Minnesota United's MLS winless streak reaches five games with 3-2 loss to Vancouver

There's nothing funny about a five-game MLS winless streak that Minnesota United extended with Saturday night's 3-2 loss at Vancouver.

But Loons coach Adrian Heath called the night a comedy of errors of sorts for the way his team gave away all three goals and at the other end couldn't get a shot off on several prime second-half scoring chances.

Vancouver (3-2-5, seventh in the Western Conference) extended its unbeaten streak in league play to eight after losing its first two games this season. Minnesota United (3-4-3, eighth in the West) hasn't beaten an MLS opponent since an April 1 victory at St. Louis City SC.

Veterans Wil Trapp and Robin Lod committed midfield turnovers that led to the Whitecaps' first and third goals. The Loons gave up a messy corner-kick goal that banged around the 6-yard penalty box for the second one. That goal was Vancouver forward Brian White's second of the night and the first of two his team scored in a four-minute span not long after halftime.

"It's always difficult when you go on the road and you gift the opposition three goals," Heath said in a video call with reporters. "All three goals were our fault, just comical schoolboy errors stuff that cost us dearly. When you play on the road and if you defend like we've done today and give them the chances they've had — and then you always miss the chances we had — invariably you're not going to win too many games on the road with that combination."

White and Simon Becher scored goals in the 52nd and 56th minutes for the Whitecaps after the teams went into halftime tied 1-1.

The Loons lost on the same day they announced suspended two-time MLS All-Star Emanuel Reynoso had arrived in Minnesota after holding out for the season.

"I haven't really thought about that," Heath said. "Obviously, he's back here and we'll have a chat over the weekend and see what he's like and then we can address that then. I have too much other stuff going through my head at the moment."

White was injured when he collided with Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair at the left post on his go-ahead goal. He ended up on the turf beyond the goal line before Becher subbed in for him in the 55th minute.

It took mere seconds for Becher to make it a 3-1 game after Lod misplayed a ball backward to a teammate. Becher finished off the botched exchange with an angled shot on the run inside the 18-yard-box.

Becher was the guy who left Minnesota United embittered by scoring in the 98th minute, resulting in a 1-1 tie on March 25 — denying the Loons a home victory that still hasn't come this season. Mender García's 40th-minute goal in that game was the last one the Whitecaps allowed before they recorded four consecutive clean sheets in their unbeaten streak.

Michael Boxall ended that streak by cleaning up on a corner kick against goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka in the 33rd minute Saturday. Not only was it the first goal against Vancouver in 443 minutes, but it was Boxall's first goal for the Loons since Sept. 29, 2019, a span of 91 games.

Recently acquired attacker Sang Bin Jeong scored his first MLS goal in 65th minute to pull the Loons within 3-2, converting Lod's perfectly placed pass into a run behind three defenders before he scored on a soft second-touch shot.

His curling strike moments before the end of the game just missed the net's upper-right corner.

It was the last of many chances the Loons had to score.

García had a couple opportunities at his feet in the second half but couldn't get off a shot. Neither could left back Kemar Lawrence. Heath called it "unlucky" that Jeong's bending shot just missed by inches.

"I can't for the life of me think about the goals, because it's bordering on comical, it really is," Heath said. "That we give professional players the opportunities to score goals that easy is scary."

Loons midfielder Kervin Arriaga didn't travel with the team Thursday, four days after he had missed a scoreless draw with FC Dallas because of a hamstring injury.

Starting striker Luis Amarilla left the game in the first half because of what Heath called a groin injury. Jeong was injured in the second half, hobbling around the field at first because there weren't any options with Amarilla, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Franco Fragapane already subbed out.

When asked if he would have taken Jeong out if he had other substitution options, Heath said: "Maybe, but it's a moot point because we couldn't do it. So we had to leave him on. Even with the chance he had last kick of the game, he's really unlucky, just put it other side of the post. He's going to be a good player for us in this league."

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.