Major League Soccer preview: Can Minnesota United edge out victory against SJ Earthquakes?

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Competition: USA Major League Soccer
Competition: Sun 01.Oct
Match begins: 00:30 (UTC)
Venue: Allianz Field (19400 seats)

Minnesota United - SJ Earthquakes in Major League Soccer: Data, team sheets, matches, tendencies and headlines. Get our complete preview!

Insights:
  • Minnesota United have won significantly more corners at home than away.
  • SJ Earthquakes have conceded at least twice as many goals as they have scored away.

Everyone involved with the away team has to get their travel gear ready for this match as there's a whopping 3200 kilometers to cover before arriving at the match.

This has all the signs of an exciting match with lots of spark and bustle as both teams are well refreshed since they last saw competitive action. Game on!

L L L D D

Minnesota United form and stats

Minnesota United have collected 17 points from their Major League Soccer home games so far after 3-8-4. Minnesota has three losses from their three previous games and the tension is increasing in the dressing room for both the manager Heath and the players.

Minnesota United's previous game was also a home match, the defeat 1-2 versus St. Louis City (placed 1st). The striker Pukki was declared "man of the match" for Minnesota with a rating of 7.63/10. Pukki scored one goal and hit two key passes.

Prior to that, an away loss at LA Galaxy.

The betting market estimate that the home team has about 55-60% chance of winning this match. There could be betting value if you think differently, so to help you here are the stats from Minnesota United's earlier matches at home being 55%-60% favourite: Played 9 games, won 7 matches, drawn 0 and lost 2.

Minnesota United are traveling soon after this match as the Major League Soccer match at Los Angeles FC awaits in four days.

Minnesota are certainly not overdoing their scoring at home in league matches, having created 18 goals in 15 games. It's been trouble in front of goal recently, as only 2 of these goals has been scored in their last three home matches. Minnesota United have conceded 17 in these home matches.

D L W D D

SJ Earthquakes form and stats

There's been little loot from SJ Earthquakes's travels as they have only collected 11 points from 15 away games in the Major League Soccer. SJ Earthquakes only have 2 wins to counter their 8 defeats and 5 draws.

Earthquakes's last game was the home draw against Nashville SC (1-1). SJ Earthquakes coach Gonzalez could be heard cursing the gods after the 1-1 draw against Nashville SC, as the team hit the posts three times. Akapo, who plays in defense, got the "man of the match" on his team with the rating 7.83. Akapo served one assist, hit one key pass and won 9 of 14 duels.

It was a defeat before that one as the away game against Portland Timbers wasn't a success with a 1-2 loss.

As mentioned above, the odds for this match puts the home team as favourites. Perhaps this eases the pressure on the away team, who are capable of producing an upset here on a good day. Looking at earlier matches with similar odds and SJ Earthquakes playing away, we found 17 games. Results were 4 away wins, 5 draws and 8 home wins.

Many goals are not expected from the visiting Earthquakes as they have only managed to score 12 times from 15 away games in the league. It's been trouble in front of goal recently, as only 1 of these goals has been scored in their last three away matches. SJ Earthquakes's defence is not exactly unbeatable as they have conceded 25 goals from these trips.

Head 2 Head

The latest logged scoreline featuring both these contenders is the SJ Earthquakes - Minnesota 1-1 played previously this season. Last ten meetings involving these contenders: Minnesota United won five, SJ Earthquakes were winners in two and we saw three draws. six games with over 2,5 goals, four matches with two goals or less.

Top Goalscorers

SJ EarthquakesC. Espinoza
C. Espinoza
12 goals
SJ EarthquakesJ. Ebobisse
J. Ebobisse
9 goals
Minnesota UnitedB. Hlongwane
B. Hlongwane
8 goals

Minnesota United missing players

SJ Earthquakes missing players

Total First Half Second Half
Minnesota United SJ Earthquakes
Total Home vs mid Statistics Stat vs low Away Total
30 15 4 Played P 4 15 31
9 3 1 Won W 0 2 10
10 8 3 Drew D 2 5 11
11 4 0 Lost L 2 8 10
38 18 6 Scored S 3 12 36
40 17 3 Conceded C 7 25 40
97% 93% 75% Over 0.5 O 0.5 75% 87% 87%
77% 80% 75% Over 1.5 O 1.5 75% 73% 77%
47% 33% 25% Over 2.5 O 2.5 75% 60% 58%
20% 13% 25% Over 3.5 O 3.5 25% 20% 16%
13% 13% 25% Over 4.5 O 4.5 0% 7% 6%
60% 73% 75% BTTS BTTS 50% 60% 65%
27% 20% 25% Clean Sheets C S 25% 27% 29%
17% 13% 25% Failed to Score F T 50% 27% 19%
 
