Preview | Minnesota United vs. LAFC - 2026 MLS Season

Saturday, April 25 | 1:45 p.m. PT

🏟 | Allianz Field - St. Paul, MN

🖥 | WATCH: Apple TV, FOX | Coupang Play (Korea), SpoTV (Korea), Local Bar Partners

📻 | LISTEN: 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, SiriusXM FC 157 KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), & KYPA 1230 AM (Korean)

LAFC (5W-2L-2D, third in the Western Conference, fifth in the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings) travels to Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, for a Saturday afternoon meeting with Minnesota United (5W-2L-2D, fourth, sixth). Kickoff is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. PT.

The matchup is a tricky one for the Black & Gold, who four days later will host Mexican league champions Toluca in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals. Saturday’s match in Minnesota falls in the center of a challenging string of 13 matches in just 44 days – that’s one match every 3.3 days – with seven of those 13 contests on the road, including two trips to central Mexico.

MOVING PARTS

“It’s no secret that our focus is much more on the semifinal of the Concacaf Champions [Cup],” said head coach Marc Dos Santos, “but at the same time we have a game in Minnesota. That part is hard. In the MLS standings right now, we are in third place in our division. We accumulated points in the beginning [of the MLS season]. That was important, and we know it's not a sprint. We have to stay strong until the World Cup break, and then from there, stop a little bit to go again.”

Dos Santos may choose to rotate his usual starting eleven on Saturday in order to rest key players ahead of Wednesday’s pivotal match against Toluca, as LAFC seeks to advance to the Concacaf Final and win the most prestigious trophy in the region.

One player who could sit out Saturday’s match in the Twin Cities is LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (below) who has amassed seven clean sheets in eight MLS starts this year, including Wednesday’s 0-0 draw with Colorado. The 2018 World Cup champion has recorded more shutouts (30) than any MLS goalie since he joined the league at the beginning of 2024.

SCOUTING THE LOONS

LAFC and MNUFC each have 17 points, but the Loons hold a minus-two goal differential (11 goals scored and 13 goals allowed) compared to LAFC’s plus-10. Six of the 13 goals MNUFC has conceded came in a 6-0 drubbing in Vancouver on March 15.

Just prior to their tenth season in MLS, Minnesota United encountered a surprise coach change when manager Eric Ramsay departed the club to manage English Championship side West Bromwich Albion. Assistant coach Cameron Knowles was immediately named as his replacement, and a day later the club hired former Austin FC head coach Josh Wolff to join Knowles’ staff.  

The team also lost 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair to Inter Miami. Stalwart defender Michael Boxall suffered a leg injury in February that has kept him out of the Loons’ lineup for the first time since 2021. Yet somehow Knowles, the new head coach, has kept the Loons chugging along, due in large part to incoming goalkeeper Drake Callender. Since the Vancouver blowout, the former Inter Miami man has conceded just two goals in five MLS matches. 

The team’s strength, however, lies in its young, energetic midfield, where a pair of U22 initiative players – French international Owen Gene (most recently of French club Amiens SC) and Greek international Nectarios Triantis – have connected with each other while connecting the back of the Loons’ malleable 3-4-3 formation to the front. 

The front is where striker Kelvin Yeboah works. After scoring nine goals in just 23 starts last season, the powerful Ghanaian leads the team with five goals in nine starts. Wingback Anthony Markanich (two goals) is the only other Loon with more than one goal this season. Winger Tomás Chancalay leads MNUFC with four assists.

Young German defender Morris Duggan has not come off the field in MLS play, logging all 810 minutes for MNUFC, along with Callender.

The Loons have reeled off four straight regular-season wins, including three on the road, the most recent being Wednesday night’s 1-0 win in Dallas. In that match an early save by Callender allowed Anthony Markanich to score the winner in the 31st minute. Global star and Colombian World Cup veteran James Rodriguez watched from the bench; he was briefly hospitalized earlier this month following a bout of dehydration.

MNUFC has a midweek cup match of their own next Tuesday, when they head to San Jose to face the San Jose Earthquakes in Round of 16 of U.S. Open Cup.

LAFC CAN WIN IF

Dos Santos’ altered lineup syncs up and scores. The Black & Gold has tallied just one goal in the run of play over its last four matches in all competitions—not counting the own goal tapped in by a San Jose defender last weekend. The rotated group that Dos Santos is expected to start in Minnesota could provide new opportunities for connection in the attack. 

One player who probably won’t rest is Denis Bouanga, who will miss the high-stakes Toluca match on Wednesday due to yellow-card accumulation. Bouanga will look to add to the five career goals he’s scored against the Loons, including the matchwinner in their most recent meeting, a 1-0 LAFC victory at Allianz last July.

MINNESOTA UNITED CAN WIN IF

Knowles, the new head coach, starts the same eleven he’s sent out for each of the Loons’ four straight league wins. That’s not a given, however, considering Minnesota’s U.S. Open Cup knockout match on Wednesday. Whoever he plays, they will need to score to take all three points at home.

The Loons have not scored against LAFC in their three most recent meetings—all LAFC wins.