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MLS Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United and Real Salt Lake Share the Points After 1-1 Draw

May 27, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Underneath clear skies on Saturday night, Minnesota United FC and Real Salt Lake played to an end-to-end contest, with multiple offensive-driven runs and scoring chances being subsequently stifled by both back lines during a 1-1 draw at Allianz Field.

RSL controlled possession throughout the majority of the first 30 minutes of the game. Within that first third of the match, the visiting team struck first in the 28th minute. Jefferson Savarino received a back-heeled flick pass from Danny Musovski while making a run down the right side, passing MNUFC defender Miguel Tapias and scoring the opening goal through goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair's legs.

But, the Loons fought back quickly, answering the RSL goal with one of its own just three minutes later. MNUFC attacker Bongokuhle Hlongwane made a run to the left corner of Salt Lake's six-yard box, striking a shot that hit the near post before deflecting off of RSL defender Justen Glad and ultimately into the net to equalize the match at 1-1 in the 31st minute. The goal was ruled an own goal.

Once again - this time at the start of the second half - the match saw consistent end-to-end action from both teams, including two notable quick and close scoring chances. First, in the 54th minute St. Clair left his line in net to intercept a ball heading into the box when Savarino connected with the ball and took a shot that traveled parallel to the goal line and missed just wide of the far post. Then a minute later, Hlongwane answered quickly with his own scoring chance, running past the substitute RSL goalkeeper Gavin Beavers and Savarino, but the shot, too, went wide.

The match continued through the full 90 minutes and another five minutes of second-half added stoppage time with a few more shots and scoring chances made by both sides. Minnesota attacked heavily in the final minutes while searching for another late-game winner, but the game ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw.

With the draw, Minnesota United holds a 5-5-4 (W-L-D) record and 19 points in 2023 regular-season action.

ATTENDANCE: 19,912

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Bongokuhle Hlongwane

LINEUPS:

Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Kemar Lawrence, Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall, DJ Taylor; Hassani Dotson, Wil Trapp (c), Joseph Rosales, Franco Fragapane, Bongokuhle Hlongwane; F Luis Amarilla

Bench: GK Clint Irwin, Eric Dick; D Brent Kallman, Zarek Valentin; M Kervin Arriaga, Sang Bin Jeong; F Cameron Dunbar, Mender Garcia

Real Salt Lake XI: GK Zac MacMath; D Andrew Brody, Justen Glad, Bode Hidalgo, Marcelo Silva; M Braian Ojeda, Jefferson Savarino, Rubio Rubin, Jasper Loffelsend; F Damir KReilach (c), Danny Musovski

Bench: GK Gavin Beavers; D Emeka Eneli, Delentz Pierre, Brayan Vera; M Scott Caldwell, Maikel Chang, Carlos Gomez, Pablo Ruiz; F Bertin Jacquesson

UP NEXT:

MINNESOTA UNITED FC @ AUSTIN FC

Q2 Stadium | Austin, Texas

05.31.2023 | MLS 2023 Regular Season | Matchday 16

7:30 pm CT (MLS Season Pass/1500 ESPN)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH

On the result tonight...

"I always say to you, I'm never disappointed from taking anything from the game. I thought we might have done enough to have won it. We created some good opportunities. About three games ago if we would have said we'll take seven points then we would have taken it at the run that we were on at that particular time. I want to look at the positives rather than the negatives."

On Real Salt Lake being difficult to break down...

"They've lost one of the last eight or nine games with the Cups involved. They are on a particularly good run. As I always say, teams are coming here and they aren't going to just roll over. They are going to make it difficult for us. In the end, they put two or three quick guys on as well. The game becomes stretched. We are attacking, they are attacking and it could have gone either way at that particular time. Three games ago would I have had settled for seven points, yes I would have."

On Bongokuhle Hlongwane's performance...

"He had the header on the back post, didn't he? From the first one in the corner. He had one late on that he probably feels he could have done better with. At least he's getting in the spots that we speak about; one-touch finish spots where he's getting close into goal and getting on the back post on the opposite side. If he keeps getting in there, he'll keep getting opportunities. The goal tonight he's turned the guy on the edge of the box and then been very positive, which is what we ask of him."

On if substitutions were due to Kemar Lawrence's injury...

"No, I think Kemar [Lawrence] had a little niggle in his hamstring. At halftime, he said he was feeling a little bit tight, so we didn't want to keep pushing it. And Joe [Rosales] has played there before and I felt it wasn't going to disrupt us too much to put Joe there. He's played there before.

On if he was pleased with Franco Fragapane's performance...

"Yeah, a little bit and I thought Sang's [Sang Bin Jeong] had two or three efforts tonight. I've said to him 'compose yourself, don't overthink it and get yourself in good spots'. I thought Fraga [Franco Fragapane] found some really good pockets of space in the second half. I thought in the first half, I thought we were a little bit, Joe [Joseph Rosales] was crowding him a little bit instead of running forward opening the game up. I thought we did a better job of that at times.

On if all the points lost start adding up...

"Well they do, but we could have taken nothing this evening. Our home record isn't as good as we would have liked it at this moment in time. This has normally been the staple for where we get most of our points from. When you've considered we've won four games on the road already this year, it's probably going to be a record for us this year I think. If we can turn the draws into victories which we have had three here, which looking back on we could have taken a bit more out of those games, but hey we will just keep moving on and moving forward."

On bringing players high up...

"Well, we wanted to go and try to win the game, so we thought we would put four up against their back four. So, not allowing them to have a lot of possession around the back which they are good at. But once we pushed everybody on they had to kick it long down and I thought Boxy [Michael Boxall] and Micky [Miguel Tapias] did some excellent interceptions and naturally started out attacks from there.