5.7 7.4 5.2 Corners for (avg) C F 6.5 4.8 5.6
5.6 5 5.2 Corners against (avg) C A 6.5 6.8 5.3
1.8 1.9 3.2 Yellow cards (avg) Y C 1.5 2.7 2.2
1 0 0 Red cards R C 0 2 3
 
13.8 16.6 14.8 Shots (avg) S ( 10.2 9.7 11.9
4.7 4.9 5 Shots on Target (avg) S O 2 2.5 3.3
27% 25% 30% Goal Efficiency G E 38% 32% 35%
 
14.1 11.5 11.5 Shots against (avg) S A 15.2 17.2 14.4
4.3 3.7 3 Shots on Target against (avg) S O 5 6.1 5.2
Key stats in Major League Soccer this season:
  • Minnesota United have won significantly more corners at home than away.
  • SJ Earthquakes have conceded at least twice as many goals as they have scored away.
  • SJ Earthquakes have played more matches over 2,5 goals away than home.

  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 St. Louis City 31 16 5 10 58 39 15 10 2 3 37 14 16 6 3 7 21 25 19 53
2 Los Angeles FC 30 12 9 9 44 34 15 9 3 3 31 15 15 3 6 6 13 19 10 45
3 Seattle Sounders 30 12 9 9 37 31 15 6 5 4 17 10 15 6 4 5 20 21 6 45
4 Houston Dynamo 30 12 7 11 42 35 15 10 3 2 31 10 15 2 4 9 11 25 7 43
5 Real Salt Lake 30 12 7 11 42 45 16 6 4 6 23 24 14 6 3 5 19 21 -3 43
6 Portland Timbers 31 11 9 11 41 48 16 9 3 4 28 19 15 2 6 7 13 29 -7 42
7 Vancouver Whitecaps 29 11 8 10 47 43 14 7 4 3 29 16 15 4 4 7 18 27 4 41
8 SJ Earthquakes 31 10 11 10 36 40 16 8 6 2 24 15 15 2 5 8 12 25 -4 41
9 Dallas 29 10 9 10 34 33 15 7 5 3 21 14 14 3 4 7 13 19 1 39
10 Sporting KC 31 10 8 13 41 44 16 8 2 6 27 20 15 2 6 7 14 24 -3 38
11 Minnesota United 30 9 10 11 38 40 15 3 8 4 18 17 15 6 2 7 20 23 -2 37
12 Austin 30 9 8 13 43 49 15 6 4 5 23 18 15 3 4 8 20 31 -6 35
13 LA Galaxy 29 8 10 11 42 51 14 6 4 4 25 20 15 2 6 7 17 31 -9 34
14 Colorado Rapids 29 4 10 15 21 45 14 2 7 5 10 13 15 2 3 10 11 32 -24 22

Table
  Total Home Away  
# Team MP W D L F A MP W D L F A MP W D L F A +/- P
1 St. Louis City 31 16 5 10 58 39 15 10 2 3 37 14 16 6 3 7 21 25 19 53
2 Los Angeles FC 30 12 9 9 44 34 15 9 3 3 31 15 15 3 6 6 13 19 10 45
3 Seattle Sounders 30 12 9 9 37 31 15 6 5 4 17 10 15 6 4 5 20 21 6 45
4 Houston Dynamo 30 12 7 11 42 35 15 10 3 2 31 10 15 2 4 9 11 25 7 43
5 Real Salt Lake 30 12 7 11 42 45 16 6 4 6 23 24 14 6 3 5 19 21 -3 43
6 Portland Timbers 31 11 9 11 41 48 16 9 3 4 28 19 15 2 6 7 13 29 -7 42
7 Vancouver Whitecaps 29 11 8 10 47 43 14 7 4 3 29 16 15 4 4 7 18 27 4 41
8 SJ Earthquakes 31 10 11 10 36 40 16 8 6 2 24 15 15 2 5 8 12 25 -4 41
9 Dallas 29 10 9 10 34 33 15 7 5 3 21 14 14 3 4 7 13 19 1 39
10 Sporting KC 31 10 8 13 41 44 16 8 2 6 27 20 15 2 6 7 14 24 -3 38
11 Minnesota United 30 9 10 11 38 40 15 3 8 4 18 17 15 6 2 7 20 23 -2 37
12 Austin 30 9 8 13 43 49 15 6 4 5 23 18 15 3 4 8 20 31 -6 35
13 LA Galaxy 29 8 10 11 42 51 14 6 4 4 25 20 15 2 6 7 17 31 -9 34
14 Colorado Rapids 29 4 10 15 21 45 14 2 7 5 10 13 15 2 3 10 11 32 -24 22

More from USA - Major League Soccer

Read more about Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer (often known simply as MLS) is the top level of football (soccer) in the United States and Canada. MLS has 24 teams divided into two conferences, Eastern and Western. Each team play 34 fixtures to decide a league table champion. The top fourteen teams then compete in playoff to crown a MLS Cup champion.