Zach Allen-Kelly

Louisville City was unable to capitalize on a heavily rotated Minnesota United side in the first official meeting between the two teams currently near the top of their respective tables.  The Loons changed out their entire starting lineup from the past weekend’s match with Austin FC but were still able to secure a ticket to the Fifth Round of the 2025 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with a 1-0 win. The lone goal came off a second half goal from 17-year-old striker Darius Randell in his first start for the senior team.

The young striker, who becomes the youngest player to suit up and the youngest to score a goal for Minnesota, was a consistent threat in what was otherwise a quiet night for Minnesota in attack.

“It was a fantastic result. They threw everything at us,” said Minnesota asisstant coach Cameron Knowles. “They’re a very good USL team, have been for a number of years. It’s a tough environment to come to, (it’s) a fantastic stadium. They’re a well-supported team.”

After not entering the tournament last year, the Loons extended their streak of winning their opening game. They have now won five straight opening round games dating back to 2019.

The game proved to be an interesting tactical matchup, as both teams have seen a great deal of success this season seeding the majority of possession to the opposing team.  Both teams looked keen to deny their opponent the opportunity for a counterattack early in the game, leading to a probing, conservative first half with no shots on target recorded for either side. 

Remarking on the first half, Louisville City coach (and former Minnesota United player) Danny Cruz said: “I didn’t think we set the tone here in our own stadium. I thought they did . . . They wanted to play slow. They wanted to slow the game down and we didn’t do a good job managing that, we played right into it.”

Louisville appeared to find the back of the net early in the game on a long direct ball from right back Aiden Mcfadden to wing Ray Serrano, who quickly chipped the ball past Minnesota keeper Wessel Speel. The goal was quickly ruled offside, drawing the ire of the characteristically rowdy 4,500 fans in attendance at Lynn Family Stadium.

With both teams conscious to avoid giving up a counter attack, the few scoring opportunities that did come in the rest of the half for both teams were mostly off of set pieces, with none for either team posing a serious threat to the opposing keeper.

The undefeated Louisville side made a halftime adjustment, substituting veteran midfielder Kevon Lambert for Evan Davila. The adjustment appeared to pay off early in the half, with City dominating possession and making multiple forays into the final third over the first 15 minutes.  The best scoring opportunity of the night for the home side came in the 57th minute of the match with a free header from Lambert off of a City corner kick. Minnesota’s Speel was able to make a quick kick save which fell to the feet of Louisville striker Phillip Goodrum, who was unable to make solid contact on the rebound shot attempt which was quickly smothered by Speel.

City would regret not capitalizing on their momentum in the 64th minute as a quick through ball from Minnesota midfielder Jeong Ho-Yeon to attacker Jeong Sang-Bin sliced open the typically stout Louisville backline. Sang-Bin then played a diagonal ball to Randell who tapped in a shot off a back post run to give the Loons the go ahead goal against the run of play.

On the momentum shift in the second half, Coach Cruz commented: “There’re fine margins in these games.  We do poorly on the goal and now you’re down and now you’re chasing.”

Louisville looked to respond quickly, subbing on outside back Jake Morris and wing Janson Wilson immediately after the goal.  In a scary moment for both teams, a 71st minute collision between the newly subbed Morris and Minnesota’s DJ Taylor left both players down on the field and tended to by the training staff resulting in a yellow card for Morris who left the game shortly thereafter with an apparent groin injury.

Minnesota was able to weather a late barrage of crosses into the box as City desperately tried to find an equalizer in the final minutes of the match, at one point subbing on rookie University of Louisville center back Josh Jones at striker in an effort to give the team more size up top.  The lone goal from Randell proved to be enough for Minnesota though, who advance to play fellow MLS side St. Louis CITY on the road in Round 5.

For Louisville, it was just the second home loss in 14 US Open Cup games (10-2-2, 2-0 PKs) and it snapped the club’s four-game home unbeaten streak. 

“For our guys, it really highlights how well they’ve been doing,” said Knowles, who played in seven career US Open Cup games for three different clubs. “A lot of those guys with the second team, and then coming in and stepping in, and some guys who have seen limited time with the first team to come in and put together a really complete result … and then for Darius to have that moment where he becomes the youngest appearance maker and goalscorer for the club in history is just a fantastic moment for us.”