After completing their first-ever regular-season sweep of the Seattle Sounders, Minnesota United heads to Sandy, Utah on Saturday to try and finish off a sweep of Real Salt Lake.
Minnesota (13-6-8, 47 points), second in the Western Conference and five points behind San Diego FC, defeated RSL 2-0 on March 29 in Saint Paul in the first meeting. Tani Oluwaseyi scored a brace and Dayne St. Clair made three saves in the victory.
This will likely be Oluwaseyi’s swan song for the Loons. The Canadian national, who leads the team with 10 goals and is second with eight assists in 23 matches, is expected to move on to Villarreal CF of La Liga next week once a work permit and final documents are finalized for what is reportedly a $7.5 million transfer.
Minnesota, busy at the Secondary Transfer Window, reportedly turned down a $8 million offer from Turkish club Trabzonspor for star midfielder Joaquin Pereyra and signed 26-year-old midfielder Dominik Fitz from FK Austria Wien, where he scored 54 goals and had 63 assists in 204 appearances.
The Loons come in off a 1-0 home victory over Seattle on Saturday as Pereyra scored in the 73rd minute and St. Clair finished with four saves. It was Minnesota’s first clean sheet in MLS play since May 28, and the ninth of the season in MLS play.
“I think if you asked beforehand what the group really needed, not necessarily wanted, it was a clean sheet,” Loons head coach Eric Ramsay said. “It was a return to the resilience and defensive discipline and desperation to keep the ball out of the net that we showed for such long periods of the year and made us such a difficult team to play against. … It was a crucial win.”
Real Salt Lake (9-13-4, 31 points), which has dropped its last two regular-season matches along with three of its last four, enters the contest in 10th place, one point behind San Jose for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
RSL comes in off a 1-0 loss at Charlotte FC last Saturday as Idan Toklomati scored on a header in the 35th minute off a free kick from Ashley Westwood. RSL lost despite finishing with a 19-12 advantage in shots and a 7-2 edge in shots on goal.
Salt Lake also picked up a big transfer this week from FC Cincinnati in longtime U.S. national DeAndre Yedlin. The 32-year-old defender was scheduled to practice with the team Thursday and is eligible to play Saturday.
“As a visitor, I always hated to travel there — it’s a tough place to play, at altitude, against a high-energy team,” Yedlin said in a press release of his move to Utah. “You know you’re gonna get a tough game, against a team that plays good football and is fun to watch.”
–Field Level Media
