World Cup? No thank you: Give me MLS NEXT Pro, please. Your Twos are making their way back to Blaine this weekend to keep their season rolling, looking for a rebound result against the Tacoma Defiance in their return to Minnesota. With the Black and Blue attack hitting a rich vein of form and the Defiance beginning to put together their strongest string of results of 2026, this matchup is shaping up to be quite a must-watch affair, so get ready to skip a World Cup match or two to make time for it. Trust me.
Despite falling to LAFC 2 in a tight 1-0 road loss, MNUFC2 are riding a five-game run of form that’s seen them earn three wins, score 12 goals, and watch both Marcus Caldeira and Darius Randell find truly lethal form in the final third. Caldeira’s hat trick against St. Louis CITY2 in the Twos’ last home match was only outdone by Randell’s two-goal, two-assist performance, as the attacking duo carved open the opposition at will at Allianz Field. Their form makes MNUFC2 one of the hottest attacking teams in the whole league, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Defiance come into this weekend’s match boasting an incredible defensive run in their last five games, conceding just once and outscoring their opponents 6-1 in that span. Though they don’t create a ton of chances, their stinginess in front of their own goal has seen them close the gap in a very competitive Western Conference. Tacoma sits four places behind Minnesota at the moment, with just four points separating the two sides.
Forwards Yu Tsakunome and Mark Bronnik stand out as the danger men for Sunday’s visitors, with Bronnik bagging a goal in each of his team’s last two games and three in their last five. Between those two and Caldeira and Randell, we’re all but guaranteed to see goals at the NSC Stadium this weekend.
This will be the first and only regular-season meeting between these two sides in 2026, but if their 2025 duals are anything to go off of, it should be an entertaining, end-to-end match. Both the home and away fixtures last season ended in stalemates, with the home side pulling out the shootout win in both.
Now, with the hosts boasting an attack firing on all cylinders and the visitors bringing an extremely in-form defense, we’re looking at yet another close meeting. Come on out to the NSC this Sunday to cheer on your Twos, with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. CT.
