Get ready for another late night, folks. Your Loons liked playing on the West Coast so much last weekend they’ve decided to go back and do it all over again! This time, they’re headed to the home of the Chrome and Azul to look at that big shiny orb and, hopefully, repeat what happened the first time Minnesota hit the pitch at Snapdragon Stadium.

Run of Form

Minnesota United FC
Run of Form: W-D-L-L-W

Following a pair of rough and rougher games after a victorious Home Opener, the Black and Blue have built themselves back up over their last couple competitions. A scoreless draw against Seattle led to an impressive road win over the LA Galaxy. After a string of tough matchups against high-table opponents early in the season, hopefully the Loons are back in form and ready to ramp up ahead of a bit of schedule congestion, as their U.S. Open Cup journey starts just days after they take on San Diego.

San Diego FC
Run of Form: L-D-L-D-W (All Competitions)

San Diego is officially out of Concacaf Champions Cup after a disappointing road loss against Toluca, which means they can now focus all of their attention on MLS play. In terms of the regular season, they only logged their first defeat last weekend (nice work, San Jose), possibly due to the schedule congestion. Now that their attention and depth is focused on a single goal, I’d anticipate a return to the high-flying form that won the West last year.

Keys to the Match:

Back to Defensive Discipline

In the last couple of games, MNUFC’s back line has looked a lot closer to what it was last season: an incredibly disciplined, versatile unit that operates seamlessly with the players in front of them. Even with captain Michael Boxall out, the center back trio of Nicolás Romero, Morris Duggan, and Jefferson Diaz has proven to be a more than capable combo, flanked by Anthony Markanich and Kyle Duncan. And behind that, Drake Callender is holding down the fort, ranking in the league’s top 10 in saves so far this season. They’ve conceded only once in the last two games, as opposed to 11 times in the first four games of the year. Now that the squad has returned to their defensive prowess, they’ve looked like a real challenge even against the likes of recent high scorers like João Klauss and Paul Rothrock. That said: Bring it, Anders Dreyer.

A Turning Point

Despite returning to that defensively sound approach, the Loons retained 43.6% possession against LA and demonstrated a creative attack that speaks to Coach Knowles’ more aggressive playstyle. Newcomer Tomás Chancalay has been a notable part of that progression — I mean, look at this assist. In addition to some quality leadership from Joaquín Pereyra over the weekend, we also saw Owen Gene step up to cover for Wil Trapp staying calm on the ball and consistently occupying space. Nectarios Triantis really rose to the occasion alongside him to man the double pivot despite barely having a chance to recover from international duty. Markanich and Duncan also made some dangerous runs that really stretched LA’s defense (and resulted in a well-deserved goal for the highest-scoring defender on planet earth). In spite of a thinner squad, every guy on the pitch put in a solid shift against the Galaxy, and a more possession-heavy balance up front than we saw last season that can really keep opponents on their toes.

No Sophomore Slump

CCC run aside, San Diego is still gosh darn good. There’s no second-year decline to indicate that last year was just beginner’s luck — these guys are the real deal, and now that they can really focus on regular-season play, the threat is ramping back up. Between Dreyer, Marcus Ingvartsen, and Onni Valakari, this roster is studded with stars and tied for third-most goals in the league this season. Per FBref, they’re logging .19 goals per shot, the second-highest in the league only behind New England Revolution. They boast the third-best shots on target percentage in the league at 47.5. Plus, they’re still some of the best passers around. Jeppe Tverskov leads the league in completed passes with 531, and Manu Duah and Christopher McVey also rank in the top 10. If Minnesota wants to keep advancing their own attack against these guys, they’re going to have to get very creative.