Beat-up, tired Minnesota United blanked 3-0 at home by Chicago Fire

Minnesota United has been proud all season about how rare it is for them to be behind on the scoreboard.

Of course, that was with their first string in the game. With a team full of backups and new players, maybe all bets are off.

A combination of injuries and midweek-game exhaustion meant that the Loons began Saturday night’s game with only three of the 10 outfield players who have made 15 or more MLS starts this season, and it showed, as the Loons lost 3-0 to the Chicago Fire at Allianz Field.

“I think when you do see drop-offs across the areas I’ve mentioned so far [discipline, aggression, organization, competitiveness], then it’s like watching a different team — and that was a tough watch that, tonight, for sure," Loons coach Eric Ramsay said.

The Loons gave up two first-half goals for the first time all season, both from set pieces — a bitter pill to swallow for the team that calls itself “Set Piece FC.”

It was also Minnesota’s first loss by three goals at home since July 2023. Had Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair not saved a late penalty kick, it would have been his team’s first four-goal loss at home in more than eight years.

The Loons might be the team known for its set pieces, but the Fire are no slouches either, and in the 26th minute, they proved it. St. Clair made the initial save from a header off a free kick, but the ball fell directly to the feet of Chicago center back Joel Waterman, who roofed the rebound for the game’s first goal.

“The number of unnecessary set plays we gave away was really disappointing,” Ramsay said. “I think we gave away really cheap fouls, we gave away really cheap corners, which against a team that has their level of effectiveness on set plays is obviously a naive starting point.”

The Loons made a hockey-line change in the 55th minute, with Robin Lod, Joaquín Pereyra, Michael Boxall, and Robin Lod all coming into the game at the same time. It added some life to the Loons, and Mamadou Dieng even got the ball into the net ... though the flag was up for offside. Chicago immediately went down to the other end of the field and scored their third goal, from Philip Zinckernagel, and the rout was on.

The loss, combined with Philadelphia’s 1-0 victory over New England earlier Saturday, dropped the Loons six points back of the Union with three games to play. Given that Minnesota also trails Philadelphia by three wins, which is the tiebreaker in the standings, the Loons’ small chance of competing for the Supporters’ Shield now stand somewhere between “miniscule” and “zero.”

Apart from the MLS Cup playoffs, the other thing that Minnesota’s playing for is a spot in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup. The Loons would have to either win the Western Conference or finish as one of the two best teams in all of MLS that don’t win either the West or the East trophy in order to get a spot in next season’s intercontinental club competition.

“If you’re in the top-four spot in the league, it’s Champions League for next year,” Trapp said. “I think it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still going to try it with everything we can to win the Western Conference. It doesn’t change the fact that MLS Cup is still well within our sights.”

MLS standings

7 Loons players that came into the night having already played more than 130 minutes over an eight-day stretch, between their Sept. 13 game at San Diego and the 120-minute battle with Austin in midweek. Six of the seven didn’t start against the Fire, with only the indestructible Wil Trapp still in the lineup. Between rest and injuries, this meant that four players — Dieng, Darius Randell, Dominik Fitz and Nectarios Triantis — made their first-ever starts in MLS.

“I think for us to have that sense of fizzling out a little bit across two competitions in the space of four days is difficult,” Ramsay said, “and it will be the measure of me as a coach and the staff that I’ve got, and the players themselves, to make sure that we find that sense of purpose again come Monday, Tuesday when we’re back in.”