Kelvin Yeboah scored his second goal in as many games and Minnesota United earned a 1-0 victory at the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.
Yeboah now has nine goals in 12 league appearances since his arrival to MLS last summer and is the only Minnesota player to score this season.
Dayne St. Clair made two saves to keep a second straight clean sheet for the Loons (2-1-0, 6 points) after a 1-0 home win against CF Montreal a week ago. It was Minnesota’s sixth defensive shutout in eight regular-season matches dating back to last September.
San Jose (2-1-0, 6 points) outshot Minnesota 15-10 but was shut out for the first time after scoring six goals in their first two matches under incoming manager Bruce Arena. Minnesota’s defenders blocked 10 shots.
The Quakes played without Hernan Lopez, who was suspended following being sent off in last weekend’s 2-1 win at Sporting Kansas City.
For the second consecutive match, Yeboah’s goal had an awkward look to it.
It was Tani Oluwaseyi who won possession back for Minnesota following a mis-hit clearance attempt and got the ball to Michael Boxall advanced into the right side of the penalty area.
Boxall played the ball square to Yeboah, who swept his leg across his body to redirect it out of the air bounding slowly into the bottom left corner in the 32nd minute.
Cristian Espinoza was at the root of most of San Jose’s best chances to equalize in the second half. He fired narrowly wide of St. Clair’s left post on a free kick midway through the second half, and then saw a shot from a promising area on the right side of the penalty area blocked by Anthony Markanich in the 82nd minute.
After that, Minnesota looked the more likely team to score in the closing stages on the counterattack.
Nicolas Romero’s header was off target in the 88th minute, and Joaquin Pereyra’s effort was well saved by San Jose goalie Daniel a minute later.
–Field Level Media
