are represented in badminton for the first time, all in men’s singles with Uriel Francisco Canjura Artiga, Dmitriy Panarin and Prince Dahal, respectively.

Key dates

Group play begins July 27 and runs through July 31, the same day mixed doubles quarterfinals begin. The mixed doubles bronze- and gold-medal matches are Aug. 2; women’s doubles on Aug. 3; men’s doubles on Aug. 4; and men’s and women’s singles on Aug. 5.

Reigning champions

Men’s singles: Viktor Axelsen, Denmark
Women’s singles: Chen Yu Fei, China
Men’s doubles: Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, Taiwan
Women’s doubles: Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu, Indonesia
Mixed doubles: Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping, China