Minnesota United FC’s friendly ends in draw on eve of U.S. Open Cup quarter

A night before Minnesota United FC s highly-touted U S Open Cup quarterfinal in St Paul against the Chicago Fire the Loons hosted a match with significantly lesser stakes That was reflected in the lineup Featuring a bunch of faces from Minnesota United the franchise s reserve squad and first teamers who haven t seen much in the way of minutes thus far this season the Loons played Holstein Kiel of the German Bundesliga to a - scoreless draw at Allianz Field in an international friendly Monday night in St Paul The contest played in front of a healthy crowd provided a chance for a number of the Loons lesser-known players on the second organization to take center stage One contestant who took advantage of the opportunity was Minnesota United backup goalie Alec Smir Holstein Kiel which is in its preseason at the moment and at this moment gearing up toward its campaign and gaining information to finalize its roster touted possession for largest part of the evening and fired eight shots on target Smir stopped them all The Loons who emptied their bench over the discipline of the match tallied just one shot on target on an evening where the likes of Tani Oluwaseyi and Kelvin Yeboah had the night off Minnesota United didn t push much offensively especially down the stretch But the Loons were solid defensively keeping much of Holstein Kiel s activity to the outside But Smir delivered whenever reasonable chances were produced such as when he stopped a header in the nd minute that maintained the tie Devin Padelford picked up a yellow card in the th minute And now for Minnesota United it s onto the match that matters on Tuesday evening as it sits just three wins away from claiming a trophy