Newly arrived Minnesota United midfielder Emanuel Reynoso ended up flattened on the Allianz Field turf at least twice in his first MLS start Sunday, but both he and his new team lifted themselves up after halftime in a needed 4-0 victory over Real Salt Lake.
In a game scoreless into the 53rd minute, Reynoso helped create the Loons' first two goals just nine minutes apart. United scored four times in the second half and earned surprise starting goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair a clean sheet in his first MLS start as well.
The shutout ended a four-game losing streak — including their past three in the league's regular-season restart — and boosted what coach Adrian Heath called a team that was "a little bit fragile" until the Loons scored twice as many goals as they had in those past three games.
It was Reynoso who got knocked down when he, the ball and a Salt Lake player converged, but the ball went directly to Kevin Molino 30 yards from the goal. He played the ball to his left in space and left back Chase Gasper completed his long run, winning a race to it before he scored into an open goal.
Nine minutes later, Reynoso turned with the ball and sent winger Robin Lod off on a 30-yard scoring run after Reynoso threaded a perfect pass that split two defenders.
He stood and watched Lod score after he was down on both knees for Gasper's goal, the only one the Loons needed.
"Trust me, the physicality of the MLS is not going to worry him when he has been playing in the Argentinian first division," Heath said."He's going to be fine. I was amazed he got through tonight as long as he did."
Sunday's game was his first start in a competitive game since March and he went 70 minutes before Raheem Edwards subbed in for him.
The Loons scored two goals before he left and two more after his departure, including Lod's lovely, bent shot around the keeper in the 90th minute.
Whenever Reynoso got knocked down Sunday, he got right back up.
"It's something I definitely have to get used to," Reynoso said in Spanish through an interpreter. "It's definitely more physical than the Argentine league, but it's also possible to create space as well."
Reynoso found that space in which Lod both worked and scored the Loons' second goal on a night when Luis Amarilla, Aaron Schoenfeld and Ethan Finlay were injured and the Loons played with just one striker healthy, Mason Toye.
"I really enjoyed playing with him," Lod said of Reynoso. "We got to see the quality he had with the ball, and I think he's going to be a good player for us."
Heath inserted both Reynoso and St. Clair — the first keeper and seventh player overall taken in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft — in an attempt to right a team that was reeling. Real Salt Lake had one goal overturned by video review in the first half, and a long strike in the 12th minute that squeezed through St. Clair's hand was headed for the goal line, but St. Clair chased it down and grabbed it just in time.
"I mean, the ref said I kept it out, so that's what I'm going with," St. Clair said.
Heath started St. Clair instead of backup Greg Ranjitsingh, seeking a "change of voice" and a "change of approach" that would stir his team. The Loons might have gotten lucky early in the game before they grew confident late in it.
"Maybe we got a break," Heath said. "But if ever a team needed some luck here, we deserved some."
