On Saturday night the season opener in the Lone Star State had a theme. Austin scores, then 25 ish minutes later Minnesota draws it level. And that happened not once but twice in the Texas capital with the Loons Kelvin Yeboah garnering a match tying goal in the 90th minute. The attack struck slightly better than in 2025 while the defence largely felt the same, strong but slightly too reliant on the goalkeeper.
Early on things did not look so rosy for the Loons as Austin FC snapped up an early goal less than 10 minutes in. Hines-Ike's unmarked run into the six on a corner ended in a header towards Drake's near side, which slipped right past the new Minnesota keeper.
"Obviously disappointing to concede a goal early on a set piece. We really want to be strong on both sides of the ball," said manager Cameron Knowles. "They knew that there was more in the game for them, that there was the ability to create chances. They knew they'd have a chance to get back into it. And so the way that they bonded just to keep going is important."
Ultimately Minnesota rebounded well from allowing an early goal, scoring before the half-time whistle to head to the locker room drawn up at 1–1. Austin managed to get that goal back. Forward Kelvin Yeboah was hero of the night, drawing the match level once again in the 90th minute and garnering his first goal in MLS play since he scored a brace against St. Louis last July.
Following Tani's departure to Europe last year, Kelvin Yeboah ended up dealing with a hamstring injury, hampering the remainder of his season. But this year Yeboah aims to come back stronger and better for Minnesota United.
“Last season was tough through the injury, and this season — especially the offseason — I’ve been working hard to bring myself back in shape and avoid the re-injury on the same spot, so I’ve been really working hard to get back to 100 percent, said forward Kelvin Yeboah. "With the team and the staff also in preseason, we’ve been building up to be able to play 90 minutes. I feel 100 percent.”
That work plus the slight change in style with Knowles has paid it's dividends early on in the season. The question now is will the style be maintained, will we see slight tweaks, and how will the new players fit in. Only time will tell on those, but for Yeboah and the club they were happy to come out of the match with a point.
"You play all 90 minutes and stoppage time, and we saw that tonight," Knowles stated following Saturday's draw. "That's the importance of making sure you always have a chance of staying in the game.”
Minnesota United's next match is this Saturday, 28 February at home in St. Paul against FC Cincinnati, with kickoff is set for 3:30pm at Allianz Field. Following the home opener MNUFC takes a two match road trip to Nashville and Vancouver before returning to Allianz on 22 March against Seattle.
