Match Preview: Winless in last three, MNUFC aim to rebound tonight in Texas

After an eight match winning streak, Minnesota United heads to Austin, TX on a three match winless skid, having only scored once in those three matches. Coming off last weekend’s 3-1 home loss to Vancouver Whitecaps, Eric Ramsey said, “I still feel like we, as a consequence of Sunday, have to block ourselves in—we’ve got to make sure that we go there and we’re a really good version of ourselves, and we’ve got a really strong focus on what we can do and what we can do well.” This week the Loons opponent is another top team in the West with 3rd place Austin FC.

Austin FC are coming off a subpar 2025 campaign where they finished 10th and narrowly missed the playoffs. This year under Nico Estévez, Los Verdes are 5-4-1 (16 points) with a strong defence that has only given up 10 goals in the same amount of matches. The other side of that is a weak offence that has only scored seven times in 2025 and has been shut out four times, including last week against Houston Dynamo. The American striker Brandon Vazquez leads the team in scoring with just two goals and is the only ATX player with more than a single goal.

News & Notes

MNUFC completed their acquisition midfielder Julian Gressel off waivers from Inter Miami CF. The 31 year old veteran is under contract with the Loons through 2026 with an option for the 2027 season. During his stint in South Florida he made 40 appearances for Inter Miami across all competitions.

Ahead of tonight’s match MNUFC2 forward Darius Randell has signed his first short term agreement with the first team for this season. Under MLS rules he is allowed to sign up to four times during the season, but can only appear twice in a match.

Availability

MIN | Out: Hassani Dotson (knee), Owen Gene (ankle), Kipp Keller (leg) ; Questionable: Kelvin Yeboah (ankle)

ATX | Out: Mikkel Desler (hamstring), Dani Pereira (hip flexor) ; Questionable: None

Staff Predictions

Bridget McDowell: 2–1 Loons

Tim McLaughlin: 2-0 Austin

Michael Lake: 1-1

MJ: 2-1 Austin

Seth Steffengahen: 2–1 Loons

Ashle Paige: 2–2