Eric Ramsay has backed Kelvin Yeboah to be Minnesota United’s “main man” as they prepare for the first game of their best-of-three series against Real Salt Lake in the MLS playoffs.

Yeboah arrived from Serie A side Genoa in August, and has made an instant impact for the Loons, scoring seven goals and providing two assists in nine league outings.

The 24-year-old’s 0.89 goals per 90 minutes ranks fourth in MLS, and his head coach, Ramsay, believes he can play a starring role for his side in the postseason.

“He is coming here as a marquee player,” Ramsay said. “He’s our big threat. He is our main man at the top of the pitch at the moment, so with that comes a certain amount of pressure that you imagine the top players have had to deal with their whole career.

“His life is going to be more difficult in front of goal than it was in the early stages because I feel like he caught a few teams by surprise. I think now everyone knows the threat that he poses.”

Minnesota ended their regular season with a 4-1 thrashing of St. Louis City, though Ramsey said there were still areas for improvement ahead of travelling to America First Field.

“As the season has gone on, we are more established from the perspective of general principles of play. I’m trying to make sure we are homing in on individual details.”

Salt Lake, meanwhile, come into the game on the back of a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps, with the victory setting a new all-time single-season points record (59).

Pablo Mastroeni’s side are also on a six-game unbeaten run, though the Claret and Cobalt boss highlighted the importance of the home supporters for their fixture with the Loons.

“The focus is really being more dangerous with our possession,” Mastroeni said.

“We’re working on the mindset, which is to be aggressive, the tactical piece, which is the positioning to be aggressive, and then the overall understanding of how to get balls in the box to threaten their backline.

“It’s been a fantastic year of support, really. I think this is a great opportunity for fans and the team alike to really come together and be that 12th man that really boosts this group forward.

“Because it’s going to be the most important game of our season, and I know for sure that the fans will show up.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Real Salt Lake – Cristian Arango

Arango set a single-season Salt Lake club record with 29 goal contributions in 2024 (17 goals, 12 assists).

He has, however, recorded just two goal contributions in his last 11 matches after recording 27 in his first 19 games of the season, and he will be hoping to return to form against Minnesota.

Minnesota United – Robin Lod

Lod notched 20 regular season goal contributions for Minnesota this term (seven goals, 13 assists), five more than any of his team-mates.

The Finland international has also enjoyed recent meetings with Salt Lake. He has scored three times in his nine appearances against them, only scoring more against Houston Dynamo (four) in the MLS.

MATCH PREDICTION: REAL SALT LAKE WIN

This will be the first postseason meeting between Salt Lake and Minnesota. More than half (nine) of the 17 all-time meetings between the sides have ended in draws, including each of the last four (Minnesota W5, Salt Lake W3).

The Claret and Cobalt have advanced in all six playoff ties in which they have won a match at home but have also been eliminated in all six playoff ties in which they played at home but failed to win (D4 L2).

This week’s hosts also have only one home playoff win since 2014 (D3 L0), a 2-1 win over Portland Timbers in the 2019 First Round.

But it is new territory for Minnesota. This will be their first multi-leg playoff series after playing six previous single-leg knockout ties (W2, D1, eliminated on penalties, L3). The Loons have scored at least once in all six of its previous postseason games.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Real Salt Lake – 48.6%

Draw – 25.8%

Minnesota United – 25.6%