Story by
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Loons’ strikers suddenly scoring, leaving others on outside looking in
- Story byPioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
- Loons’ strikers suddenly scoring, leaving others on outside looking in
Minnesota United 's depth chart at striker has been turned on its head in the team's past two matches. That has left a newcomer with a steeper climb to the field, and an underperforming player on the outside looking in.
A Loons team incapable of scoring multiple goals in MLS matches has since scored eight across its last two games, with forwards amassing six of them.
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Once-exiled Kelvin Yeboah has returned to the starting lineup and contributed three goals and a rare assist. Rookie Marcus Caldeira has burst on the scene with two goals and one assist. And backup Mauricio Gonzalez also chipped in with a goal.
That outburst has left newly signed forward Maurice Malone with a harder route to minutes, and underwhelming Momo Dieng on the fringe.
"(Malone has) got to come here and earn the minutes," head coach Cameron Knowles said Tuesday. "He's going to come here and compete. … He's just been signed and he comes straight in. These guys are doing well and that's great. It's great to have competition."
Malone, 26, has 79 goal contributions across 192 first-team matches at Sturm Graz, Austria Wien and Wolfsberger in Austria, and Basel in Switzerland . His attitude has been excellent, Knowles said.
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"It's a good competition," Malone said after training Tuesday. "It's also important in soccer to have a good competition to push yourself on getting better all the time."
A native of Augsburg, Germany , Malone described himself as a flexible and fast player who wants the ball inside the box but is also able to connect with teammates outside of it.
Meanwhile, Dieng trained with MNUFC2 on Tuesday; the striker has not scored in 502 MLS minutes this year.
"He's a little bit on the outside looking in," Knowles said. "… We've just got to figure out what is the next best thing for Momo."
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That could mean, perhaps, a loan back to the USL Championship, a transfer/trade or just biding his time for the next opportunity with MNUFC.
"Obviously, we have a ton of belief in him," Knowles said. "We see it in in how many opportunities he got to play and how close he was to scoring and how much he does for us off the ball and … in possession, as well. So, we'll see."
Last-minute deal?
MNUFC is pursuing Catalin Cirjan , a 23-year-old Romanian attacking midfielder with Dimano Bucharest, according to a post from journalist Emanuel Rosu on X.com Tuesday.
The 5-foot-9, right-footed player had 13 goal contributions in 3,222 minutes for Dimano in 2025-26, with three in 606 minutes so far this season. He was a former member of Arsenal 's youth academy.
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Loons have been pursuing players at that position this summer, so this falls in line with that goal. With the summer window closing Wednesday night, MNUFC needs to move quickly to get any 11th-hour deal over line.
MNUFC made multiple attempts to bring in Callum McCowatt , but the 27-year-old New Zealand midfielder will head from one Danish club to another (Silkeborg to AGF), per reporter Farzam Abolhosseini.
The Loons' offer for McCowatt was raised over the process and deemed competitive with other clubs, but personal matters influenced him to stay in Denmark , a source said.
Callender improving
Goalkeeper Drake Callender is progressing through concussion protocol, Knowles said Tuesday. Callender collided with teammate Jefferson Diaz during the first half of the Orlando draw and was subbed out at halftime.
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"Took a big hit in the match," Callender wrote on Instagram. "Feeling much better (Sunday). Thanks for all the positive matches."
Callender has started all 22 matches this season but his availability for Saturday's late-night game at Portland is up in the air.
"As long as he keeps coming through each stage of the protocol symptom free, then he'll keep accelerating through the protocol, with a view to him being — all things going to plan — added to full team training by the end of the week," Knowles said.
