Leading 3-0 at halftime and playing a man up for the final 65-plus minutes, Minnesota United withstood L.A. Galaxy's second-half surge for a 3-2 victory on a three-game, cross-country trip that ended Wednesday.
Here are five takeaways from a much-needed victory that moved the Loons from 12th to 10th in the Western Conference.
1. Airing it all out
Loons captain Wil Trapp on the team meeting called in Los Angeles after consecutive 2-1 losses at New England and Inter Miami and before Wednesday's 3-2 victory:
"We sat down as players just to understand, what are we committed to?" said Trapp, who returned to the starting 11 after he missed the Miami game due to yellow card accumulation. "Are we committed to winning? Are we committed to turning this around? We're not a bad team, not at all. We know that. We see that and teams we play against say that.
"But it's about mentality. It's about us understanding who we are and who we need to show up as."
He called his team's ability to deny central passes and forcing play wide a "galvanizing point" on Wednesday.
"That meeting, guys taking the responsibility and understanding when we're getting on each other, it's not personal," Trapp said. "We're trying to get better. We're trying to learn. We're trying to win."
2. Not one, not two, but three goals to remember
After struggling most of the season to score any kind of goals, the Loons delivered three worthy of the highlight reel. Star playmaking midfielder Emanuel Reynoso scored two of those. That's three goals in three games now, one a penalty kick at New England.
His 24-yard strike that curled around the Galaxy defense and goalkeeper in the ninth minute was what Loons chief soccer officer Manny Lagos called both "world class" and "so dirty" while he filled in the broadcast booth for ailing announcer Callum Williams.
Reynoso also was the beneficiary of teammate Bongokuhle Hlongwane's unselfishness and cut-back move and pass that created a 3-0 lead just before halftime.
In between, Franco Fragapane scored his first goal this season with a reaching left-footed, one-touch shot at the six-yard box's edge in the 36th minute. It finished off a three-way passing play that started with Luis Amarilla's weighted pass through traffic to Kemar Lawrence for a one-time pass from the left wing.
"They were all really, really good goals," Heath said. "You've heard me for the last 18 months: Rey has to shoot more. I see it every day in training. I know what he's got. I know how he can finish."
3. Seeing red
The Loons played the final 65-plus minutes a man up after Galaxy's Kevin Cabral's foot hit Loons keeper Dayne St. Clair in the head. Both pursued a ball and a diving St. Clair won the race.
A corner of the Twittersphere lit up, calling it the worst red card of all time. St. Clair himself said referee Ted Unkel got it right.
"He contacted my head," St. Clair said. "One of the points of emphasis of the league, it takes concussions very seriously. So that's why the red was given and I think no matter the amount of contact, any foot to the head, the league is going to give a red for that."
The Loons led 1-0 at the time, in the 25th minute.
4. Arriaga, Amarilla go off injured in first half
Two starters in the 11 — central midfielder Kervin Arriaga and striker Luis Amarilla — left the game in the first half because of injury.
Arriaga went down in the game's second minute and was stretchered off the field with a turned ankle that Loons coach Adrian Heath afterward said he hopes wasn't as bad as it looked.
"It's very, very swollen, but not as bad as we first feared," Heath said. "I had visions it had been his Achilles, which means season-ending. That's the last thing we can afford with Hassani [Dotson] down as well."
Amarilla came off in the 37th minute to protect a bothersome adductor.
"He didn't want to make it worse," Heath said.
5. Making room by saying goodbye to Hunou
Earlier Wednesday, the Loons transferred highly-paid but little-played forward Adrien Hunou back to the French first division from which he came in April 2021, concluding the experiment with a $2.6 million salaried player didn't work.
His departure creates designated player and international slots with MLS' secondary transfer window opening next week.
"It's not turned out the way he thought it was going to be, the way I thought it was going to be or the way the club thought it was going to be," Heath said. "It opens up a spot for us now and we've been looking for a while for a couple of areas we'd like to try and fill.
"Hopefully we'll be able to add a couple quality pieces to the group we've got because I might be the lone voice in this moment of time, but team is very, very close to being very, very good."
