Loons cruise to 3-1 victory against Real Salt Lake, score on Utah own goal

Minnesota United isn’t technically qualified yet for the MLS Cup playoffs. But after a 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake, they are realistically not only in the playoff field, but also in the driver’s seat to have home-field advantage for a round or two.

Robin Lod and Joaquín Pereyra scored on either side of halftime for Minnesota, adding to an early Real Salt Lake own goal, and Minnesota cruised to a comfortable victory in Utah.

Other than a shootout win in the playoffs last season, it was the first time in MLS play that the Loons won in Utah — and the first time overall since the then-Minnesota Stars beat RSL in the U.S. Open Cup in 2012.

With six games to go on Minnesota’s schedule, the Loons are nine points ahead of fifth-place Seattle and closing in on a top seed for the first time in six years. Minnesota is two points behind San Diego at the top of the Western Conference, with the leaders yet to play as of Saturday night.

So many of Minnesota’s blown leads this season have come after the Loons just couldn’t find a goal that would stretch a second-half lead to two goals. In this one, with a 2-1 halftime lead to work with, they simply didn’t wait until crunch time to do so.

Just six minutes into the second half, Pereyra stole a wayward pass and drove on goal. He fed Lod, who stayed patient, drew in a defender and the goalkeeper, then passed it back to Pereyra, who hit the mostly open net to double the lead and make Minnesota’s second-half defensive efforts a little more calm and collected.

Striker Tani Oluwaseyi wasn’t in the starting lineup and played just 28 minutes, and he seems to be on the verge of a move to Villareal CF next week.

Ramsay has said if the Loons score on a recycled second ball following the other team partially clearing a set-piece chance, he still counts it as a set-piece goal.

“I’ve talked a few times about the real desperation to keep the ball out of the net and the real grit and determination that goes with that,” he said, “and we’ve seen that in bucketloads over the course of the last two games.”

We can only wait to see whether he still counts it if there’s a recycled second ball, then a deflected pass, then a blocked shot attempt, and another blocked shot attempt … and only then does Minnesota find a final pass that leads to a goal.

Lod’s 36th-minute tally might have been chaotic, but the guessing here is that Ramsay will still chalk it up to the team’s determination on set pieces — and an excellent finish from Lod, who tallied his first league goal since late June.

Just six minutes into the match, Minnesota was ahead — without really being responsible for the ball ending up in the net. A Pereyra corner kick was deflected by a RSL player, then it hit defender Brayan Vera in the hip and cannoned into the net.

The Loons return for a Labor Day weekend tilt against the up-and-down Portland Timbers, who are battling near the Western Conference playoff line as the Loons battle near the top of the standings. It also serves as Minnesota’s last match until mid-September, as there’s a two-week international break following the Aug. 30 game against Portland.