Minnesota United at San Jose Earthquakes

When: 9:30 p.m. CT Saturday
Where: Allianz Field
Stream: Apple TV Season Pass
Radio: KSTP-AM 1500 ESPN
Weather: sunny, 73 degrees, 12 mph south wind
Betting line: MNUFC plus-175; draw plus-280; San Jose plus-120

Form: The Loons (9-11-6, 33 points) fell out of the Western Conference spots for the MLS Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 loss to Seattle last Saturday. Earthquakes (5-19-2, 17 points) beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 last weekend, but still remain in last pace in West by a margin of seven points.

Stat: One. MNUFC’s 2-0 win over San Jose on July 20 is the club’s only victory in 11 league matches since June 1.

Absences: MNUFC are the healthiest they have been all season, with leading scorer Tani Oluwaseyi (hamstring) set to come back. New signing Joaquín Pereyra (immigration process) is not expected to be available to play.

Scouting report: San Jose has conceded an MLS-worst 61 goals this season and Ramsey teased that Yeboah and Oluwaseyi might form a two-forward pairing up top. Yeboah hit the ground running, becoming the first player to score two goals in his debut vs. Seattle. This match could prove to be a great opportunity to engender confidence and develop chemistry.

Projected XI: In a 5-3-2 formation, FW Kelvin Yeboah, FW Tani Oluwaseyi; CM Robin Lod; CM Wil Trapp, CM Hassani Dotson; LWB Joseph Rosales, CB Micky Tapias, CB Michael Boxall, CB Jefferson Diaz, RWB Sang Bin Jeong; GK Dayne St. Clair.

View: Now is the time for the Loons to capture all three points on the road; they haven’t done so since May 4 at Atlanta. And the Earthquakes are ripe for the picking, with a 3-9-1 home record. Only two other MLS teams have a paltry three home victories this season.

Issue: The Loons continue to be held up by their set-piece defending; Seattle scored twice on the second-phase of those plays last weekend.

“What you find is the difficult thing is to get on the same page is that transition in it being a set-play moment and it not being a set-play moment and everyone crossing over to get back into their normal positions,” Ramsay said. “That is when we look now vulnerable. We got to make sure we are really thorough and really concentrate all the way through until the danger has gone.”

Prediction: Yeboah and Oluwaseyi show MNUFC fans how lethal their partnership might be in the season’s final stretch. But set pieces continue to be a bugaboo. However, Loons win 2-1.