Minnesota United came into Saturday night’s game against Portland Timbers with the goal of climbing up the table, but an understanding that it wouldn’t be easy at Providence Park on an evening where the temperature hit 106°F and forced the game to start an hour later than originally planned. The Loons had up to this point not managed a win on the road, but with a goal in the second minute from Adrien Hunou, Minnesota hung in long enough in enemy territory to pull off the 1-0 clean sheet to capture all three points. MNUFC are now on a six-game unbeaten streak and have climbed to fifth in the Western Conference.

The game had barely begun when the visitors broke the game open. In the second minute, midfielder Emanuel Reynoso threaded an inch-perfect pass through the defense to find a streaking Franco Fragapane on the left side. The Argentine then slotted the ball centrally to forward Adrien Hunou, who finished it cleanly to put the Loons on top 1-0. It was the fastest goal in Minnesota’s MLS history, beating out goals from Christian Ramirez and Darwin Quintero in the fifth minute from 2018 and 2019.

Early goals are often the product of major missteps by the defense, but as the game wore on, it was clear that Portland had just come out flat. Blame it on the heat or playing their second game of the week after heading to Houston on Wednesday, but the Timbers were unmistakably a step slow. They had come out in a 5-3-2 formation that was clearly designed to sit back and then strike on the counterattack, but after conceding early, it made it hard to get numbers forward. More often than not, midfielder Diego Valeri — playing as a false 9 to begin the game — found himself all alone up the field as he waited for reinforcements that seldom arrived. Just prior to the break, Portland had their best opportunity of the first half as Valeri lashed in a shot that went just barely wide right and into the side netting.

Coming out of the break, the Timbers took the pitch with a new sense of urgency and the opening minutes found the teams on much more even footing. But the Loons withstood the early push and Minnesota continued to generate quality chances — from Hunou, from Niko Hansen, from Fragapane — but the home side stayed in it largely thanks to the work of goalkeeper Steve Clark. The veteran netminder stopped at least two shots that on any other night would have been goals from Hunou and Hansen and it looked for a moment as if the dramatic saves could galvanize the Timbers and get something going the other way.

Niko Hansen — who had played a lot of minute in the last week — made way for Ethan Finlay in the 59th minute. Things got a bit chippy around the 65th minute as the referee had to pull aside captains from both teams to try and settle down a brewing conflict between Fragapane and Diego Chara. Once that was settled, Head Coach Giovanni Savarese brought in attacker Dairon Asprilla for midfielder Renzo Zambrano, giving the home side a bit more attacking edge. But it wasn’t enough to create a goal.

In the 90th minute and with nine minutes of stoppage time coming, Heath brought in defender Brent Kallman and defensive midfielder Osvaldo Alonso for Franco Fragapane and Emanuel Reynoso, respectively, signaling a shift to a “defend at all costs” mentality. Through the extra time, the Loons did just that, turning away attack after attack to hang on in the heat and come away with all three points in their second shutout in a row.

MAN OF THE MATCH

UP NEXT

MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota
07.03.21 | MLS Week No. 11 | MLS Game No. 11
7:00 p.m. CT (The CW Twin Cities, Bally Sports North, MNUFC Radio on SKOR North)