Neither team is the best in their league, but neither is the worst, which makes Saturday night's matchup between Minnesota United FC and Club Leon (MX) so entertaining. These two teams played last season, in a game that saw former Loon Miguel Ibarra play one half for both teams in his first game in Minnesota since being sold. The game will be taking place at Target Field, and will be the first ever soccer game at the stadium built for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball.
About Club Leon
Club Leon is in between seasons right now, as they finished the 2015-16 Liga MX season in third place with 30 points. They accumulated a record of 19-3-12. Their top goal scorer was Mauro Boselli, who scored 16 goals, which was almost triple what the next highest scorer compiled. Elias Hernandez had the most assists of the team, with 14 assists during the 2015-16 season.
León is coming off one of its most successful seasons in years in terms of league play. La Fiera ranked second in the aggregate standings of Liga MX, behind Monterrey on goal differential. The club made the liguilla playoffs in both the Apertura and Clausura, reaching the semifinals of the Clausura. León reached the Copa MX Apertura final, falling 1-0 to Guadalajara.
As a team, Leon averaged 1.8 goals per game, while giving up just 1.5 goals per game. They have nine shutouts to their credit. They took 242 total shots, with 83 of those being on goal for a 34% shot accuracy.
About Minnesota United FC
The Loons are coming off a disappointing fourth round match in the US Open Cup where they lost 2-1 to Sporting Kansas City in extra time. Diego Rubio scored the winning goal in the 109th minute to lift Sporting over the Loons.
In the 2016 NASL Spring season, Minnesota finished with a 5-1-4 record, putting them in 4th place entering the fall season. Their top goal scorer is Christain Ramirez, who has five goals so far. Kevin Venegas has five assists to lead the team in that category.
As a team, the Loons averaged 1.6 goals per game, while giving up 1.2 goals per game. They have four shutouts so far this season. They took 123 shots in the spring season, with 37 shots on goal for an accuracy rate of 36%.
Series history
This will be the second meeting between the two clubs, as last June they battled to a 1-1 draw in Blaine. In that game, Aldo Rocha scored the first goal for Leon in the first half, but Pablo Campos tied it for United in the last half of the game to salvage a draw.