On it being the biggest crowd of the season...

"I have to say our supporters, the fans were magnificent this evening. They never stopped from the first whistle to the last, trying to get out lads over the line and we're as always extremely grateful for that. You know, but they never let us down."

On if he's seeing more out of Hassani Dotson...

"Yeah I think so. You see tonight he drove in the box a couple of times which we know he's good at. He had the shot on the edge of the box that went narrowly wide. As I have said to him, I have been through the old ACL injury and it doesn't come back overnight. He's still a little bit behind where we know he can get.

On the issues on the goal conceded...

"The miscommunication on the wide areas. Kemar [Lawrence] dropped out of his hole too early. Joe [Joseph Rosales]went to the ball instead of letting it go to the fullback, Kemar [Lawrence] pulls out to the wide guy and then it's three against two. Micky [Miguel Tapias] goes with the first guy and he flicks it around the corner, so it's like dominos and we ended up being a man short at the end. We spoke about that at halftime and I thought we did better with that situation."

On if the issues were on the passes prior to the goal...

"I would think it would be one, two, three, probably four yeah. We made poor choices. At the end of the day, the fullback is not a threat there and we've gone on to him too early and Kemar [Lawrence] has come out of his hole too early to go the full back and the then wide guys and so we've got three against two. As I say, it was like the dominos. One is attracted to the ball then they pass it to next one."

On doing anything to take advantage of the keeper change at halftime...

"Well I said let's get the ball into the box and let's see what he's about and if we get opportunities, let's get some crosses under the crossbar and see what he's about. But we didn't have enough of that. I thought the set pieces were a lot better this evening, I thought the delivery was a lot better and we looked dangerous."

MIDFIELDER HASSANI DOTSON

On earning one point and dropping two...

"I thought that we played a good match, and I think the vibe of the team is that we're disappointed not to come away with a win. But, it's the nature of the beast. We've got to be ready for our game on Wednesday versus Austin [FC]. Ultimately, I think we're disappointed."

On lost points at home becoming overwhelming...

"That's something that you look at towards probably the end of the season like, 'what could've happened,' but we just try to take games one at a time and try to get the best result possible."

On the Real Salt Lake style of play being compared to a toothache...

"Yeah, and they also got a lot more dangerous this year than in some years past. They've got [Jefferson] Savarino back and [Andres] Gomez and they have been a handful in the [U.S.] Open Cup. [Damir] Kreilach is back as well. You can tell that he brings a lot of excellent leadership, the way he talks to their players and tries to keep them going."

On the game plan to break down Real Salt Lake...

"They play a pretty traditional 4-4-2 [formation] so it's trying to keep me and Wil [Trapp] pretty narrow and try to suck their strikers in. That opened up a lot of space for Micky [Miguel Tapias] and [Michael] Boxall to drive forward with the ball and find an open guy. That happened to be the wide channels, and we created some good chances out of that."

On taking advantage of the goalkeeper substitution made by Real Salt Lake...

"There was definitely a noted emphasis. I don't think we probably got as many shots off on him as we wanted. But, he's on the RSL [Real Salt Lake] roster for a reason."

On feeling a solid shot after it came off his foot...

"Yeah, and the ball kind of bounced up a little bit, and I was starting to get the juices flowing and narrowly missed. But, I'm still waiting for that first one for the year."

DEFENDER MICHAEL BOXALL

On how the result feels...

"Definitely two dropped. I don't know, we have to be better. I don't think that's good enough at home. We must have the worst points per game record at home. These are the games we should be winning. I think they had maybe two shots on goal. I think for us in the final third, we need to be creating more, getting Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] running at players more, just giving their goalkeeper a lot more work to do at home in front of our fans, we expect more."

On points lost at home...

"It's probably like three or four games now that we should be taking three points home. As you said, there's a lot of football to be played this season, but we need to start turning draws into wins otherwise come September, October, we could be paying for that."

On the goal conceded...

"Yeah, I still need to watch the back. Obviously, it happened quite quickly. I think Kemar [Lawrence] kind of got torn from his man and then a late runner, a midfield runner kind of just went through, and I am trying to cut off the cross because I am not too sure what's behind - I know there's a runner there but I'm not too sure if DJ's [Taylor] got him covered. And then at the last second, I kind of know I have to get to the ball and make the goal as small as possible and he shot at the one place he could've scored between Dayne's [St. Clair] legs. Apart from that I am not sure if they had a whole lot."

On how he approached their goal defensively...

"In that moment, I felt that if I went straight to him then that just leaves him such a big hole open for him to rip that ball across. Just need a shout from DJ [Taylor] behind me to know if I can go make that step sooner because if I go half-a-second sooner, then you just put a little bit more pressure on them, the guy's maybe shooting from two yards further out and Dayne [St. Clair] can make a reaction save, which he's so good at."

On the goalkeeper change...

"I mean, same thing in the first half, I don't think it matters who is in goal, we need to be testing them. And when you bring on the number two, who's younger, who's inexperienced, you need to throw a bit more at them than we did tonight. The guys work their asses off but just need something. Just missing something in that final third."

On being perfect in defense...

"When you look at all the wins we've had, it's 1-0, clean sheets, which I mean we kind of knew that in preseason. It does get a bit frustrating, especially at home. We want to score a few goals for the fans. We want to go home happy, so it's just not quite happened. We obviously know right when you start the season, you lose Robin [Lod], it's a big loss. But we'll keep working and there's a lot more games to be played. We'll welcome some creative bodies, hopefully in the near future and it hopefully gets us a win."

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