July 29, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – Minnesota United returns to Allianz Field on Tuesday to host LIGA MX side, Club Necaxa, for the Loons’ second Group Stage game of Leagues Cup 2024.
Minnesota enters Tuesday’s game having dropped its first Group Stage match last week, a 2-0 loss at Seattle Sounders FC. The Loons played a solid game in Seattle, but a red card shown to midfielder Hassani Dotson in the second half gave the Sounders a key personnel advantage, in which they capitalized by scoring two late goals to earn all three points against the Loons. Notably, goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair made eight saves throughout the match to keep the score even until the last moments of the game.
Club Necaxa comes to Minnesota for the very first time after a lackluster start to their newest LIGA MX Apertura campaign, seeing four points and two losses within their first four games played. Necaxa notably finished in 17th in the Clausura season and 12th in the Apertura in 2023, low table spots for a team with rich winning history. Colombian forwards Kevin Ante Rosero and Diber Cambindo present the biggest offensive threats to MNUFC in Tuesday’s fixture.
Last year’s Leagues Cup saw Minnesota earn a 4-0 win over Club Puebla, then later advancing over CD Toluca in a shootout, making the Loons unbeaten against LIGA MX sides during this re-vamped version of the tournament. Meanwhile, Necaxa had no luck against MLS teams in 2023’s edition, being outscored 1-7 in two group-stage losses. Will the Loons continue winning ways against LIGA MX teams on Tuesday, or will Necaxa finally break through and earn a positive result against and MLS side?
HEAD COACH ERIC RAMSAY ON HOW HE APPROACHES LEAGUES CUP…
“I’m really excited about it. Obviously, we’ll approach every game with a real will to win for sure. We want to make sure we use it as an opportunity to sort of practice some of the stuff that we really need to get better at and we want to make sure we put on a good show in that sense. We can certainly use it as an opportunity to make sure a few of the guys we haven’t seen so far get an opportunity to put themselves in contention for MLS resuming and a couple of players that have been out with injuries can have their first minutes I’m sure as well. I think on many levels it is a really good competition for us.”
MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. CLUB NECAXA
Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota
07.30.2024 | Leagues Cup Group Stage | Game 2
8:00…
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