What has to happen next to keep Messi in Minnesota dream alive
Minnesota United moved onto the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup after another exciting match that took penalty kicks to settle the game.
The Loons jumped on Mexican-side Toluca in the first half scoring two well taken goals from a Joseph Rosales and joint-leader for Leagues Cup Golden Boot Bongokuhle Hlongwane (tied with Lionel Messi with 7 goals).
In the second half, the visitors (technically Minnesota were listed as visitors but that's another story for a different time) jumped all over the Loons as Minnesota struggled to get the ball out of their own half. Toluca scored in the 66th minute of a poor Minnesota clearance and then once again in the 75th minute off a penalty kick after Loons midfielder Hassani Dotson was issued a red card (second yellow) for elbowing a Toluca player in the head in the penalty box.
With the match tied 2-2, the game went to penalty kicks where Minnesota and Toluca both converted in the first round. Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair stuffed the second Toluca attempt while Michael Boxall converted on the Loons second try. Both teams made their third attempts before Toluca sent their fourth attempt off the bar. Sang-Bin Jeong slid the fourth attempt underneath the outstretched arms of the Toluca keeper to move the Loons onto the next round of Leagues Cup play.
And with that, the dream of hosting Lionel Messi at Allianz Field stays alive for another couple days. So how do the Loons make dreams become reality from here?
Next up for Minnesota is a Friday night quarterfinals date at Nashville SC. Nashville entered the Leagues Cup break as the fourth place team in the Eastern Conference with an 11-8-5 record, and sporting the current leading goal scorer in Hany Mukhtar (13 goals).
Minnesota and Nashville have only faced each other three times with Minnesota securing the lone win in the series, a 2-1 victory at Nashville's Geodis Park last August in which St. Clair made seven saves.
Should the Loons pull of the road victory (Minnesota has the second best road record in the league at 5-6-1) they'll face either LAFC or Mexico's Monterrey. Not an easy feat considering LAFC are the defending MLS Cup champions and Monterrey are widely considered one of the best teams, if not the best, in North America.
If Minnesota play LAFC they'll travel to LAFC (1-2-1 all time at LAFC), but if they play Monterrey in the semifinal, Minnesota would host that match at Allianz Field.
For Messi and Inter Miami, they'll have to get through Charlotte FC on Friday (Miami -185 to win according to DraftKings) and then they would play the winner of Philadelphia/Queretaro FC.
Philadelphia lost to LAFC in last year's MLS Cup final and entered the break sitting third in the Eastern Conference with a 12-7-4 record. Miami would travel to Philly if that were the semifinal match. Queretaro, one of the surprises of the tournament so far, would travel to Miami if they made the semifinal. The Mexican club finished 10th in Liga MX last season.
If both Minnesota and Miami make the final the Loons would host the final at Allianz Field. Leagues Cup rules state that the host in MLS v MLS matches in the tournament is decided by who had the better regular season performance in 2022. Both clubs finished on 48 points but the Loons get the tiebreaker after finishing with a better goal differential (-3 to -9).
Recap of the path to get Messi in Minnesota:
- MNUFC beats Nashville then beats the winner of LAFC/Monterrey
- Inter Miami beats Charlotte then beats the winner of Philadelphia/Queretaro
The Leagues Cup final will be played Saturday, Aug. 19.
