The last time Minnesota United played at LAFC’s BMO Stadium, the Loons lost 5-1, Denis Bouanga scored a first-half hat trick for the home side, and head coach Adrian Heath was fired before he could coach another game for MNUFC.
Minnesota United shut out 2-0 at LAFC to end unbeaten streak
In a game in which the Loons had just two shots on target, neither of them a particularly inviting chance, while LAFC piled up attack after attack, a 2-0 score was probably the least the home team could expect.
By Jon Marthaler
May 30, 2024 at 5:10AM
Minnesota won’t see Wednesday night’s 2-0 loss as progress, even if it’s an improvement on the scoreline – and manager Eric Ramsay is keeping his job.
Bouanga’s first-half penalty was the game-winner, as LAFC ended Minnesota’s six-game undefeated streak. After a pair of impressive road wins had briefly made Ramsay look like the master of MLS away games, the Loons managed just a single point on their two-game road trip to Colorado and Los Angeles.
As the Western Conference standings begin to shake out, the Loons find themselves looking up at the three teams that increasingly appear to be the West’s best – Real Salt Lake, the LA Galaxy, and LAFC, all of whom have taken points from Minnesota this year.
Bouanga didn’t need help to get a look at the Minnesota goal, rolling up a handful of scoring chances – but the Loons helped him anyway. For the second consecutive game, DJ Taylor gave away a penalty kick. This time, unlike against Colorado, Dayne St. Clair couldn’t bail him out. Taylor clipped Bouanga, tracking back on defense, and Bouanga made no mistake from the penalty spot, putting LAFC up 1-0 in the 38th minute.
After a second half in which LAFC had chance after chance on the counter-attack, the Black and Gold finally got a second goal with 10 minutes to go in the game. Mateusz Bogusz, after another counter, rocketed a 30-yard shot into the top corner of St. Clair’s goal, doubling the lead.
In a game in which the Loons had just two shots on target, neither of them a particularly inviting chance, while LAFC piled up attack after attack, a 2-0 score was probably the least the home team could expect. It was also the fourth consecutive clean sheet for LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Miguel Tapias did get the ball in the net for Minnesota United in the first half, heading home a corner kick. There wasn’t even time for a celebration, though, as the goal was immediately waved off, as the assistant referee had judged that Joseph Rosales’s delivery had curled out of play over the end line, before swinging back into the LAFC penalty area – one of several Rosales corners that the AR ruled had gone out of play.
Striker Teemu Pukki returned to the starting lineup for Minnesota, but for the 11th straight game, couldn’t get himself on the scoresheet. Pukki, the Loons’ highest-paid player, managed just a single shot, which was blocked. The ball did fall to him in LAFC’s penalty area in the second half, but – in a microcosm of how his season has gone, and an example of Minnesota’s offense overall for the night – he failed to make contact as it zoomed directly through his legs.
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material
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Jon Marthaler
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
