At times this season Minnesota United has struggled to score, even in matches where the club clearly looks like the better side on the pitch. This happened against LAFC, Austin, and most recently against Colorado Rapids. MNUFC had 12 shots on Wednesday night in St. Paul and an xG of over one, but failed to officially get a ball in the net. MNUFC did get close though it was immediately called back due to a clear offside.
“Just disappointing. You want the chances to go in. You want to be creating chances, and we certainly did," said manager Cameron Knowles. "I think it was like nine shots from inside the box, that’s a pretty good number, and you want to be able to convert. You look at the expected goals, the moments were in the final third and in the box. It’s just disappointing that we don’t get one of those to fall.”
The Loons have scored six goals in their past five MLS matches, though five of those goals came in just two matches. Three goals in a comeback win against Columbus Crew and another two goals last weekend against Austin FC. Thirteen matches into the campaign MNUFC has scored just 16 goals for an average of 1.23 goals per match. That puts them on pace to score roughly 42 goals on the season, which would be a massive decrease from 2025 where the team only scored 56.
"We found that when we go on the road, we have just maybe a different mentality. I don't know what that is," said midfielder Wil Trapp "I need to take a little more time and really process what that is."
Minnesota's second one goal loss of 2026 occurred on a day where more goals were scored in a single matchday than any other time in league history.
“Certainly with those weeks where we have three games, it's obvious, you look to some games thinking they're going to be maybe a bit easier on you, but it's especially those games where people [other teams] come here, they know this is a tough place to play, and then they play with an extra fire in them," said defender Morris Duggan. "It's those games where we just have to take the crowd with us and really just be like dogs, go into tackles, win tackles, and then the goals come by themselves. But we didn't do that today and maybe that plays into it."
