Minnesota United's Emanuel Reynoso looks to heat up after a cool start

The same Minnesota United playmaker who set a MLS Cup playoff record for assists in 2020 delivered his first two assists this season, but not until its seventh game, a 3-1 victory over Colorado last week.

Before then, Emanuel Reynoso's only production was a penalty-kick goal in a 2-1 loss to Seattle and the Loons, probably not coincidentally, hadn't scored two goals in a game.

Now coach Adrian Heath is hopeful those two assists and three Minnesota United goals last Saturday are proof again that as goes Reynoso, so go his Loons.

"Earlier this season, he was fighting his game a little bit and maybe double-guessing himself," Heath said. "He's such an instinctive player that we need him to just go and play. Last week was a little more like himself."

Heath also hopes the arrival of Reynoso's wife and young daughter last week to live in Minnesota will make a lasting difference both off and on the field.

Now 26, Reynoso calls himself "very happy and content" with a "club that feels like family to me" and with his own family now here to live. Reynoso returned to Argentina from preseason training in February to marry.

"It's an extra motivation that you have," he said in Spanish translated by a team employee. "Family is important."

Heath said he has seen change in Reynoso since his family arrived.

"I think it's going to be huge for him, I really do," Heath said. "It's one of them things that people underestimate and overlook at times: They might be athletes and professional footballers, but they're also human beings, and they have the same frailties everybody else does."

Reynoso admits he hasn't yet produced in his second full MLS season like he did last season with five goals and 10 assists, or in the 2020 playoffs. That's when he had seven assists in three games after he left Argentina for a new league and new land, arriving in mid season.

Reynoso is back for a second full MLS season after he was arrested in Argentina last December and detained for more than a week on allegations he threatened and struck a 16-year-old with a gun.

In February, he called his legal issues resolved. MLS issued a statement saying he's permitted to participate in team activities and competitions while the league reviewed his alleged conduct. It said it'd consider further action "should credible information be discovered or developments in the proceedings occur."

Reynoso has started all seven MLS games so far, playing all 90 minutes in four. He was one of several starters who stayed home from Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup victory at Forward Madison (Wis.), but is expected to return to the starting 11 for Saturday afternoon's home game against Chicago Fire FC.

"You know, I haven't had very good games," he said. "But I keep training at 100 percent for each match, to help the team. Honestly, against Colorado, we played a great game, everyone."

Reynoso attributes the slow start to roster changes because of player arrivals and returns. Change has come, too, to the team's lineups and its attacking front four because of injury and absence.

Starting central midfielder Kervin Arriaga is a newcomer, starting striker Luis Amarilla is back after a season away, and the defensive backline has changed almost by the game, particularly at the outside-back positions.

"We're getting to know each other more and more," Reynoso said. "The group is getting stronger."

Heath said he has seen "a marked difference" in Reynoso's demeanor and work these last two weeks.

"So coupled with his performance last week, hopefully this will be the kick-start to his season," Heath said.