Kelvin Yeboah Header Lifts Minnesota United Past FC Cincinnati 1-0 in Frigid Allianz Field Home Opener

Some goals are works of art. This one was a pinball machine. Tomás Chancalay's free kick clipped the Cincinnati wall, rattled off the post, according to both clubs, and dropped onto the head of Kelvin Yeboah, who nodded it in from point-blank range while Roman Celentano was still trying to get up.

That was the whole ballgame. Minnesota United FC beat FC Cincinnati 1-0 on Saturday at Allianz Field, with Yeboah's 66th-minute header deciding the Loons' home opener in front of 19,609 bundled-up fans. Cincinnati's own site called it the coldest match in FC Cincinnati MLS history, with temperatures barely reaching 20 degrees at kickoff. Minnesota moved to 1-1-0 with four points. Cincinnati, a 2-0 winner over Atlanta United on opening weekend, fell to 1-0-1 with three.

Cincinnati Came Out Hot, Then Went Cold

For the first 20 minutes, this looked like Pat Noonan's afternoon. Cincinnati pressed high, won four corners in the first 14 minutes and kept pumping the ball into the box. Gerardo Valenzuela was the delivery service. Ayoub Jabbari had a header blocked in the 10th minute and then put another one wide from very close range off a Valenzuela corner a minute later. Nick Hagglund had a header blocked in the 14th, and in the same minute Kévin Denkey got a right-footed look from the center of the box that Drake Callender saved.

Valenzuela tried his own luck from distance in the 20th minute. Callender again. Ender Echenique fired one just wide after a corner in the 25th and went close from a brutal angle on the right in the 40th.

Minnesota, meanwhile, took a while to find its gloves. Once it did, Joaquín Pereyra started firing from everywhere. He had shots blocked in the 21st and 26th minutes, missed high in the 31st and finally forced Celentano into a save from outside the box in the 43rd. Halftime arrived at 0-0, and nobody in the building had felt their toes since the anthem.

The Loons Find Their Feet

The second half belonged to the hosts. In the 48th minute Nectarios Triantis tried his luck from more than 35 yards, having spotted Celentano off his line, per Minnesota's site. Too high, but bold.

Two minutes later came what Cincinnati's own site called perhaps the best look of the night. Bryan Ramirez ripped a right-footed shot from the left side of the box, and Callender kept it out at the top of the goal. Minnesota answered with Pereyra forcing Celentano into a save in the bottom right corner in the 53rd minute, and in the 56th Chancalay put a header from an Anthony Markanich delivery on target, only for Celentano to save again.

Morris Duggan was booked in the 59th minute, but Minnesota kept coming. Valenzuela fouled Pereyra in the attacking half in the 63rd, setting up the dead ball that settled everything.

The Turning Point

In the 66th minute Chancalay stood over the free kick. His shot was blocked, the ball found the post, and Yeboah was the first one to react. Cincinnati's own account was blunt about it: nobody in orange tracked the rebound, and their keeper had no chance.

Noonan did not sugarcoat it either.

"How the foul happens is poor. How we defend it is poor," he said. "That's the difference in the game and how you feel, despite other chances being there for both sides."

Noonan sent on Obinna Nwobodo and Tom Barlow in the 69th minute. Nwobodo nearly made it count right away, but Callender saved his left-footed shot from the center of the box, low in the bottom right corner, in the 71st. Minnesota lost captain Michael Boxall to an injury, with Devin Padelford replacing him in the 77th minute, and the Loons still nearly doubled the lead when Chancalay ran onto a Wil Trapp through ball in the 83rd and forced Celentano into a save in the top left corner.

Then came 11 minutes of stoppage time, which felt like 11 hours. Cincinnati earned four corners in stoppage time, Nwobodo had a shot blocked and Kenji Mboma Dem dragged a right-footed effort wide in the 11th added minute. Then everyone sprinted for a heater.

Who Ran the Show

Kelvin Yeboah did not have a spectacular stat line: three shots, one on target. But that one counted, and it was his second goal in as many matches after his 90th-minute equalizer in the 2-2 draw at Austin FC. Two games, two headers from very close range. The man lives in the six-yard box rent-free.

Drake Callender was the reason Cincinnati never got its moment. Four saves, every one of them on a shot that had a real chance: Denkey in the 14th, Valenzuela in the 20th, Ramirez in the 50th and Nwobodo in the 71st. Minnesota's own recap leaned heavily on him, and the clean sheet is his.

Joaquín Pereyra was the engine. His five shots led all players, two of them on target, and he drew the foul that led to the goal.

On the other side, Roman Celentano matched Callender with four saves of his own, and he deserved better than to lose on a ricochet.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Cincinnati 54.7 percent, Minnesota 45.3 percent.
• Corners: Cincinnati 12, Minnesota 5. All that pressure produced zero goals.
• Crosses: Cincinnati attempted 26 and completed 7.
• Shots: Minnesota 16, Cincinnati 13, with five on target for the Loons and four for the visitors.
• Saves: Four apiece for Callender and Celentano.

What It Means

Minnesota has four points from its first two games, the start of what the club called its tenth season in MLS. The schedule now gets tricky: the Loons go on the road for their next two matches, starting at Nashville SC on Saturday, March 7, and they will not be back at Allianz Field until March 22.

Cincinnati sits on three points after splitting its first two league games. Noonan said the side "just lacked aggression, and really the final decision, the final pass," and added that Minnesota defended the box better than Cincinnati attacked it. His side gets its first full week of training of the year before hosting Toronto FC at TQL Stadium on Sunday, March 8.

Closing Take

Cincinnati had the ball, the corners and the early momentum. Minnesota had one bounce and a goalkeeper who refused to blink. That is February soccer in a nutshell.

Noonan's own verdict was honest enough to sting.

"So you could say it's a missed opportunity, but I don't think we performed so well that you think you missed out on three points," he said.

Translation: thaw out, watch the tape, and figure out how a free kick got through the wall.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by FC Cincinnati (fccincinnati.com); club notes from Minnesota United FC (mnufc.com).