Minnesota United FC at San Jose Earthquakes Preview

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Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United FC at San Jose Earthquakes Preview

August 30, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Minnesota United hits the road for a late-night Western Conference match at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.

MNUFC comes into the game against San Jose having dropped a match at home against Seattle Sounders FC last week. Though the Loons couldn't secure three points at Allianz Field, a silver lining is that newly-acquired striker Kelvin Yeboah scored a brace on the night of his MLS and Minnesota debut - a historic performance for the club. Yeboah's ability to find space and create scoring chances against Seattle will now contributes to a Loons' offense that can pose a serious threat to defenses across the conference, with Tani Oluwaseyi and Teemu Pukki as choices to play alongside him at the top.

Out of the Bay Area, the San Jose Earthquakes have not been able to crack the code on how to turn around a tough regular season, to-date. However, the Silicon Valley side had a successful Leagues Cup 2024 run, advancing to the Round of 16. Then, the Earthquakes last week handedly defeated one of the surprise teams in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake, 2-0. But, it was a flipped-script last time against Minnesota in Saint Paul, where the Loons beat the Earthquakes 2-0.

Minnesota's push for the playoffs is in full motion as the Loons approach the final eight games of the regular season, starting with Saturday night's game against San Jose. Will MNUFC regroup and recharge its offensive threat and take advantage of a disjointed Earthquakes defense, or will the Quakes hold firm and continue their recent run of form, protecting precious road points being stolen by the Loons?

HEAD COACH ERIC RAMSAY ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING A RESULT THIS WEEKEND IN SAN JOSE...

"We'll put a lot of pressure on ourselves to go there and get a result. Of course, that would logically be the case given where they [San Jose] are. They've of course picked up in the last couple of weeks, had a really good result against [Real] Salt Lake last week, which is perhaps not phenomenal timing for us, but we've got to go there feeling confident on the back of last week. In frustration, there is still a base of a really good team and something that we can really grab onto and take forward. We've got to go there [San Jose] with a healthy sense of pressure and expectation, and the players have to deal with that because that is ultimately where we want to be. We want to be a team that feels pressure to win every game and that there's an expectation that we can do so. So, we want to start building that on Saturday, it's a good start point for that."

PLAYER STATUS REPORT:

Minnesota United

OUT:

Loïc Mesanvi - Shoulder (Out)

QUESTIONABLE:

None

MINNESOTA UNITED FC @ SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

PayPal Park | San Jose, California

08.31.2024 | MLS Regular Season | Match 27

9:30 p.m. CT (MLS Season Pass; MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN)

2024 MLS Record (W-L-D)

MIN: 9-11-6 (33 pts. | 4-6-2 on the road)

SJ: 5-19-2 (17 pts. | 3-9-1 at home)

Check out the Minnesota United FC Statistics

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