Minnesota United let longtime manager Adrian Heath go on Friday, but when they took the field on Saturday in St. Paul against the Los Angeles Galaxy, there wasn’t much different. Same formation. Same jerseys. Similar starting lineup, minus a few players who struggled in the previous game.
Striker Teemu Pukki, though, was about to do something very different. Pukki scored four goals, including three in the second half, and the Loons destroyed the Galaxy 5-2.
It was MNUFC’s first victory since Aug. 30, a win that kept the Loons’ playoff hopes alive into the final week of the season, and a huge turnaround from Minnesota’s 5-1 loss to LAFC last Wednesday.
“I thought the players were fantastic, they really were,” said interim manager Sean McAuley. “With what’s gone on previously, especially the midweek result, I thought the players were excellent.”
The five-goal outburst represented just the third time this year that Minnesota scored more than one goal at home in MLS play, as the finishing problems that plagued the Loons all season at Allianz Field finally disappeared in the team’s final home game. Pukki also became the first MNUFC player to score four goals in a game.
Hassani Dotson put the Loons ahead in the 33rd minute, a goal created by some physical play from Pukki. Galaxy left back Raheem Edwards picked off a wayward pass from Emanuel Reynoso as Minnesota tried to counter-attack, but Pukki — back-checking like he was at Xcel Energy Center – bounced Edwards off the ball and turned it back to Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the wing.
Hlongwane found Dotson making an angled run through the Galaxy penalty area, and the winger hit his shot down into the ground, bouncing it over the keeper and just inside the far post for the game’s first goal.
Tyler Boyd tied things up for the Galaxy eight minutes later. His shot, from the left side of the Minnesota penalty area, hit a defender’s leg and deflected past Dayne St. Clair in the Minnesota goal – one of the few things that got away from the Minnesota keeper. “I thought Dayne St. Clair made a couple of unbelievable saves,” said McAuley, who saw his netminder save several one-on-one chances for the Galaxy.
It was another blown lead for Minnesota at Allianz Field – but this time, the Loons quickly grabbed the lead back, scoring again just before halftime. Reynoso, with the ball in the center circle, looked up and found Pukki with a perfectly timed ball over the top of the Galaxy defense.
The Finn took one touch and placed his shot through the legs of Los Angeles keeper Jonathan Bond. Bond managed to get a small piece of the ball, but Pukki’s shot had just enough strength to roll over the goal line.
Just before the hour mark, he doubled Minnesota’s lead, showing off his trademark finishing ability. Picking up a loose ball on the edge of the Galaxy penalty area, he quickly turned and fired a shot into the bottom-left hand corner of the net – a strike from nowhere to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead.
With two goals to his name, it took the striker just seven minutes to complete his hat trick. Hlongwane stayed calm in a penalty-area scramble and rolled the ball across the Galaxy six-yard box to a wide-open Pukki.
With Allianz Field in party mode on Fan Appreciation night, Pukki got his fourth in the 76th minute. Franco Fragapane played the striker in behind the Galaxy defense, and the Finn beat Bond yet again for a 5-1 lead.
Dejan Jovelic scored in the 82nd minute for the Galaxy, but by then Pukki’s barrage had already sewn up the match for the Loons.
Pukki, who said he hadn’t scored four goals in a game as a professional, said the difference was the amount of space they had in attack. “We were creating one chance after another,” said the striker. “We could have even scored more goals.”
The Loons will almost certainly need a win two weeks from Saturday, when they play at Sporting Kansas City with a playoff berth on the line. Minnesota will need its rediscovered finishing touch to make its way to Kansas, too.
If McAuley has his way, all they’ll have to do is keep things up through a brand-new mini-schedule. “We called it a two-game season,” he said. “We’re halfway through that.”
