8 October 2023
Minnesota United let longtime manager Adrian Heath go on Friday, but when the Loons took the field against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday in St. Paul, there wasn’t much different. Same formation. Same jerseys. Similar starting lineup, minus a few players who struggled in the previous game.
Striker Teemu Pukki, though, was about to do something very different. Pukki scored four goals, including three in the second half, and the Loons destroyed the Galaxy 5-2.
It was MNUFC’s first victory since Aug. 30, a span of eight games, and the win keeps the Loons’ playoff hopes alive into the final week of the season.
The five-goal outburst represented just the third time this year that Minnesota scored more than one goal at home in MLS play, as the finishing problems that plagued the Loons all season at Allianz Field finally disappeared in the team’s final home game. Pukki also became the first MNUFC player to score four goals in a game.
Hassani Dotson put the Loons ahead in the 33rd minute, a goal created by some physical play from Pukki. Galaxy left back Raheem Edwards picked off a wayward pass from Emanuel Reynoso as Minnesota tried to counter-attack, but Pukki — back-checking like he was at Xcel Energy Center — bounced Edwards off the ball and turned it back to Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the wing.
Hlongwane found Dotson making an angled run through the Galaxy penalty area, and the winger hit his shot down into the ground, bouncing it over the keeper and just inside the far post of the goal.
Tyler Boyd tied things up for the Galaxy eight minutes later. His shot, from the left side of the Minnesota penalty area, hit a defender’s leg and deflected past Dayne St. Clair in the Minnesota goal.
It was another blown lead for Minnesota at Allianz, but this time, the Loons quickly grabbed the lead back, scoring just before halftime. Reynoso, with the ball in the center circle, looked up and found Pukki with a perfectly timed ball over the top of the Galaxy defense.
The Finn took one touch and placed his shot through the legs of Los Angeles keeper Jonathan Bond. Bond managed to get a small piece of the ball, but Pukki’s shot had just enough strength to roll over the goal line.
Just before the hour mark, Pukki doubled Minnesota’s lead, showing off his trademark finishing ability. Picking up a loose ball on the edge of the Galaxy penalty area, he quickly turned and fired a shot into the bottom-left hand corner of the net — a strike from nowhere to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead.
It took the striker just seven minutes to complete his hat trick. Hlongwane stayed calm in a penalty-area scramble and rolled the ball across the Galaxy six-yard box to a wide-open Pukki.
In the 76th minute, with Allianz Field in party mode, Pukki got his fourth. Franco Fragapane played the striker in behind the Galaxy defense, and the Finn beat Bond yet again for a 5-1 lead. Dejan Jovelic scored a goal in the 82nd minute for the Galaxy, but by then, Pukki’s barrage had already sewn up the match for the Loons.