Minnesota United's Franco Fragapane plays on while investigation lingers

On Saturday, Minnesota United left-side attacker Franco Fragapane played on, starting and playing all 90-plus minutes in a 2-2 home draw with San Jose.

Fragapane did so while he and the Loons still await results of a MLS investigation after Portland coach Giovanni Savarese alleged — not by name – that he directed a racial slur at Timbers star Diego Chara the week before.

Loons coach Adrian Heath after the game said there was no reason Fragapane shouldn't play. He was asked in his postgame media interview if it was a case of innocent until proven guilty.

"I thought that was American law, isn't it?" Heath replied. "I didn't realize we were guilty by association. So we'll see. Hopefully, they'll have a resolution in the next few days."

Loons veteran defender Michael Boxall suffered a high groin injury in Saturday's 26^th minute and came off for injured replacement Brent Kallman three minutes later.

He was scheduled to have an MRI on Sunday, just days before he is due to join his New Zealand national team for this month's Tokyo Olympics. Boxall had been expected to play Wednesday's game at Colorado before leaving.

"Obviously, we won't know where that's going to leave him regarding the Olympics," Heath said. "We'll have to wait and see. We'll have a better idea when he's had a night's rest."

Former USL defender DJ Taylor made his MLS debut when he entered Saturday's game at halftime for starting right back Jukka Raitala, who played 45-plus after returning from the UEFA Euro championships earlier in the week.

They replaced starter Romain Metanire, who was still on his way back from France for an appointment to get his U.S. green card.

"I thought he was excellent when he came on," Heath said. "You know, he's a really good one-on-one defender. He's got good pace and he jumped in at the right time. I thought he could be really pleased for his first one for us."