Minnesota United seems to have things going in the right direction, having won four of its last five games. And for the first time in more than two months, the Loons’ efforts also meant that the Allianz Field crowd got to sing “Wonderwall.”

Minnesota’s 3-0 win against Colorado was its first home win since July 20, and its first win of any kind against a playoff team since May 18th — an important milestone, as Minnesota closes in on a playoff berth of its own.

The Loons ended the night eight points clear of tenth-place FC Dallas. So, with just three games to play, only a complete collapse would see Minnesota slide out of the postseason picture. The Loons, in fact, have put themselves squarely in the competition to climb to seventh or above, which would mean they’d avoid the 8-vs-9, wild-card game entirely.

The Loons opened the scoring just 16 minutes into the night, in a rather unexpected manner — and nobody was more surprised than striker Kelvin Yeboah.

Robin Lod, on the right of the goal, attempted to volley a long cross from Joseph Rosales. His attempted shot was wayward enough to go down into the ground, bounce up, and hit an unsuspecting Yeboah in the face, but the mistake deflected off Yeboah and bounced just inside the near post, leaving Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen no chance at all.

The assist was Lod’s 15th of the season, tying a Loons single-season team record; it was also his assist that was most likely to result in him having to buy dinner for a teammate, as an apology. For his part, Yeboah became just the fourth player in league history to score in five of his first six matches.

Two minutes into the second half, Yeboah doubled the Minnesota advantage — this time, with full knowledge of the situation. Midfielder Joaquín Pereyra drove into the Colorado area, next to Hassani Dotson, and the two combined to get the ball to Yeboah near the penalty spot, and the striker made no mistake, taking a touch and then driving home his seventh goal in just six games for the Loons.

It was part of what was a pretty comprehensive performance from Minnesota, through the first hour of the match. Minnesota held Colorado to just one shot on target, and that from outside the penalty area, through the first 60 minutes. Combined with Yeboah’s two goals, it allowed the Loons to sit back into a comfortable defensive shape, and look for opportunities to break forward.

Dotson finished off the scoring for Minnesota with a pretty solo goal. Dotson picked up the ball near the right sideline, carried past four Colorado defenders to the top of the penalty area, and beat Steffen inside the near post to put the Allianz Field crowd into party mode.

Minnesota now has 12 points from the six games since the end of the midseason break for the Leagues Cup, just about the same rate that put Minnesota near the top of the league standings before players started departing for summer tournaments. Manager Eric Ramsay has always insisted that his team was less like the squad that struggled all summer, and more like the one that exceeded expectations in the early going.

It remains to be seen where the Loons end up this season. But for the first time in months, on Saturday, the faithful in St. Paul got to see what Ramsay was talking about.

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