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Mauricio Gonzalez scored the go-ahead goal in the 76th minute as Minnesota United scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to rally for a 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night in St. Paul.
Anthony Markanich and Kelvin Yeboah also scored goals and Drake Callender made two saves for Minnesota United (9-12-11, 38 points), who kept their playoff hopes alive heading into a game at Los Angeles FC on Sunday.
Taylor Calheira scored a goal and Stefan Cleveland made five saves for Sporting Kansas City (6-22-4, 22 points), who lost their fourth straight match and are winless in six matches this month.
Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute when Calheira scooped up a deflected pass at the top of the box and then drilled a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner for his fifth goal.
SKC had a chance to double their lead in the 64th minute but a shot by Andre Luiz from the top right side of the box caromed off the post.
Minnesota tied it in the 72nd minute when Markanich headed a corner kick from Joaquin Pereyra into the net for his ninth goal.
Gonzalez then put the Loons in front four minutes later when he took a pass from Nectarios Triantis in the middle of the box, dribbled to his left and drilled a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner for his third goal. It was the 79th goal allowed this season by SKC, breaking the MLS single-season record of 78 set by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2024.
Yeboah then sealed the win with his team-leading 18th goal in the 88th minute, drilling a right-footed shot from the edge of the 6-yard box into the left corner of the net off an assist from Tomas Chancalay.
After the damaging scoreless draw against Houston last weekend, the Loons (9-12-11, 38 points) needed a victory to ward off being eliminated and Minnesota got a comeback to do so against last-place Sporting (6-22-4, 22 points).
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