Off to a red-hot start to the season, Minnesota United look to continue an impressive run of form as they host FC Dallas on Saturday evening in Saint Paul, Minn.
Minnesota United (4-1-3, 15 points) lost their first match of the campaign, a 1-0 defeat at Los Angeles FC, but have gone unbeaten in the seven matches since then (4-0-3). That’s thanks in part to the efforts of Tani Oluwaseyi (five goals, two assists) and Kelvin Yeboah (four goals, one assist), and a stingy defense that’s allowed just seven goals, tied for the fifth fewest in the league.
The Loons’ last match, a 0-0 draw at Toronto FC last weekend during which they managed just one shot on goal, left the team feeling empty-handed but undaunted.
“It felt like it was going to take something special to unlock it, or it was going to be a mistake, and unfortunately in our case neither of those scenarios arose,” Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said. “But I think if you look back at (getting) four points on the road (and) a clean sheet (ahead of) two home games, and taking our run to seven unbeaten, I’m fairly pleased with that.”
Dallas (3-3-2, 11 points) is winless in its last two matches after drawing 1-1 with Atlanta United on April 5 before taking a 1-0 loss to the visiting Seattle Sounders last weekend.
Goals have been somewhat hard to come by for the Lone Star State side: Dallas has 10 goals this season, but just five in the past six matches.
“We’ve got to stay in the race and get our psyche back,” first-year head coach Eric Quill said. “Great teams don’t go on losing streaks, so we’ve got a test ahead of us. Minnesota’s a great club, but we need to take care of our mentality, our style, and we’ve got to fix some things. And I think we’re on the right path.”
Dallas, unbeaten away from home (2-0-2), and will be without Petar Musa (three goals, three assists), who was stretchered off against the Sounders just before halftime with an ankle injury that has been diagnosed as a sprain. Musa is tied for the team goals lead with Luciano Acosta.
“The severity level, we don’t think is too high,” Quill said of Musa. “We don’t think it’s a terrible one. Hopefully he’s not out too long.”
Musa had a hat trick against the Loons last June during a 5-3 home win.
–Field Level Media
