Analysis: Loons’ victory at San Diego is the latest sign of a special season

When the dust settled from Minnesota United’s 3-1 victory at San Diego late Saturday night, the Loons were left in a place they have simply never been at this point of the season.

The victory meant the Loons set a club record for points in a season, with 54. It also put them squarely in the race for the top seed in the Western Conference. They now trail San Diego by only two points with four games to play — though Vancouver, which hammered Philadelphia 7-0 on Saturday night, is two points back of the Loons and has two games in hand.

And for the true dreamers, Minnesota is now only three points back of Philadelphia for the lead in the Supporters’ Shield race. The first tiebreaker is victories, though, and the Loons, with 15, are behind just about every other top team in that regard, something coach Eric Ramsay was quick to point out after the game. “I think it’s going to be tough,” he said.

Given, though, that the Loons have never finished within 19 points of the Supporters’ Shield winner in a full season, being three points back with four games to play feels like a significant accomplishment.

“We’ve got a U.S. [Open] Cup semifinal [Wednesday night vs. Austin], and we’ve got a group that’s in a really good place with a lot of confidence,” Ramsay said. “I couldn’t ask for much more at this point.”

Look purely at the numbers, and it was a true smash-and-grab victory. San Diego took seven shots and forced two excellent saves out of goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair before the Loons had even come close to taking a shot of their own. Before the sequence that led to the game’s first goal in the 73rd minute, Minnesota’s only attempted shot was a first-half glancing header from Robin Lod that didn’t come near the net.

But don’t try to tell Ramsay that his team blindly stumbled into three points.

The Loons’ road record is inarguable. They got a 0-0 draw at Vancouver — and ask league-leading Philadelphia how difficult it is to play on the road against the Whitecaps. They won at San Diego and Seattle. They won at Real Salt Lake, which they had never done before in MLS.

So yes, San Diego outshot the Loons 28-6 and St. Clair made 12 saves. But the Loons are comfortable with that bend-but-don’t break style, and it’s working for them.

Ramsay pointed out that his team might have given up 50-plus crosses against Real Salt Lake, for example, but defended them all.

“We’re a very good team in that sense; I’ve not seen much better,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed coaching that side of the game with this team because we, as the season has gone on, have really settled into our way of playing. I think the players feel like it suits them really well. I think it brings the best out in a lot of their qualities. In the second half, we were able to show that real resilience from a defensive perspective.”

You won’t get much more of a contrast between two teams in MLS as you do with Minnesota and San Diego. SDFC has poured all of its resources into a ball-on-the-ground, passing team. The Loons are happy to defend, go long, rely on set pieces.

Both teams made adjustments as Saturday’s game went on; Ramsay credited his team’s changes for resetting the game around the 15- or 20-minute mark — though as any good tactical schemer would, he refused to detail exactly what those changes were. Around that time, though, San Diego midfielders Jeppe Tverskov and Onni Valakari stopped having the luxury of time on the ball in the center of the field, which made things harder for the home team.

“I think if you’re a football purist and you’re watching it from the perspective of tactics, strategies, matchups, changes as the game goes on, I think it’s a really good game and I’ve enjoyed it and obviously I’ve enjoyed it more tonight because we won the game,” Ramsay said. “Certainly, over the course of 180 minutes we played [in the two games between the teams this year], I think it’s been MLS at its very best.”