Thomas Chacon has sat out four straight Minnesota United games, but the 19-year-old Uruguayan midfielder showed glimpses of his attacking abilities in Tuesday’s training session.

The Loons’ young Designated Player scored two goals and helped create a third in a short-sided, condensed-field scrimmage at the National Sports Center in Blaine. He rippled the back of the net with a shot from around 20-yards out and fired an acute-angle shot that deflected off Ozzie Alonso and into the net past goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. His attacking dribble later was finished off by Mason Toye.

“He’s really got some top-drawer quality,” coach Adrian Heath said.

The addition of Chacon was ballyhooed when he arrived in Minnesota on Aug. 18, and he quickly made his debut four days later in a 24-minute appearance in a 1-0 loss to Kansas City on Aug. 22.

But after his first start — a 61-minute appearance in a 2-0 loss to Houston on Sept. 11 — he has been kept off the 18-player game-day lineup the past four matches. Chacon is healthy, but the club is being careful with its prized pupil as he acclimates to the U.S. and a new league.

He could return to game action when Minnesota plays at Seattle in the regular-season finale Sunday or in the MLS Cup playoffs.

“He will probably be involved at some stage in the next weeks,” Heath said Tuesday.

UNUSED SUB?

With United and Los Angeles FC tied 1-1 with 15 minutes to go Sunday, Heath declined to use his third and final available substitute.

“I didn’t want to disrupt what we had,” Heath explained Tuesday. “I got both of them ready, depending if we conceded or if we scored again, but no, sometimes you change the team and it has an adverse effect because people can’t get into the rhythm of the game. I just didn’t want to change it in the end.”

Attacking option Miguel Ibarra was on the bench, and the home regular-season finale could have been the last chance for the club’s longest-tenured player to play in front of supporters at home.

The Loons have yet to clinch a home MLS Cup playoff game, and the club holds a contract option for Ibarra in the 2020 season.

Ibarra came into this season with aims of 10 goals and 10 assists after putting up seven and eight last season. But it’s been the polar opposite. He has one goal, two assists and hasn’t played in the team’s past seven MLS games.

ALONSO, MOLINO RESTED

Starters Ozzie Alonso and Kevin Molino were left out the game-day roster in the 1-1 draw with Los Angeles FC because they were “a bit sore and a bit stiff,” Heath said. They returned to training Tuesday. Related Articles Loons midfielder Thomas Chacon’s quiet first start of 2020 could be his only one

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Heath said the decision to leave Alonso out was, in part, due to the personal significance of Sunday’s game at Seattle, where Alonso was a captain and star with the Sounders for a decade.

“We realize how important the game is for him this weekend,” Heath said. “… I’m really looking forward to the reception he gets because he deserves it.”

BRIEFLY

If Minnesota wins Sunday before an expected large crowd at Century Link Field, it will be the fifth road stadium at which they have earned a victory this season, joining LAFC, New York Red Bulls, Vancouver and San Jose.