For two weeks, Minnesota United has been shorthanded, missing a half-dozen or more players to injuries, international call-ups and various other issues.

Saturday night, that shorthandedness extended to the field, as the Loons played most of the game with only 10 players.

Hassani Dotson was sent off midway through the first half for Minnesota after earning two yellow cards in the span of 45 seconds, and the Loons lost 1-0 to Austin FC at Allianz FIeld.

The defeat was Minnesota’s third in a row, extending the team’s only multi-game losing streak of this season. The Loons shot up the Western Conference standings over the first 10 or so games of manager Eric Ramsay’s tenure, but over the past few weeks, the air has gone out of the team’s balloon.

It was the first time in Minnesota’s MLS history that the Loons have had a player sent off in the first half of a match. Three Loons got their marching orders in the first half in 2023, but two were in the Leagues Cup and one in the US Open Cup.

Dotson’s fouls both came against the same player, Austin FC striker Gyasi Zardes, and it was surprising to see referee Drew Fischer reach for his pocket on both occasions. The first card came on an attempted tackle on which Dotson made little, if any, contact with Zardes. The second card probably was a foul, but on most nights might not have been a card.

It took just five minutes for Austin to capitalize on their man advantage. Loons goalkeeper Clint Irwin attempted to punch out a cross, but his punch wasn’t strong enough to clear the area and fell directly to Los Verdes striker Diego Rubio, who had only to beat a stranded Irwin to open the scoring.

Minnesota, playing without either of its first-choice center forwards, didn’t put its first shot on target until the 82nd minute, though the Loons did manage to keep a fair amount of possession even with only 10 men on the field. With the diminutive Sang Bin Jeong playing at center forward, though, Minnesota didn’t have the option of going the long-ball route to find a goal and instead had to try to systematically break down the Austin defense — while short one player.

Jeong had the Loons’ best chance of the game in the fourth minute of stoppage time but blazed his shot high over the crossbar.

Kervin Arriaga was in the starting lineup in his usual spot at right center back. It was something of a surprise to see him anywhere in the squad given online rumors suggesting that his transfer to Serbian giants Partizan FK was a done deal.

It was the first game in Minnesota’s past four in which the Loons didn’t need to sign fill-ins from their MLS NEXT Pro squad to short-term agreements in order to (mostly) fill out their bench. Though they were one short of the allowed nine bench players, having 19 first-team players available must have seemed like a luxury to Ramsay — at least until he lost Dotson on the field.