Coming into Leagues Cup both Minnesota United and FC Juárez were on rough streaks. The Loons riding a seven match winless skid while Los Bravos came in on a transfer embargo and sacking their manager 48 hours prior. But it was the visitors from Mexico that came out with a massive 2–1 win to start Leagues Cup play. The start was exactly what Los Bravos needed after scoring just a single goal in their first three Liga MX matches. While for the Loons offensive struggles continued to show themselves, leading to an opening match defeat.
“I think we keep saying that we should have won this game, should have won the last game, should have won the game before, but you come to a point where you've got to win. You've got to actually do it. It doesn't matter how you play or what you do. You've got to take responsibility, and that's just not good enough," defender Morris Duggan told the media on Tuesday night. "I mean, I take responsibility. I'm the first one to take responsibility. You get a team that scores one goal in three games in a league and concedes two in the first half, at home, it's just not good enough at all. It's very disappointing. We still have a lot to play for, obviously not in this tournament, but we have two home games. Our supporters deserve two wins. They deserve optimism going back into the league, so that's what we're playing for.”
That was a sentiment that was agreed on by manager Cameron Knowles, who said in his post match presser; “Extremely disappointed. It’s certainly not the way we wanted to start the tournament. There’s a lot of disappointment in the locker room as well. It just hasn’t been good enough in terms of results at home and, and tonight was another one.”
For goalkeeper Alec Smir it was his first start in quite a while as over the past two seasons he has been the Loons reliable backup keeper. Smir's only start this season was in the US Open Cup against Sacramento, where he held a clean sheet through 120 minutes of football.
“It's frustrating. Obviously, it was exciting to get the start and play in the tournament, but you want to come out, win, make a couple of saves, do well, and move on to the next games," Smir told the media at Allianz Field.
The loss almost certainly dooms the Loons chances of advancing in the Leagues Cup as only the top four per league will advance in the tournament. Last year that required seven points to advance into the knockout stage, which seems very distant unless a lot goes right for Minnesota United. Regardless of advancing though, the Leagues Cup is now the gateway to the remainder of the 2026 season. Something Cameron Knowles spoke about.
“ I mean it’s more than just that [advancing in Leagues Cup] for us. These next two games are about what the rest of the season's going to look like, and we have to take those two 90-minute matches and really, really put everything into it so that we come out with some momentum as we start league play. Whether or not that gets us through to the next round in the tournament, so be it.”
Coming off the pitch on Tuesday night the supporters booed the club and not for the first time. Many supporters feel that performances have been lacking as of late and some major change is necessary. With the summer transfer window already started there is more frustration from supporters about the lack of moves by the club. But MNUFC has, as mentioned by Leo Bickelhaupt in his Summer Transfer Primer, been a club who likes making moves later in the window.
Minnesota United will need some amazing performances in the next two matches to earn two wins and perhaps points at all. On Friday the Loons face Mexican powerhouse Tigres UANL, who are coming off a penalty shootout win over Real Salt Lake. Next week MNUFC hosts Atlante on Tuesday night, a club who took a huge 1–0 upset win over Vancouver Whitecaps last night.
