The forecasted thunder never came, but as the skies cleared in the second half, lightning struck off Emanuel Reynoso's left foot.
Late scoring explosion lifts Minnesota United 3-0 past Chicago Fire
Emanuel Reynoso found the bottom right corner of the net to put Minnesota United in front 1-0 in the 72nd minute and after Chicago went down to 10 players with a red card, the scoring gates opened.
April 24, 2022 at 2:31AM
After knocking on the door throughout the first half, Reynoso found the bottom right corner from the top of the box to break a scoreless tie in the 72nd minute. Goals from Kervin Arriaga in the 84th and Robin Lod in the 88th after Chicago went down a man sealed Minnesota United's 3-0 victory over the Fire.
The victory is the Loons' second in a row in MLS play. Across all competitions, the Loons scored eight goals this week after failing to top a single goal in the first six games.
"I think we're getting better, but not where we want to be," coach Adrian Heath said. "I still don't think we put a really consistent 90 minutes together, but it bodes well we're winning games, and I think that they will get a little bit more confidence again after the week we've had."
Reynoso first looked to have broken through in the 10th minute when Robin Lod fed him a through ball on the left side of the box. The midfielder chipped the keeper, but the raised offsides flag kept the game at a dead lock.
Reynoso nearly connected again eight minutes later, curling a left-footed set piece off the crossbar.
"I thought he got better as the game got on," Heath said of Reynoso. "As I've said before, he's MVP talent. We have to make sure he gets that consistency, but I feel as though he's getting there now."
After a slow start to the season, Reynoso has begun to find his rhythm. He recorded his first two assists of the season in the 3-1 win over Colorado last weekend. Saturday's goal was his second of the season and the first from open play.
Chicago's Miguel Navarro picked up a yellow card in the 35th minute for a hard challenge on Oneil Fisher. One minute later Wil Trapp saw yellow for knocking down Kacper Przybylko. The card was Trapp's fifth of the season, all coming in the first half of games, which means he will be suspended for Minnesota's MLS game at LAFC next Saturday.
Gaston Gimenez also received a yellow card in the 41st minute.
The fouls kept piling up in the second half. Federico Navarro picked up Chicago's third yellow card of the game in the 52nd minute on a dangerous elbow to Fisher's jaw. Fisher stayed on the ground for over a minute as team trainers tended to him, but he finished the rest of the game.
The Loons breathed a sigh of relief to escape further injury to the fullback position. Fisher started at right back in place of Hassani Dotson, who will miss the rest of the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament Friday.
"The fact you can bring an MLS veteran in who's been through the league and seen it and done it and knows what to expect is a big, big bonus for us," Heath said of Fisher, who transferred from LA Galaxy in February.
Navarro's contact with Fisher wouldn't be his last objectionable play. Five minutes after Reynoso's goal, Navarro swept Lod's legs on a slide tackle, an infraction that saw his second yellow of the game and a sending off.
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
