Minnesota United takes MLS victory at Austin, its favored approach wearing well on the road

One week after Minnesota United’s worst match of the season, the Loons got back to what they do best Saturday: controlling a road game. They benefited from an own goal, they scored from a set piece, they held the lead for the second half and they ran out 3-0 winners in Austin.

After Verde goalkeeper Brad Stuver let a weak grounder slip through his wickets to give Minnesota the lead, Loons fullback Anthony Markanich scored with a header from the second phase of a set piece to double Minnesota’s advantage, just 35 minutes into the game.

Joaquín Pereyra added the cherry on top in second-half stoppage time, scoring with a highlight-reel volley from outside the penalty area to cement the win.

Even as Austin controlled almost all the possession, the Loons mostly controlled the game by being willing to suffer defensively and picking off passes in midfield. It was the template for why Minnesota has been so good on the road under manager Eric Ramsay — the default game plan sets up perfectly for playing on the road.

Ramsay told reporters in Austin he was happy with the approach and the result.

“There are a lot of ingredients to that performance that we were missing last week, and I was really pleased we were able to bounce back and recapture very quickly what team we are,” Ramsay said.

With Kelvin Yeboah missing from the squad because of a nasty-looking ankle roll during the first half of the game against Vancouver, Minnesota went back to the same 5-2-3 look that served the Loons so well in 2024.

It pushed midfielders Robin Lod and Pereyra higher into the attack, next to striker Tani Oluwaseyi. Combined with additional runs forward from right wingback Bongokuhle Hlongwane, it was maybe the most counterattacking setup the Loons could have played.

It went well enough that the result might give the Minnesota manager pause, to consider playing more with a single striker rather than the dual-striker look we’ve seen with Oluwaseyi and Yeboah.

The Loons are big believers in the value of set pieces — and they’re keen on counting goals scored from the later phases, too, as balls are cleared and then recycled. Minnesota’s second goal came from just such a moment.

A free kick into the Austin area was cleared, but the clearance fell back to Minnesota, and eventually to right center back Jefferson Díaz. His cross found fullback Markanich, who’d stayed forward after the set piece, and Markanich’s bullet header found the bottom corner of the net.

“We play for those moments really strategically, and we’ve been really effective over the course of this year,” Ramsay said. “I don’t know whether we probably get enough credit for the number of goals and chances we create on set plays, because I would even say the first goal comes partly as a consequence of some components of a deep free kick and a set play moment that we that we talk about a lot.”

Stuver is normally one of the better keepers in MLS, so his mistake in the 22nd minute was even more shocking. Pereyra attempted a cross, which deflected off the foot of Austin midfielder Ilie Sánchez and bounced gently toward Stuver. Somehow, the ball slipped through Stuver’s hands and then his legs and rolled gently into the goal.

MATCH SUMMARY: Minnesota United FC 3, Austin FC 0

MLS standings

There are no official rules in the laws of soccer about how to score own goals; the league website awarded it to Sánchez, then Stuver, then back to Sánchez. The only fair thing, though, would be to give it to Stuver, for one of the worst blunders of his career.

Austin FC completed more than 250 more passes than Minnesota did, and more than doubled the Loons’ passing total. It was more evidence that possession is an imperfect statistic to determine which team was the better side.

It’s a red-letter day for Minnesota United this week, one that fans have had circled on their calendars since before the season began: The Loons are returning to the U.S. Open Cup for the first time since 2023. They’ll make the trip to take on second-division Louisville City on Wednesday.

Oh, and next weekend there’s the small matter of a visit from the star-studded, Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami.