Joaquín Pereyra's standout second half performance lifted Minnesota United to a 3–1 win and an end to a nine match winless skid. Heading back into MLS play this weekend the players and coaching staff made it clear that a win was needed in Leagues Cup to set the tone for the rest of the season. MNUFC had their worst outing against Juárez before coming back and forcing a draw with Tigres last Friday, progressively getting better in each of the performances in Leagues Cup.
After a first half that saw Minnesota control play, but allow the only goal of the half, the Loons went into the break down once again. Two goals and an assist from Pereyra in the second half, which included Mauricio González's second goal of the season, pushed the Loons to the huge win. That all came following a halftime talk from Cameron Knowles where he emphasized "sticking to what we do well."
“I think especially in the second half, that’s what we want. We want him running forward. We want him arriving in the box. We want him in those moments where he’s creating for others, and he’s scoring for himself, and to see that for him to bounce back in that way," said Cameron Knowles about Pereyra. "You carry that burden when you have a penalty miss. We said to him after the game, the team has you, and that’s the same for anyone. Everyone goes through a tough moment whether it’s in a game or a stretch of games, and the strength is the team. As long as we invest in that, then we’ll be successful.”
Marcus Caldeira got two assists on the day, one on each of Pereyra's goals in the second half. Caldeira spoke about Joaquín and said, “I’m going to back Joaqo [Joaquín Pereyra] every single day. He's a phenomenal player, and everyone knows his quality. And there was no doubt that, that Tigres [UANL] was going to be put in the past, and whatever happened today was going to be for the future. He scores two [goals] tonight, and I hope he can build that momentum to keep going and push the team going. We need him. He's a big key piece, so if we can get him on his day, that's what we need, right?”
Pereyra's second goal nearly did not happen as the offside flag was raised late and after the goal was scored. From the box it looked onside, to the broadcasters it looked onside, and following a VAR review it was determined to be onside. Not only that but everyone on the Loons squad, including Joaquín himself felt it was onside.
“When I saw where Marcus [Caldeira] was and received the ball, I knew I was in the right position because we were level," Pereyra said. "Then, when Marcus passed me the ball and I scored, I immediately told the referee: "No, it’s not offside." Even on the bench, they said they had watched the replay and that we were all well-positioned. I always knew the goal was valid; it was just a matter of timing. Scoring two goals and getting the win means I’m leaving very happy tonight.”
Closing out a rough streak for the club was emotional for both the supporters and players. For the first time since April, Wonderwall belted out over the speakers at Allianz Field.
“Tonight’s result helps our emotions a bit. We’ve been working hard all week and we’ve been playing our games well. All teams have moments throughout the season where they are doing well and some moments where they don’t. This time, we were caught in a bad moment where we couldn’t get a result, but we remained calm because we knew we were doing things well and it was only a matter of time before we got a result," the Argentine Pereyra said to the media post match.
Going forward it's back to MLS play with no other distractions for Minnesota United. Having been eliminated from the US Open Cup and Leagues Cup the full focus of the club is now taking that performance, rolling with it, and making the playoffs.
“It’s all about building on the performances we have had and building towards the start of league play and the guys have executed that. We enter league play having two hard fought draws in our last two games and now we have a busy schedule of games," manager Cameron Knowles said. "We have had guys we’ve been able to lean on in this game that can really put their hand up and say they deserve playing time too. When we look ahead to the busy schedule, the congested schedule, to have momentum of performances, to have that feeling of the result and see that ball hit the back of the net, I am really confident that our group will really grow from here.”
