Coming into Saturday's game at Allianz Field, Minnesota United had never beaten the Los Angeles Galaxy, with just two draws to show for its efforts in seven attempts. The Galaxy has always been among the most star-studded sides in Major League Soccer, and at times it felt like that star power created an unbridgeable chasm between the teams.
This time around, the gap between two of the top teams in the Western Conference seemed much smaller, with the Loons rolling while the Galaxy had started to struggle. Los Angeles even named a starting 11 that was missing the team's biggest stars. No Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, its All-Star striker. No Jonathan dos Santos, the team's other Mexican superstar. No Sebastian Lletget, the U.S. men's national team veteran.
No difference to the final result.
Kevin Cabral scored just before halftime for Los Angeles, giving a disjointed squad the life it needed to hold off Minnesota United for a 1-0 victory. And the night's star may not have been one of the Galaxy's top players, but he certainly had a famous name all the same.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann, the son of former U.S. men's national team coach and German superstar Jurgen Klinsmann, made his first start of the season for the Galaxy. And when the game was over, he had a double handful of acrobatic saves to add to his personal highlight reel, preserving the clean sheet.
"The goalkeeper's performance today was unbelievable," Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath said. "I can't fault my players, because if it wasn't for about five unbelievable saves from the goalkeeper, we would have got something out of the game."
Klinsmann's day started quickly, as Minnesota nearly took the lead within the first three minutes. A defender's deflection of right back Romain Metanire's low cross forced the keeper into a save at full stretch to his right.
Especially in the second half, the game was occasionally a shooting gallery for Minnesota, as the Loons outshot the Galaxy 21-10. On the hour mark, Jan Gregus came close with a header from a corner kick that skimmed off Klinsmann's fingers and then off the goalpost. Brent Kallman also had a chance from the same play, but his header was straight at Klinsmann.
As the clock wore down, the 24-year-old keeper's saves got even better. First he denied a long-range blast from Juan Agudelo that was destined for the top corner of the net, then crossed his entire goalmouth to keep out an Emanuel Reynoso free kick.
Perhaps his best save was his last one, in stoppage time, when a long-range United shot took a deflection, and Klinsmann had to change direction to claw the ball away.
BOXSCORE: LA Galaxy 1, Loons 0
"We certainly put a lot of threatening plays together to test him," Loons midfielder Wil Trapp said. "You look at the deflection save, you look at the save in the first half, he did a wonderful job. It's difficult when a goalkeeper's having a good day."
With Los Angeles entering a stretch of three games in seven days, coach Greg Vanney rolled out a lineup that included two brand-new signings. Just before halftime, it was one of those new signings that provided the assist for Cabral's goal. Striker Dejan Joveljic, newly arrived this week from German side Eintracht Frankfurt, slipped a through ball to Cabral, who cut around one defender and held off another to score.
The loss pushed Minnesota back into the many-sided battle for the final playoff spots in the Western Conference. It also temporarily lifted the Galaxy to the top of the Western table, and ended Minnesota's streak of seven home games without a loss.
