Markanich and Yeboah Strike as Minnesota United Beat LA Galaxy 2-1 for First Road Win of 2026

The LA Galaxy took 20 shots on Saturday night. Minnesota United took nine. Guess which team left Carson smiling.

Anthony Markanich and Kelvin Yeboah scored in the second half, Drake Callender made seven saves, and Minnesota United FC beat the LA Galaxy 2-1 at Dignity Health Sports Park for their first road win of 2026. Marco Reus equalized for the Galaxy in between, but the Loons answered within 10 minutes and then spent the rest of the night, eight minutes of stoppage time included, absorbing everything LA could throw at them. It was less a smash-and-grab than a well-planned heist: patient, organized and ruthless when the vault door swung open.

A Patient First Half

Minnesota came to Carson shorthanded, without veterans Wil Trapp and Michael Boxall, so Owen Gene and Nicolás Romero stepped into the lineup and Joaquín Pereyra wore the captain's armband, per the club. The Galaxy did most of the early shooting. Gabriel Pec fired just over in the eighth minute and forced Callender into a save four minutes later, and João Klauss had an angled effort blocked.

The Loons kept their shape and picked their moments. Jefferson Díaz rose to meet a Pereyra cross in the 26th minute, and JT Marcinkowski had to make the save up in the top right corner. Galaxy fullback Mauricio Cuevas and Pec both tested Callender in the 36th and 37th minutes, and Tomás Chancalay answered with a shot that Marcinkowski stopped at the top of his goal a minute later. Markanich picked up a yellow card for a bad foul just before the break, and the teams went in level.

Markanich Opens the Floodgates

It took six minutes of the second half for the game to crack open. Pereyra lofted a through ball over a high Galaxy back line, Markanich found himself alone against Marcinkowski, and the wingback slotted a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner. Minnesota's club recap billed Markanich as the league's highest-scoring defender in 2025, and he finished this one like a forward.

The lead lasted six minutes. Klauss slipped a first-time ball to Reus in the middle of the box, Callender saved the first attempt, and Reus swept the rebound into the bottom right corner with his left foot. Game on, with more than half an hour to play.

The Winner, and the Wall

Then Minnesota landed the blow that decided it. In the 67th minute, Chancalay drove down the left side to the end line and cut a cross into the middle, where Yeboah finished from very close range. It was the kind of goal that looks simple on the highlight reel and is anything but: Chancalay did all the hard work, and Yeboah did not waste it.

What followed was a siege. Klauss fired a Miki Yamane cross over the bar in the 76th minute, then lifted another effort just high in the 79th. In the 80th minute alone, Klauss and Reus both had shots blocked from close range. Erik Thommy tried his luck from distance and missed just high. Minnesota nearly killed it off through Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the break in the 83rd minute and Nectarios Triantis in the 88th, but both missed the target.

The fourth official signaled eight minutes of stoppage time, and Callender saved the best for last. He stopped Edwin Cerrillo's drive in the first minute of added time and then denied Pec low to the bottom right corner in the sixth. Minnesota cleared corner after corner, and the whistle finally came.

The Standouts

Drake Callender. Seven saves, including the point-blank stop on Reus that the Galaxy needed a rebound to beat, plus two late saves that preserved the result. Minnesota's recap praised his composure as the Galaxy grew more desperate.

Kelvin Yeboah. Two shots, one goal, and the decisive finish. He led the line in Minnesota's front three and was in the right place when it mattered.

Tomás Chancalay. One shot on target, one assist, and the run of the night to set up the winner.

Joaquín Pereyra. In the armband for the night, he supplied the through ball for the opener and the cross for Díaz's first-half header.

Gabriel Pec. The best attacker on the losing side, with seven shots and three on target. Callender simply had an answer every time.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: LA Galaxy 20, Minnesota 9. Shots on target: 7 to 4.
• Saves: Callender 7, Marcinkowski 2.
• Corners: LA Galaxy 9, Minnesota 0.
• Possession: LA Galaxy 58.5 percent.
• Crosses: The Galaxy attempted 22 and completed only three.

What It Means

Minnesota climb to 2-2-2 with eight points, and the club said that put them ninth in a packed Western Conference. After a draw at Austin and losses at Nashville and Vancouver, the Loons finally have a road win to show for their travels. Next up is another trip, to San Diego next Saturday.

The Galaxy fall to 1-2-3 with five points and are winless in four league matches, with home defeats to Sporting Kansas City and now Minnesota in that stretch. Their notes did offer a few bright spots. Reus now has a goal contribution in three straight league matches, Marcinkowski made his first league start at home this season, and Maya Yoshida's stoppage-time cameo was the 699th appearance of his professional career. Next up is a trip to Toluca for the first leg of a Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday, then a visit to Austin FC on April 11.

Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney did not sugarcoat it. "Yeah, it's not good enough, the start's not good enough. We've given up too many points at home," he said. "This has got to be the last points we're dropping at home."

Final Whistle

Reus summed up a night when LA had more of everything except goals.

"We are on the edge of getting in front," he said. "But then we have to show more the mentality of, yeah, doing it, the killer instinct inside of us."

Minnesota already had that instinct. Two clean finishes, one inspired goalkeeper, and the Loons headed for San Diego with the kind of road win that tends to build a season. The Galaxy, meanwhile, have a rerun problem: dominant on the ball, generous at the back, and stuck watching someone else take the bows.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by the LA Galaxy (lagalaxy.com); additional details from Minnesota United (mnufc.com).