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 Minnesota United FC

MNUFC vs. LA Galaxy

October 13, 2017 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -This week, the Loons head to SoCal for a match against the LA Galaxy. The last time these two teams met was at TCF Bank Stadium in May, when the home side ultimately lost a hard-fought match despite winning the possession battle and doubling up the Galaxy on corner kicks. MNUFC will look to take advantage of a Galaxy side that's struggled at home this season and is winless in its past six. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. CT, with pre-match coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m. on FOX 9+ and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN.

Despite the Galaxy's disappointing season, Head Coach Adrian Heath is not about to look past the team's penultimate match of their inaugural season given the players that LA has at its disposal.

"If you look at the quality of the players, they have [Giovani] dos Santos and [Romain] Alessandrini and Gyasi Zardes," said Heath. "They've got quality with [Emmanuel] Boateng on the wing. They've got quality players. Now obviously it's not been the type of year that probably they or everyone else expected out of the Galaxy, because over the last 10 years, they've been the standard bearers of the league. But you know, if they turn up and they play well, it's going to be tough for us. But we're looking forward to it."

At the very least, the Loons can expect to have a deeper squad as they head to Los Angeles after welcoming back players like defenders Michael Boxall, Francisco Calvo and Jermaine Taylor and midfielders Johan Venegas and Kevin Molino from international duty. Trinidad and Tobago were knocked out of World Cup Qualifying and Calvo, Venegas and the rest of Costa Rica's Ticos booked their ticket to Russia. Boxall's New Zealand squad played an international friendly against Japan after beating the Solomon Islands in September to earn a shot at Peru in November to qualify.

"I don't think there's a big mental component about it," said Boxall when asked about the adjustment of going back and forth to the national team. "Because I've been with the national team for five, six years now - used to the group, used to the style of play - once you're in that environment, you just adjust. The same thing happens when you come back to Minnesota United. You get back into the groove of things."

Early in the season, Heath was essentially doing double duty: evaluating the talent the team had put together in a very short window of time while also working to build that talent into a cohesive unit. As the season has progressed and new players have come in, the chemistry has improved and the team has shown progress: Go back and tell fans in March that the Loons would be 3-1-1 in the five matches leading up to their final road trip and would only be eliminated from the playoffs with two matches to go and they would likely take it gladly. Our attention at this point might be turning toward the offseason and understanding the team's needs for 2018, but for Heath, that job has never really stopped.

"It's been a year-long process, evaluating the group that we have," he said. "Evaluating people we might think that we can bring in to help us. That's been a continual one - we've got people traveling all around the world, basically. So, we realized that, I think we've got progressively better as the season has gone. Are we anywhere near where we want to be? No. And we've realized that we've got a lot of work still ahead of us. But we do think that we've got a really good core and a good base to work from."

For Boxall, who joined the team in mid-July from SuperSport United in South Africa, the chemistry within the team has been steadily building and he's looking forward to finishing the season and getting right back to work for a full season with the squad.

"Coming in I wasn't entirely sure what the group was about," he said. "But I think everything I've seen is all positive, and especially the last two, three months. It's exciting to see what we're building. I think it's just a shame that the point that I came in was a little bit too late. But I think with the fans who have been absolutely outstanding since I've arrived, it's been amazing for everyone. Just excited to working off season and coming back next year ready to go."

Following this weekend's match, the Loons will head to San Jose to face the Earthquakes in their final match of the season. The teams kick off at 3:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, October 22, with pre-match coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT on FOX 9+ and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN.

INJURY REPORT

Minnesota United

OUT:

M - Bernardo Anor (left lower leg injury)

M/D - Thomas de Villardi (left Achilles injury)

M - Sam Cronin (head injury)

LA Galaxy

OUT:

D - Robbie Rogers (ankle injury, out for season)

M - Sebastian Lletget (foot surgery 3/24, out 4-6 months)

M - Baggio Husidic (fractured fibula 5/21, out 6-8 weeks)

D - Pele van Anholt (torn ACL/meniscus 8/27, out for season)

D - Daniel Steres (L2-4 transverse process fracture 9/10, out 6-8 weeks)

QUESTIONABLE:

D - Bradley Diallo (right hamstring injury)

DISCIPLINARY REPORT

Minnesota United

D - Joseph Greenspan (red card)

Los Angeles Galaxy


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