Minnesota United ended up facing FC Dallas with, effectively, half its first team.
When the opponent is FC Dallas, half a team is still enough to get a point.
The Loons, missing 11 of 26 first-team players through international call-up, injury, or excused absence, still managed to hold on for a 1-1 draw at home against a Dallas team that has claimed just three points in nine road games this season.
If anything, Minnesota could have gone on to win what turned out to be a slow, cagey game between two teams that appeared to be willing to settle for a draw.
As early gifts go, you could hardly beat the one that Minnesota got from Dallas. Attempting to keep the ball in the ninth minute, the visitors decided on a series of short passes from a goal kick. Instead, when the ball was passed back to keeper Maarten Paes, his first touch on the ball was terrible, and his scrambling attempt at a pass was even worse, going directly to Bongokuhle Hlongwane at the top of the penalty area. The ball deflected to Hassani Dotson, who blasted a low shot past an embarrassed Paes to make the game 1-0.
Just six minutes later, though, Dallas tied the score from a planned corner-kick routine. Instead of a cross, a pass went to Asier Illarramendi at the top of the penalty area, who slid the ball to his left for a first-time shot from Liam Fraser – and the midfielder hooked a curling shot past Clint Irwin to tie the game.
Amazingly, it was Fraser’s first MLS goal, even though the 26-year-old midfielder has played the equivalent of 50 full games in the league.
Loons backup goalkeeper Clint Irwin, making his first MLS appearance of the year, was finally called into action in the 69th minute – and he responded with an excellent double save. First, the 35-year-old dug out a close-range header from Bernand Kamungo, then sprung to his right to deny a bouncing shot from Paul Arriola.
Minnesota was missing defenders DJ Taylor and Hugo Bacharach to injury, and Miguel Tapias was away working on getting his green card – but, in a surprise, the Loons ended up missing only eight players to international duty. Zarek Valentin, who played 90 minutes in a World Cup qualifier for Puerto Rico on Thursday, returned to the team ahead of the game.
It was needed depth for a bench that was still two players short of full strength, even after the Loons signed four MNUFC2 players to short-term contracts to help fill out the roster. One of them, Apple Valley’s Kage Romanshyn, made his MLS debut as a substitute in the 78th minute.
With Maplewood’s Devin Padelford and Medina’s Caden Clark in the starting lineup, and Minneapolis’s Patrick Weah already on the field as a sub, that meant Minnesota briefly had four Minnesotans on the field – almost certainly a record for the team.
