When Anthony Markanich scores, his twin brother Nick feels the sting—not from competition, but from pure, unfiltered jealousy.
"He says he gets jealous because I'm scoring and he's not," Anthony told reporters this week. "He'll get there."
The Minnesota United wingback is having a career moment. After tallying nine goals last MLS season, Anthony bagged his third of 2026 last week—a timely strike that helped the Loons erase a 2-0 deficit against Columbus. It was the club's first multi-goal comeback since joining MLS in 2017, a statement win that snapped a two-game winless skid.
Meanwhile, Nick Markanich is still searching for his first MLS goal. After a sensational 28-goal season for Charleston in the USL Championship in 2024, he earned a move to Spain's Castellon in La Liga 2 before joining Houston Dynamo this year. But playing time has been scarce—just 38 minutes so far this season.
The sibling rivalry adds an extra layer of intrigue to Sunday's matchup at Allianz Field, where the Loons (6-3-2, 20 points) host an Austin FC side that has suddenly found its footing. After a seven-match winless run, Austin has rattled off two straight victories—both by identical 2-0 scorelines against Houston and St. Louis.
These teams know each other well. In the season opener back in February, Minnesota clawed back for a 2-2 draw, with Kelvin Yeboah's 90th-minute header salvaging a point. Austin will be buoyed by the return of former Loons striker Christian Ramirez, who contributed a goal and an assist in last weekend's win over St. Louis. Now on his sixth MLS team, "Superman" has four goal contributions in just 459 minutes this season.
The Loons will be without several key players: Bongi Hlongwane (personal issue), Peter Stroud (quad), Carlos Harvey (lower body), and Julian Gressel (toe) are all sidelined.
All eyes will also be on James Rodriguez, whose brief Minnesota tenure continues to baffle. The Colombian superstar, fresh off a medical procedure that kept him out of the Columbus match, trained fully on Saturday and is available for selection. But here's the twist: he's expected to leave the team next week to join Colombia's World Cup training camp, even though Minnesota has two more games before the MLS break.
It's the latest chapter in what's been a peculiar saga—one that, in a decade of covering the club, only Emanuel Reynoso's drama can rival. But while Reynoso's issues were rooted in discipline and suspension, Rodriguez's story is more benign, yet equally enigmatic.
For now, the focus remains on the pitch. And for Anthony Markanich, that means one thing: making his brother jealous, one goal at a time.