Photo credit: @MNUFC

By Pearl Allison Lo

The San Jose Earthquakes’ six-game streak was serious, but Minnesota United FC–also known as the Loons–showed their game before was not a fluke, halting the Earthquakes with a 3-1 win at Allianz Field Wednesday.

With just a point separating them in the standings, Minnesota leapfrogged San Jose after the result. The last time the two teams met it was during the infancy of the 2019 season. Minnesota won 3-0 and it was the Quakes’ second straight loss and first shutout of the season and would be followed by three more losses.

Minnesota whooped FC Cincinnati their last game 7-1, and even though FC Cincinnati was in last place, they proved their play with their performance versus rising San Jose. In both this and their last game, Minnesota’s possession percentage hovered in the 30s.

Goalie Vito Mannone excelled for his team, making a MLS career-high seven saves, especially in the second half, as the Quakes attempted to come from behind. San Jose had 27 to Minnesota’s 13 shots and 10 shots blocked.

Michael Boxall had the game-winner in the 52nd minute. An inadvertent kick forward by San Jose helped and before goalie Daniel Vega could get to the ball, Boxall capitalized to put Minnesota back up.

The Quakes fell behind for just the second time in 12 games, early in the 5th minute. Darwin Quintero was aided by Ethan Finlay and Miguel Ibarra.

Things got heated in the end of the first half. San Jose’s Vako bled, both teams jawed at each other and the Quakes’ Tommy Thompson got knocked down. Thompson ended up scoring his second goal in as many games with either his hip or stomach in the 47th minute in stoppage time as a result.

As Thompson put it, “We have a couple different set pieces that we work on; Magnus [Eriksson] and Cristian [Espinoza] can both whip a great ball in. We get a lot of guys in the box for a reason and I’m glad it payed off on that play.”

San Jose ended up with 65% possession throughout the game. Minnesota received four of five yellow cards in the second half. The Quakes’ Magnus Eriksson had a game-high six shots.

Eriksson replied, “Nothing to be ashamed of. We controlled the whole second half and we are proud of the way we executed this game…”

Teammate Shea Salinas made his presence known after entering in the 66th minute. He had two assists on shots Mannone was forced to save, to Danny Hoesen in the 68th minute and Eriksson in the 71st minute.

Thompson’s shot in the 88th minute went over the bar.

Minnesota wasn’t done yet though. Former Quake Ike Opara had the primary assist as he won the ball against Minnesotan Jackson Yueill and sent it to Kevin Molino from the midfield Molino who entered in the 83rd minute, scored in the 92nd minute and got a yellow card the minute after. Molino also had the last goal of the last match, which came in the 87th minute and he was the only repeat scorer for Minnesota between their last two games.

San Jose still had life when Cristian Espinoza was pulled down, but his subsequent attempt was saved as well.

Up Next: The Quakes will have an even quicker turnaround for their next game, as they return home for one game to host Real Salt Lake Saturday at 7:30 pm.