As we prepare for Minnesota United’s first-ever home playoff game on Sunday, October 20 against the LA Galaxy, we’re taking an opportunity to look back at 10 of our favorite moments from what was a historic, dramatic and action-packed 2019 regular season.
Twelve minutes and six seconds: the amount of time it took for Osvaldo Alonso to score Minnesota United’s first-ever goal at Allianz Field, a moment frozen in time that will forever be ingrained in the history of the club.
Alonso’s strike will be looked back upon not just as a benchmark for what was to come from MNUFC at Allianz Field this season, but as a moment that defied expectations, united friends and families and proved to all that the Loons had truly flown home.
It was a cross from defender Romain Metanire and a cushioned header from forward Angelo Rodriguez that helped sculpt a textbook volley from the Loons’ captain.
After Metanire charged down the NYCFC sideline, he scooped a cross to the back post where a leaping Rodriguez used all 26 of his neck muscles to direct a threatening header onto the doorstep of the NYCFC goal. NYCFC’s Alexander Ring attempted to clear the danger but the defensive midfielder mistakenly put his header directly in the path of a trailing Alonso who smashed home a right-footed volley to lift the roof off Allianz Field.
“It was just utterly exceptional,” exclaimed MNUFC Play-By-Play Commentator Callum Williams. “It was beyond anything anybody ever thought. When Alonso scores the goal, I have never seen a stadium explode like Allianz Field did, in that moment.”
With a picturesque vantage point from his commentary position, it was Williams who had a first-hand view of the raw emotion that Alonso’s volley sent through the spine of Allianz Field.
“There was a father and a son celebrating together and the father picked up the son and he was just punching the air,” said Williams. “You could just see the joy in his face as his father was celebrating with him. That moment right there is going to be a topic of conversation for those two for the rest of their lives.”
