A Minnesota United team that scored five goals in its first six MLS games delivered as many in consecutive games after strikers Abu Danladi and Bongokuhle Hlongwane came on after halftime in victories over Colorado and Chicago the next two times out.
Their speed and production convinced Loons coach Adrian Heath to shake up his starting 11 and attacking front four in Sunday's late game at Los Angeles F.C.
Both players started Sunday's game, with Danladi on the attacking left wing for Franco Fragapane and Hlongwane on the right side with Robin Lod moved up top for striker Luis Amarilla.
Those changes are intended to produce counterattacks when LAFC presses high up the field as it likes to do.
"They stretch the field for us," Heath said Thursday about Danladi and Hlongwane. "I can't say they haven't helped us when they've come on. What we've done prior to that has given them the opportunity."
That opportunity put both in the 11 instead of coming on early in the second half, as they had in the past two games.
"I love it when you see those guys ready to come in," said veteran Loons defender Michael Boxall before Sunday's game. "They bring so much energy. They're a little bit something different to what we've done."
Danladi's 79th minute goal was the final one in a 3-1 victory over Colorado two weeks ago. Hlongwane assisted on two of his team's three second-half goals in last week's 3-0 home victory over Chicago.
Loons star playmaker Emanuel Reynoso had a goal and three assists in the two games since Heath summoned both Danladi and Hlongwane not long after halftime. Until then, Reynoso's only goal or assist this season was a penalty-kick goal in a loss to Seattle.
Lod has also produced when he has played through the middle as Reynoso does. He has two goals and an assist in those last two games and Sunday moved to a "false" striker role up top.
"When Robin comes into central areas from wide areas, he does get involved," Heath said. "He's just quick and sharp with the ball and reads the runs of our players so well."
Familiarity in the midfield
With captain and defensive midfielder Wil Trapp suspended Sunday for yellow-card accumulations and injured Hassani Dotson out for the season, Honduras national team members Kervin Arriaga and Joseph Rosales started together in the midfield for the first time.
"We know each other from before," Rosales said. "I know how he plays, what he likes. We understand each other in the midfield."
Trapp traveled with the team to Los Angeles. So did left back Chase Gasper. He was a sub behind starter Kemar Lawrence in Gasper's way back to full fitness after he spent nearly a month in a California treatment center.
A soccer thing
The Timberwolves' Chris Finch picked up plenty during a coaching career that took him to England, Germany and Belgium. When his team's season ended with a six-game, first-round playoff loss to Memphis Friday at Target Center, he raised his hands above his head and applauded the fans, as soccer players and coaches do in Europe and MLS.
"I always thought one of the neatest things about Europe is players always clap to the fans after every game," he said. "Fans are part of the fabric to the team as much as any one player."
