Minnesota United draws with Nashville SC in rainy, lightning-delayed home opener

Dark clouds and lightning, too, attended Minnesota United's sixth MLS home opener, a weather-delayed 1-1 draw with Nashville SC on Saturday evening at Allianz Field.

The club's supporters groups — one of them named "Dark Clouds" appropriately enough — returned for another season with their drums, tifos and smoke canisters.

Rare lightning in 33-degree weather accompanied a numbing, drenching rain as the game progressed and probably half of the announced 18,107 attendance headed home when a 74-minute delay struck in the game's 53rd minute.

Everybody who arrived saw Nashville's C.J. Sapong open the scoring with a sudden fifth-minute goal that later had Loons coach Adrian Heath lamenting his team's slow start.

Only the resilient and optimistic stuck around to see Loons versatile midfielder Hassani Dotson score the equalizer in the 71st minute.

By then, both teams were playing on a puddled and saturated pitch, mostly in front of the Wonderwall on the stadium's south end.

It reminded Heath of nights in his youth playing back home in England.

"Used to be a cold night at Stoke-on-Trent, where I was born," Heath said. "It was one of them nights for sure. We had a little bit of everything, considering the conditions.

The guy who scored the tying goal, too, had played many nights like this growing up outside Seattle and then while attending Oregon State.

"I was telling some of the guys it's not as cold in the Pac Northwest, but it's really wet," Dotson said. "It was really similar."

Dotson has become famous for his "bangers" — long scoring strikes from great distance — during his four seasons in Minnesota and MLS.

Saturday's goal stood up for a point earned after the Loons opened their season last week with a 1-1 tie at Philadelphia.

This time, Dotson scored when he stuck out his left leg from a tangle of players and knocked in from mere feet the finish of an improvised free kick created by the Loons' Emanuel Reynoso and Luis Amarilla.

"I'll take any goal I can get," Dotson said. "Robin helped me with a nice tap-in goal last year. I don't turn away any goals."

Dotson had no idea the ball would come to him near the goal line, as it did.

Instead of striking a long, left-side free kick toward the goal, Reynoso improvised an alternative with Amarilla, sending a curving ball toward him away from the goal, atop the 18-yard box.

Heath called it a "Rey and Luis special" that even he didn't know about.

"It's a good job we scored from it because I wouldn't have been best pleased," Heath said. "Rey sees things. I knew when Luis was out there and not in the box that he probably was going to try to find him."

Reynoso's left-foot kick curved toward Amarilla away from the goal and with one swing of his leg, Amarilla volleyed it toward a tangle of players surrounding Nashville keeper Joe Willis.

"I was right behind Luis and I could tell from my Spanish culture and playing in Spain that (Reynoso) wanted to do it," said Loons defender DJ Taylor, who was a second-half sub after starting left back Bakaye Dibassy moved back to his natural center spot at halftime with both starting full backs Chase Gasper and Romain Metanire out injured. "With Rey's quality, he's going to do whatever he wants."

Dibassy tried to deflect Amarilla's ball, but missed. So did Dotson. The ball instead deflected off defender Michael Boxall, hit the right post and came right back to Dotson.

Not long before, there was a similar play where the ball bobbled around in the six-yard box, but neither Dotson nor Dibassy could wrangle it.

"There was a little bit of energy there already from that," Dotson said. "So I just wanted to be sure I was on my toes."