Minnesota United vs Houston Dynamo: Minute-by-Minute

NOTE: I don't usually do game stories, but I felt like I should write one this week - and I've been wanting to try this format for years. So, an experiment: a running diary of the Loons and Houston.

PREGAME: Minnesota makes some changes for this one, with Bongokuhle Hlongwane returning at right wingback, Aziel Jackson coming in for the injured Joaquín Pereyra in attacking midfield, and new signing Cherrion Valerius making his first appearance for Minnesota, in place of the suspended Jefferson Díaz.

It means the Loons are returning to playing with a single striker, Kelvin Yeboah, with Jackson and Tomás Chancalay as attacking midfielders.

1 – Valerius has both wrists taped, like he’s playing linebacker. Given that he is also wearing number 52, I fully support this.

5 - The early game is a lot of real cagey mid-block stuff from both teams- both teams just absolutely fighting their urge to give up on ball progression and start launching hopeless home-run balls over the top... and not always being successful in fighting those urges.

8 – Houston wins a series of slow-motion corners, as the entire crowd pulls out their phones and checks their messages. Expected goals are 0.02 to 0.00, which seems high. 

10 – Kelvin Yeboah gets behind the Houston defense from a throw-in, and wins a corner. Dynamo keeper Jonathan Bond punches out a recycled ball and nearly cleans Morris Duggan’s clock in the process. 

13 – A big ol’ cross-field long ball from Duggan almost finds Jackson, who can’t quite win the ball in the penalty area. I'm now looking up at the scoreboard to see if the expected goals are 0.02-0.01.  

15 – A Chancalay through-ball is just too far for Yeboah, but Bongokuhle Hlongwane wins it back and crosses. Bond claims it, ahead of a sliding Jackson, but the Loons are starting to develop some attacking ideas.

17 - The Apple TV broadcast just gave the full weather forecast for the overnight hours, which tells you how the game is going.

18 - The ball bounces in behind the Loons defense, Michael Boxall tries to hold off Lyle Foster and... can't. Boxall tries to pass back to Drake Callender, falls down, and Foster's alone on goal - making no mistake and beating Callender easily. Houston 1, Minnesota 0. In a game where both teams are struggling to find a way through, it's probably not a good time to be handing out chances.

23 - This is the 10th straight MLS game in which the Loons have conceded a goal, and the ninth of those ten in which they've conceded first. They're just playing from behind, all the time. It does kind of make whatever underlying numbers you want to look at a little bit meaningless, because they're always chasing the game.

29 - Yeboah finally gets a chance, and it's not a great one - a static header, that ends up looping straight to Bond. But hey, it's a shot on target.

32 - Minnesota has a chance at a counter-attack after a clearance. Houston does everything they can to foul Jackson, stop the chance, and eat the yellow card. Instead, referee Marcos DeOliveira keeps his whistle in his pocket. It's always strange when the defense tries, and fails, to earn a yellow.

35 - Duggan attempts another big switch, and over-throws - out-kicks? - Hlongwane. Probably not a good sign that Morris Duggan is the main offensive engine for the Loons right now.

36 - Jackson goes down in the penalty area, and Artur - who'd just tripped over him - gets up and leans down and screams in his face, for diving. If this was hockey they'd have cross-checked each other eighteen times and they'd both be in the box for two minutes.

40 - The Loons are finding some space for Jackson down the right, but he's yet to find a cutback or a cross that can create a chance. Hlongwane gets loose, making an arcing run towards the penalty spot, but can't control a long ball from Chancalay. I feel like Bongi's first touch has just completely deserted him.

43 - Markanich puts in a teasing cross from the left, and Jackson - of all people - gets a head on it, nodding just wide of the post. The game is starting to flow through Jackson a little bit, but he hasn't yet been able to find that difference-making moment. Which, of course, is kind of the story of the Loons attack this year.

HALFTIME: Houston 1, Minnesota 0. The Dynamo had one real attack, and that's all they needed. The rest of the half was about Houston's defense, and Minnesota's inability to break it down.

46 - Some second-half questions for the Loons: how can they find someone to play between Houston's lines? And who would that be? They've increasingly pushed Jackson out to the right wing and pushed Hlongwane forward.

48 - Morris Duggan, chance creator? He loops another long pass across the Houston area, and this time Yeboah is on the end of it, sliding and hooking the ball back over Bond and into the far side of the net. Minnesota 1, Houston 1, and we have a game again.

