For the first time in 2025, Minnesota United lined up Saturday against Austin in the formation the Loons played for most of 2024 — a 5-2-3.

It wasn't exactly a tactical decision, since the genesis of the switch was an injury to striker Kelvin Yeboah, who might be the Loons' best player so far this year. But it seemed to work out just fine, with Minnesota winning 3-0 in Austin.

"I always felt that over the course of the season, we would revert back to that at some point," manager Eric Ramsay said. "I felt like there was an inevitability that playing with both Tani [Oluwaseyi] and Kelvin in the front two would become sort of stale, for want of a better word, at some point. And we would have to find ways to be adaptable and flexible in terms of how we use a shape."

It's a little hard to give credit to the formation for the win. The first goal was a blunder by Austin keeper Brad Stuver, and the second came after an attacking set piece, meaning that neither could really be said to be a classic goal.

And of course, once the Loons were leading 2-0 — even in the first half — they were never going to be anything but a sensible, defense-first team for the rest of the game.

The final expected-goals tallies likely won't be particularly kind to Minnesota, as Austin created a number of decent chances in the second half as it tried to rally from the deficit. And even after a 3-0 win, Ramsay wasn't ready to throw away either of the formations the Loons have played over the past year — as long as one or both can set the group up for success.

"I think it almost reaffirms what I thought about the group, in that we would for sure not play 30-odd games with Tani and Kelvin as a front two," he said. "[The 5-2-3] was something that we did very well last year. We can defend very well in that shape and once we find our rhythm, we can attack as we want to attack.

"I'll stress that we're just not going to be a team that is going be successful on the basis of phases of possession that last 30 passes. You could see that in the characteristics of almost all the players that we have at the top of the pitch. They want to attack quickly. They're really direct."

The formation swap did have the effect of moving Robin Lod and Joaquín Pereyra forward. The latter got his first MLS goal — probably his first two, if he had his way with the official scoring. The first one, though, was an attempted cross that was deflected, then rolled gently through the goalkeeper's legs — and probably should be scored as an own goal of some variety.

"We were joking about it in the locker room," said defender Anthony Markanich. "I was hoping I got the assist for that, but I don't think I did."

Pitch imperfect

The Loons struggled to get a foothold in the game for the first 15 minutes or so, and Ramsay had an idea why: They were literally struggling for footholds.

"I think might be lost on people at home, but they replaced the pitch yesterday, the pitch was a newly laid pitch," he said. "It played really quick, it was tough for the players to get used to in the first 10 or 15 minutes — and I think, credit to them, they probably dealt with that slightly better than we did.

"I'm not laying all blame on the pitch, but it was a really difficult pitch, very, very different to anything I've encountered since I've been here. Very short grass, very quick, lots of bobbles, lots of gaps in between blocks of grass."

Ramsay mentioned Carlos Harvey in particular as a player who was affected by the field in the first portion of the game, but to the Loons' credit, they did seem to figure out how to deal with it as the game wore on.

No Rosales following controversy

Left wingback Joseph Rosales didn't start the game, but not because of any discipline related to the controversy surrounding last week's game in Vancouver.

"I think the whole the whole situation that surrounds a player, and not just Joe, in a situation like that, given the sort of thoroughness of the league process, is really draining for a player," Ramsay said. "I think Joe's had a lot of extra bits to his week this week that he wouldn't normally have. So I felt like it was probably most sensible for me to make a tough decision to relieve a little bit of pressure from him, and not add the weight of a really difficult away game from the start."

Though the league hasn't announced a conclusion, it's clear — and was clear even in the immediate aftermath — that it's a case where the parties involved disagree on what happened and what was said.

Rosales played the final half-hour of the match, after being subbed on for Markanich in the 64th minute.