Minnesota United score a rare road victory, beating last-place Earthquakes 2-1

Minnesota United doesn’t have much to show for their summer’s worth of work. The Loons beat Sporting Kansas City on the first day of June, but since then, had managed only one MLS victory.

Saturday night, the Loons got another, winning at San Jose 2-1 — the second time this summer they have beaten the Earthquakes, who are far and away the last-placed team in the league.

For all the changes the Loons have made, maybe they just need to work on figuring out how to schedule more matches against San Jose.

The winner came from Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the 64th minute, with a goal that won’t win any goal of the week awards. A long throw-in by Joseph Rosales deflected straight to Hlongwane in front of the San Jose goal, where Hlongwane ended up needing three tries to get the ball into the Earthquakes net. His first attempt from 2 yards away hit the keeper and the crossbar; his second hit a defender; his third, after the ball rebounded to him yet again, finally found the net, though not before getting stuck between the feet of yet another defender, who happened to be standing a yard into his own goal.

It was Hlongwane’s second goal of the game, giving him the team lead this season with nine goals on the year.

It was Minnesota United’s first road victory since beating Atlanta on May 4. The Loons had managed only two draws and six losses away from Allianz Field since then, in all competitions.

The Loons dominated the early stages of the game, especially whenever San Jose attempted to play the ball out of defense. Minnesota was first to every loose ball, and the Earthquakes couldn’t string three successful passes together. Only nine minutes in, midfielder Hassani Dotson picked off a pass in midfield, then beat a defender to win a 50-50 ball and deflect a pass to fellow midfielder Robin Lod. Lod threaded a pass behind the San Jose defense for Hlongwane, who gave the Loons a 1-0 lead.

“I think the first 20-25 minutes, we were very, very good,” Loons coach Eric Ramsay said. “Real control, we had a really nice balance. Enough the ball to control the rhythm. Enough the ball to move up the pitch together. Enough the ball to keep the team connected — but we attacked quickly enough to create a lot of good chances, and arguably could have put the game to bed very early on.”

Despite the first goal, the Loons couldn’t make their control of the first half-hour pay off. Kelvin Yeboah stung the palms of goalkeeper Daniel with a close-range drive, and Hlongwane swung and missed on a chance to flick a corner kick into the San Jose net. And the Loons paid for their wastefulness when San Jose finally came back to life.

The Earthquakes, held without a shot or sniff of goal for the first 33 minutes, ended up scoring with their first attempt. A pass deflected high into the air in the Loons’ penalty area, San Jose’s Amahl Pellegrino was able to beat Michael Boxall to the towering loose ball and flick it on behind himself, and Minnesota defender Miguel Tapias couldn’t get over in time to prevent Quakes forward Ousseni Bouda from rolling a shot under goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and in.

San Jose had one more chance in stoppage time, but central defender Daniel Munie, playing as a center forward after an injury left him barely able to move, skied a wide-open chance over the Minnesota goal.

“It felt far more edgy than it needed to feel at the end,” Ramsay said.

In the end, though, Hlongwane’s pair of goals were enough to give the Loons a pair of victories over San Jose. The Earthquakes have provided six of the eight points Minnesota has earned since June 1 — so if nothing else, MNUFC can take care of business, against the worst team in MLS.