Minnesota United provided two thrilling results to advance in the Leagues Cup knockout rounds in August.
The third time was not charmed; it was cataclysmic.
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After the Loons went down to 10 men after a half hour Friday, MNUFC kept wilting and Nashville kept rolling, stacking goals in 5-0 blowout win in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal Friday at GEODIS Park in Tennessee.
United was one win away from playing in the tournament鈥檚 semifinal, but remain a club that falls short in the game before the real big game.
Instead of the buzz of playing one of North America鈥檚 top teams 鈥� Los Angeles FC or Monterrey 鈥� in a semifinal Tuesday. They will have to fight a hangover and regroup for the return of MLS play on Aug. 20 at New York City.
The game changed when DJ Taylor was issued a red card in the 34th minute for a 鈥減rofessional foul last man,鈥� when the referee deemed Taylor making contact on Jacob Shaffelburg.
One definition it鈥檚 a deliberate foul against an attacking player to prevent him from scoring a goal, but what the referee decided won鈥檛 be known because Leagues Cup does not have a pool-report option. In MLS, reporters can submit written questions to officials for clarification.
Down to 10 men, the Loons subbed on fullback Zarek Valentin to play on right side. He was beaten on crosses for Nashville鈥檚 two goals in the next 10 minutes.
Prior Lake native Teal Bunbury scored the second goal for Nashville. He had scored two in 1,358 MLS minutes this season.
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Minnesota went down to 10 men in the Leagues Cup opener against Puebla on July 23, but rolled to a 4-0 win against the Mexican side. The opposite happened Friday.
Down a man and already in a 2-0 hole at the break, Loons central defenders Micky Tapias and Michael Boxall allowed Alex Muyl to split them for a free header and the third goal in the 50th minute.
Then Valentin was beat over the top and it led to Sam Surridge making it 4-0 in the 53rd minute. The bleeding didn鈥檛 stop as Hany Mukhtar made it 5-0 in the 59th minute.
The Loons had averaged 2.75 goals across four Leagues Cup matches, and at full strength, had some bright moments early on Friday. But they managed only three shots on goal over the 90 minutes.
The Loons made two changes to the starting XI from its shootout win over Toluca on Tuesday. With Hassani Dotson serving a one-game suspension for a red card, Joseph Rosales went from fill-in left back to central midfield. And new left back Ethan Bristow made his first start for Loons.
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