Kamara scores his first for Minnesota in win over FC Cincinnati

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:13 am

Kei Kamara scored on a penalty kick and Dayne St. Clair finished with three saves en route to his third shutout of the season to lead Minnesota United to a 2-0 victory over FC Cincinnati on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

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It was the 130th career MLS goal for the 36-year-old Kamara. Kevin Molino also scored for the Loons (6-5-4, 22 points) who snapped a four-game winless streak.

Przemyslaw Tyton had two saves for FC Cincinnati (3-8-4, 13 points) which has scored just two goals in their last 10 games. The Orange and Blue, who also have just one victory in that span, have scored only eight goals this season, fewest in the MLS.

Minnesota, which set team records for goals (seven) and margin of victory (six) in its only previous meeting with Cincinnati, a 7-1 victory on June 29, 2019, also at Allianz Field, started quickly, with Kamara just missing on a header off an Emanuel Reynoso cross that went over the crossbar in the eighth minute.

Eight minutes later, Chase Gasper drew a penalty from Cincinnati defender Mathieu Deplagne, who stepped across his left ankle while trying to clear a ball from the box. Following a video review, the Loons were awarded the penalty kick, and Kamara drove a right-footed shot into the middle of the goal past Tyton who dove to his left.

It was his first goal with Minnesota and fourth of the season for Kamara, who was obtained from the Colorado Rapids on Sept. 18.

Cincinnati had two excellent scoring chances to tie it, the first on a left-footed shot by Frankie Amaya from the left side of the box in the 31st minute that St. Clair knocked wide, and the second in the 57th minute when Jurgen Locadia bounced a straight-on header off a Joseph-Claude Gyau cross from just outside the six-yard box that St. Clair knocked away with his left hand.

Molino then made it 2-0 in the 69th minute when he took a nice breakout feed from Reynoso near the left sideline and fired a left-footed shot through Tyton's legs and inside the far post for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.