MLS: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the soccer club Minnesota United. Its 10-year mission; to explore strange new stadiums; to seek out new opponents and new competitions; to boldly win what one club wins every year! I’ve shown enough love to Star Wars fans over the years (galaxy far, far away, and all that jazz); this time, we’re throwing a bone to you Trekkies out there as we prepare for yet another Loons vs. LA Galaxy showdown this weekend.

Minnesota United (1-2-2)

Run of Form: D-L-L-W-D

It’s been a turbulent start to 2026 for your Loons, and after so much change in the offseason, it’s not terribly surprising. Five points from five games is an admittedly underwhelming tally, but it’s not far behind the 1.2 ppg rate that marked the playoff cut-off line in 2025. A draw against a formidable Seattle side was an encouraging sign, suggesting that a potential uptick in form could be on the horizon — and this weekend’s road trip is the perfect opportunity to get that uptick started.

LA Galaxy (1-2-2)

Run of Form: D-W-L-W-L (All competitions)

So, there’s always an asterisk with teams playing in Concacaf Champions Cup, right? The Galaxy have started their MLS campaign off exactly the way the Loons have: five points in five games. But they’ve thrown a pair of CCC wins in the mix to boost morale and stretch their squad across more minutes played. Don’t put too much stock in those dubs, though. It’s hard to say their narrow advancement over Sporting San Miguelito from Panama was an encouraging sign, as they only went through on away goals after drawing both legs. They’ve conceded a goal in all but one of their league matches, and they’ve relied on an impressive but (probably) unsustainable goal-scoring streak from João Klauss to keep the results from looking as bad as they’ve been.

Keys to the Match:

Key (!) Passes

Hey, that’s the name of the thing! A key to the match with ‘key’ in its title? How serendipitous. This first key is stats-focused, and it’s aptly named. Key Passes are defined as any final pass that immediately leads to a clear goal-scoring opportunity but does not result in a goal (otherwise, it’d be an assist). Why do we measure that? Well, passing is just as important as any other aspect of the game, and the people that do it well deserve to have their efforts recorded. Obviously, you’d rather get the assist, so you don’t want a super high number of Key Passes. That said, you’d like to at least see a few on the stat sheet to show that your creative engines are firing and chances are being created. Through the first five games of 2025, your Loons haven’t registered a single key pass, and they’ve only got two assists, courtesy of Devin Padelford and Joaquín Pereyra. This tells us that there’s a need for greater creativity on the ball and cohesive play among this group. That doesn’t fall solely on attacking midfielders Tomás Chancalay and Joaquín Pereyra, as they need intelligent runs and positioning from their teammates in order to make these incisive passes, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that while the team has shifted toward making more passes, they’ve shied away from making the meaningful ones. This could be helped by a change in shape, a change in personnel, or a change in instructions. Maybe Yeboah runs the wide channels more, leaving space for teammates to run into. Or, maybe they look to get two strikers up front to give the midfielders more options. One way or another, the Black and Blue need something fresh in the attacking third.

Discipline Today, Freedom Tomorrow

You gotta keep your head, man. Both the Galaxy and the Loons have received eight yellow cards total in MLS this year, but there’s a key difference: repeat offenders. By and large, your Loons have learned their lesson after the first caution, reigning in their challenges and playing clean enough to get to the final whistle. The Galaxy, on the other hand, have seen two players sent off for receiving a second yellow card in 2026, leading their team to concede a cumulative total of four goals while down a man. Even in their CCC second leg against San Miguelito, they received a red at the very end of the match. There’s a noticeable fire to this LA team that’s liable to get them into trouble, and while we all want to see a clean game out there this weekend, the Loons would be shooting themselves in the foot if they don’t target some of the opposition’s more foul-prone players. If an LA player receives an early yellow, there’s always the classic strategy of attacking them over and over again until they slip up again. It’s entirely possible that this weekend’s match finishes with fewer than 22 players on the field, and the Loons need to be prepared to use that possibility to their advantage.

JK, but it’s not a joke

I already referenced João Klauss’ incredible goal streak to start 2026, with the Brazilian needing just over a minute to find his first goal in Galaxy colors. Since then, he’s scored in all but one of their league matches this season: scoring a brace in his side’s lone MLS win of the season, the only LA goal in their 4-1 loss to Colorado, and the equalizer in their most recent draw with Portland. He’s a classic striker, lurking in the box and putting the ball away with an efficiency that, though it isn’t necessarily exciting to watch, is undeniably effective. Goals are goals, right? Now, to defend my claim that his form is unsustainable. During his three seasons with St. Louis CITY, Klauss scored a total of 25 goals in 79 games. That makes for a respectable rate of about 0.32 goals per game, meaning that he scored in one out of every three-ish games. His best individual season with STL saw him bag 10 goals in 19 games back in 2023, a 0.53 clip that was extremely impressive. Obviously, his current rate with LA is a perfect 1.00 goals per game, and while not impossible, it’s highly improbable that he can keep this up. He’s good, but with some discipline in the back and plenty of communication from the likes of Drake Callender and Morris Duggan, he won’t be able to find the little spaces he likes, and he won’t be able to keep the streak.