After a long six match season opening road swing, MNUFC2 finally had their first home match of the season. With the Twoons hosted North Texas SC on Sunday, April 26 at Allianz Field, rather than NSC Stadium in Blaine. MNUFC2 and North Texas FC have a long history with the Twoons totalling 10 losses to North Texas and only a single win against the club, coming in 2023. The Loons typically use a plethora of academy players in Next Pro, last weekend was no different. 16 year old Jadan Barnard made his first start of the season with MNUFC2 at Allianz Field
From the opening whistle the match was entirely within the Twoons hands. MNUFC2 outshot North Texas 8–2. Even though both teams were preforming and meeting each other's energy in the first half, neither team followed through with a goal in the first half.
Then came the infamous words at halftime from head coach Fanendo Adi. He and the players alluded to be loud, angry, and effective. Each player after the match backed that up as did Adi himself. Whatever was said, the half time talk was effective because MNUFC2 came back with follow through in the second half where Dominic Fitz scored the one and only goal of the match in the 74th minute, with the assist coming from Kenuel Michel.
"Oh, I feel good. I think I yelled at him a little bit in the locker room at half. I'm being serious about it. I told him, you got to show more. You're a First Team player," said head coach Fanendo Adi. "The guys, if somebody, if a kid doesn't listen to you, you got to talk to them to listen, because that's why they have to get to where you are."
Notably, Samuel Vigilante from MNUFC2 was out from 52nd minute until the 57th minute of the match after sustaining a knock. Late in the match it appeared that all the Twoons hard work would not pay off after a penalty was awarded to NTX. But in the 89th minute of the match, MNUFC2's goalkeeper Kristers Bite made a brilliant penalty kick save against Nathaniel James from to keep the match in favor of the Twosies. With five minutes of stoppage to play the Twos worked hard to keep the lead and win. This was made easier after North Texas' Jonah Bigger was issued his second yellow card, resulting in an ejection in the 94th minute.
“As much as we controlled the game in the first half, it was a quick switch from, I think Kenyel [Michel] came in and really gave us that spark," Adi said about what he felt was a pivotal moment in the match. "Obviously Jakob [Friedman] did what he could do and he was getting tired and we could see that clearly. We needed fresh legs to come onto the field and change things."
MNUFC2 somewhat hits the road again this week for a Saturday afternoon clash. The Twoons host St Louis City 2 at Rochester Regional Stadium in Rochester, MN this Saturday, May 2, 2026. MNUFC2's first match at NSC Stadium in Blaine is set for Saturday, May 9th also against North Texas SC.
