Loons salvage draw against Houston, end six-game losing streak

Since Minnesota United began losing players to international duty and injuries in early June, the Loons have simply tried to hold on until their team is back together – and to hold on to points, late in the game.

They failed to do so in Portland, nor in Los Angeles, but on Saturday in Houston, Minnesota finally did it, drawing 1-1 with the Houston Dynamo. That ended Minnesota’s six-game losing streak and gave them a valuable point in the standings for the first time since June 8.

Of course, it also extended the Loons’ winless streak to eight games, but after six straight games with zero points, even winning one must have felt like a weight on Minnesota’s shoulders.

“We’re happy, but we’re disappointed that we couldn’t go the rest of the way and couldn’t execute the little details that we needed to, especially defending our box toward the end,” Loons manager Eric Ramsay said. “So it’s bittersweet in that sense, because I think it’s a very important point.”

Minnesota opened the scoring in the 70th minute, as has often been the case this season, from a set piece.

Joseph Rosales took a corner kick from the left and, while his initial ball into the box was cleared, Franco Fragapane collected the clearance. Fragapane played a superb back pass to Rosales, curling it in off the outside of his right foot and leaving Rosales wide open to play another cross. This time, Robin Lod made a run to the near post and he deflected the pass inside the post to give Minnesota the lead.

Twelve minutes later, Houston equalized on a corner. The Minnesota defense failed to place a header on the corner, which bounced to Sebastian Ferreira, who had time to stabilize and unleash a shot from five meters that was too fast for a Minnesota player to influence.

“We’re in the incredible position of being the best team in attack from set pieces, or certainly one of the two or three best, and one of the worst in defence from set pieces, which is a strange position to be in and we really need to improve,” Ramsay said.

MNUFC’s best chances of the first half came just 200 seconds into the game when a pass from Lod found Joseph Rosales free on the left side of the penalty area. The Honduran’s shot, however, was headed straight at goalkeeper Steve Clark. Moments later, a cross found Bongokuhle Hlongwane who headed towards the near post, but his deflection hit the outside of the post and sailed wide.

The match kick-off was delayed by almost an hour due to lightning in the area.

Minnesota will finally welcome back Tani Oluwaseyi and Dayne St. Clair this week, back from the Copa América. The Loons’ two Canadian players started the third-place match against Uruguay, marking Oluwaseyi’s first start for Canada. The forward played 66 minutes and the teams tied 2-2 after regulation, but Canada lost the penalty shootout 4-3.

“We did an objective analysis this week and we are in a worse situation than any other team in MLS, in the sense that we have had more minutes spread across a reduced number of players over this period and that obviously has consequences,” Ramsay said. “The players are at their physical limit and we can only make a few changes on the bench. That will now change, as we approach the transfer window, and we welcome the final elements of the Copa America.”