MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. LOS ANGELES FC
Banc of California Stadium | Los Angeles, California
05.01.2022 | MLS Week No. 9 | MLS Game No. 9
9:00 p.m. CT (FS1 and MNUFC Radio on SKOR North)

Saturday's storm held off long enough for MNUFC and Chicago Fire to go the full ninety-minutes, but in the timespan it was raining goals at Allianz Field. Emanuel Reynoso, Kervin Arriaga and Robin Lod all found the back of the net to give the Loons an impressive 3-0 win over the Fire, who had only allowed two goals prior to their trip to St. Paul. Up next, Minnesota United heads west to sunny Los Angeles to face LAFC this Sunday, May 1. Los Angeles is a tough place to play, and so far this season, Portland has been the only team to leave Banc of California with a point of any sort after they tied LAFC 1-1 on March 6. Draws have been commonplace between MNUFC and LAFC with their last three matches ending with the teams splitting the points. Going into Sunday's game, both the Loons and LAFC are fresh off of a three-game week that ended in three sets of three points. As long as the Loons continue to maintain their momentum, they stand a good chance to top the white-hot Western Conference leaders.

ADRIAN HEATH ON LAFC AS A CLUB..

“They play in a similar shape, they play their 4-3-3 and they’ve got really good attacking pieces, whether it be [Cristian] Arango or whether it be [Carlos] Vela. Obviously, [Cristian] Fernandez is injured. [Kwadwo] Opoku has come in and done well. It’s going to be tough at their place. It always is. We’ve been there in the past and got a couple of results so it’s going to be tough but not impossible. Looking forward to it.” MORE

DAYNE ST. CLAIR ON LAFC FROM AN ATTACKING PERSPECTIVE AND PLAYERS SUCH AS CARLOS VELA...

“We know that when he does well, LAFC does well. Going into this weekend, if we can try to eliminate him and do our best job against them, we know we’ve gone there before and gotten a result, so it’s not impossible. We’re going to go in with the same mindset. We can go and get a result again.” MORE

STORYLINES PRESENTED BY BMW

• POSSESSED: Traditionally, Minnesota has more success playing on the counter-attack, ceding possession to many opponents they’ve played. In two recent matches, the U.S. Open Cup game in Madison and the MLS win over Chicago, Minnesota controlled a majority of the possessions and won. In the first half of the Chicago game, the Loons had the majority of possession in every single five-minute increment of the half, resulting in quality chances from their ball control (most notably Reynoso’s offside goal in the 10th minute and his free kick off the bar in the 20th minute). If the Loons can figure out the secret to consistently scoring goals while controlling possession, they will become an even more dangerous opponent. As we noted in last week’s Storylines, set pieces are a great start, with another goal from a corner kick against Chicago. MORE

FIRST TOUCHES

• LAFC currently leads all of MLS with 19 points and a 6-1-1 record through eight games; they led all eight of their fixtures by xG.
• After a week with six goals in the league, Minnesota is now one of just six teams with a goal difference of +5 or better.
• LAFC forward Carlos Vela’s brother, Alejandro, played for Minnesota United during its NASL tenure. He made eight appearances for the Loons in 2015.
• Tyler Miller played for LAFC during the club’s inaugural season in 2018 and in 2019. MORE