Minnesota
Storylines | What Portland’s Win Over LAFC Means for Minnesota | Minnesota United FC
When it comes to finding a storyline to pick up on in Portland, there’s no two ways about it. Matchday 7 in the City of Roses saw the Timbers become the first team all season to score on LAFC. Nobody really expected the first team to breach LAFC’s impenetrable defense to be a floundering Timbers side sitting below the play-in line, but that 2-1 scoreline doesn’t lie. Or does it?
Setting the Scene
First, some context. If you haven’t been religiously following the whole of the Western Conference for some bizarre reason, you might not know that after winning their first match of the season against the Columbus Crew (who have six points in seven games), Portland didn’t win another game until last weekend.
Meanwhile, LAFC have started the 2026 season on an absolute tear. The attacking unit of Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min, with some David Martínez and Nathan Ordaz sprinkled in, is an absolute beast, and the squad boasts a goal differential of +13. Their season-starting shutout streak of 572 minutes broke the league record.
How it Happened
So how did the underdogs break LAFC’s streak? No matter how you slice it, it’s a very impressive result, but when you look at the lineup, a lot of things start to explain themselves. With the Black and Gold prioritizing Leg 2 of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final against Cruz Azul, Head Coach Marc Dos Santos opted to rotate almost the entire team to give the starters a well-deserved rest. Bouanga and defender Nkosi Tafari were the only men on the XI to carry over from the squad’s midweek fixture, a 3-0 home win against Cruz Azul in Leg 1.
Squad rotation had backup keeper Thomas Hasal starting out in net, and he was replaced by Cabral Carter on a concussion substitution before any of the scoring took place. Now, something to note here is that even though starting keeper Hugo Lloris has the most clean sheets in the league, he’s not even in the top 10 for saves. LAFC’s usual back line is so good that those shots don’t typically get all the way to the Frenchman. With only one of those defensive staples starting on Saturday, it’s not a huge surprise that the net was breached a couple of times.
This was a case of intense squad rotation, and the visitors suffered for it.
A Turning Tide for the Timbers
Don’t worry, any rogue Timbers fans who have found their way to our glorious website — I’m not done yet. A win is a win, and it’s not as if Portland didn’t do any heavy lifting of their own. They needed these three points, and if they continue to convert like they did over the weekend, this might mark a bit of a tipping point that stems the tide on what has otherwise been a lackluster start to the season.
Phil Neville has rolled out a 4-3-3 every single match this season, and though the starting XI hasn’t been identical game-to-game, the consistency of the roles and a handful of heavy hitters isn’t something to be brushed under the rug. Kristoffer Velde has been the star of the season, leading the charge with three goals. He’s the only Timber to have logged more than one, but having eight other goal-scorers on the roster points to a healthy amount of range. Kevin Kelsey has been a consistent impact sub and secured the game-winner against LAFC. Finn Surman is a back line regular who’s logged 30 clearances in seven games.
Portland is 11th in the West right now, with seven points in as many matches. Regardless of the result this weekend, they won’t be able to climb above the playoff line, but it could happen over the next few weeks if they’re consistent. It’s early enough in the season that the table is still very much in flux. If one loss knocked LAFC from the top like that, anything could happen.
While I have my doubts as to whether this Timbers squad could have beaten a full-strength LAFC prioritizing their regular-season play, there’s still plenty to be admired on their recent performance. Portland will be bringing a lot of momentum into this match, and Minnesota is going to need to be ready to lock down a motivated attack and exploit any hole they can find in the back. It’s always an exciting match when the Timbers come to town, and this one won’t be any exception.
Meteorological summer kicks off June 1 and lasts through August. So, is the heat here to stay in Minnesota?
With temperatures near 90 lately, summer is on everyone’s mind. The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center says it’s a toss-up when it comes to temperatures over the three-month season.
“We’re going into an El Niño, and probably a very strong one, or a super El Niño, as they say,” said Pete Boulay, a climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “And looking at past history, might be a cooler-than-normal summer. But we’ll have to wait and see what happens. If you stay dry, it’s going to be hard to stay cool.”
And no doubt, Minnesota has been dry already with drought conditions persisting across northern and southwestern parts of the state.
“Most places in the state are about 1-3 inches short of normal for May, and right about this time of year, we should get about an inch of rain a week,” Boulay said. “Every time we don’t get that rain, every week that goes by, the drought will come back.”
The summer outlook says it is more likely that conditions remain drier than average through August. Though we’re past the majority of Minnesota’s wildfire season, Boulay said if conditions are right, that could create elevated fire threats, unless you’re lucky enough to see some rain.
“We’re in that kind of lazy pattern right now. There’s a high pressure off to our east, and we have kind of the return flow coming out of the south, so warm, and you know, you still might have one of those thunderstorms pop up very isolated, but maybe you’ll get lucky and get one, but most people won’t,” he said.
Boulay said he doesn’t see any change in sight in the short-term with more heat on the way to kick off June.
Summer warmth will hang on in the Twin Cities Wednesday, with some storms possible later in the day.
Highs will be in the upper 80s to near 90. Isolated thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon and evening, mainly across southern Minnesota.
Thursday will be dry, warm and less humid, though highs will stay well above normal.
Friday will bring pleasant late-May weather with sunshine and highs mainly in the 80s.
The weekend looks to be quiet and comfortable as dry conditions continue.
School was not in session over the holiday weekend, but a four-legged friend still managed to pay a visit to a Zimmerman, Minnesota, Montessori school.
The entire incident lasted less than 10 minutes, but left Prairie Hill Montessori with a shattered door and quite the story to tell.
“We got a call, we were up at our cabin… I was more concerned about the deer, which is just the way I am,” said Katherine Curtis, the school’s owner and instructor.
Curtis says the entire moment was caught on CCTV. It shows the deer break through a tempered glass door before tearing through the building, knocking items off shelves and attempting to exit through another door.
Eventually, a local sheriff’s deputy responded and was able to shoo the deer out the door.
“We were all like amazed at how fast it all happened. Actually, how fast the sheriff was able to get here,” Curtis said.
On Tuesday, Curtis was using the incident as a teaching moment. The school had painted a life-size deer on the boarded-up door, and students were coloring deer photos.
“All of the children came in this morning and reported to me what happened,” she said. “It’s unique. It’s something we can remember for years and we’ll have the video. The kids can remember it as something unique and special that happened to us at Prairie Hill.”
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