58 - Now that Houston isn't protecting a lead, Minnesota doesn't have it all their own way with the ball any more, and in fact almost can't get out of their own half. This is why game state is so important in the stats. When the score's even, Houston's ahead like 0.8 xG to 0.0, but the Loons are ahead overall because they were chasing the game for 30 minutes.

60 - Nick Markanich, Anthony Markanich's twin brother, is getting set to come in the game for Houston. I'm so excited. They're gonna get in a shoving match and their mom is going to be completely mortified, I just know it. As if responding to the possibility that his brother is about to come into the game, Anthony dashes around the Houston defense and cuts back a ball for Yeboah, who blasts over the crossbar from 15 yards. Excellent chance.

64 - A triple sub for the Loons, which you don't always see. Owen Gene is off for Nectarios Triantis, Aziel Jackson is off for Marcus Caldeira, and Mauricio Gonzalez is in for Bongokuhle Hlongwane. So now it's a 4-4-2 look for the Loons, with Yeboah and Caldeira up front, Chancalay on the right side of midfield, and Gonzalez on the left.

70 - Marcus Caldeira almost scores directly from a long throw, as Bond just tips his header over the cross-bar. A throwback there! Set Piece FC still lives, inside all of us! Bond is down hurt, which gave me some time to confirm with my mom that she would, indeed, have died of embarrassment if I'd gotten in a fight with my twin brother during an MLS game. So maybe I'd better not root for twin conflict here.

Bond got hit in the head, so backup goalkeeper Blake Gillingham has to come on for Houston. Both teams now get six substitutes in this game, with a head injury sub, and I want the Loons to make all six just so they can say they did.

78 - The Loons lead! Maybe the 4-4-2 is the way to go? Valerius pushes forward on the right and crosses for Caldeira, who slips a shot under Gillingham and gives Minnesota the lead! Minnesota 2, Houston 1. The Allianz Field sound guy is currently dusting off a record he hasn't played in, shall we say, some time. It's been 175 days since Minnesota won an MLS home game.

85 - Great reaction save from Drake Callender, after Morris Duggan had completely whiffed on a clearance attempt in his own penalty area, and Markanich snapped off a quick-fire shot attempt.

88 - Chancalay and Valerius come off for Carlos Harvey and Kyle Duncan. Valerius is pumping his fists and pulling his teammates into bear hugs. He did say he plays with his heart, and that's something the Loons desperately need right now.

90 - There are ten minutes of stoppage time, for people who just feel like they need more drama in their life.

92 - You can't make it up. Second minute of stoppage time, a recycled corner, Nick Markanich climbs above Kyle Duncan to head it back into the middle, where Duncan McGuire heads home for Houston. Minnesota 2, Houston 2, and the Loons have eight minutes left to try to rescue a home win. On the other end, Kyle Duncan gets a chance in behind but hooks the ball over the top - almost a carbon copy of the one that Yeboah scored.

96 - Maurice Malone is in for Minnesota, the last-chance move (and the sixth sub for the Loons).

99 - The Loons work the ball close to the goal... and Mauricio Gonzalez turns and blasts a fairly low-percentage shot wide. That needed another pass... or two... or really anything but what actually happened.

FINAL: Minnesota 2, Houston 2. Same old story, really. Minnesota falls behind, comes back, but can't hold on. The wait goes on for an Allianz Field win in MLS - and the playoff chase is pretty much done for, too.

The MLS numbers aren't kind to Minnesota:

• Winless in seven games
• One win in their last 17 games
• 10 points in those 17 games (0.58ppg)
• 11-game home winless streak
• 13 of a possible 42 points at home this season (0.92 ppg)

"The response in the second half was fantastic," said Cameron Knowles. "Just what we need, two goals, and from there we've just got to close it out."

And stop me if you've heard this before from Knowles, regarding closing the game out: "We had chances at 2-1 to make it 3-1 and really put the game out of sight."

It's something the Loons have basically never done, this year; they've led an MLS game by multiple goals only twice all season.

Minnesota is now six points adrift of the final playoff spot, with four teams in between them and that spot, and just six games left to go in the season. The odds are low. But Valerius isn't giving up. "We still have six more games to play, and according to my calculations, it's 18 points," he said. "We go for all the 18 points, and Wednesday [at Colorado] is the next opponent. We'll go game by game, and then we see further on how it goes."