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MLS Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United Earns Three Points Against the San Jose Earthquakes

August 31, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif. - Minnesota United defeated the San Jose Earthquakes, 2-1, at PayPal Park thanks to a brace from Bongokuhle Hlongwane. The Loons move above the playoff line with 36 points and a 10-11-6 record.

5' - Minnesota United had the first goal scoring opportunity after Sang Bin Jeong slotted the ball past San Jose's defense, finding Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the run inside the box for a one-touch back towards Robin Lod where he fired off a left-footed shot that went far wide of the left post.

8' - Early in the first half, Minnesota scored the opening goal after Hassani Dotson won the challenge in the middle third for Lod to gain possession, and split the opposition's back line, finding Hlongwane on the diagonal run for a close-range shot on goal.

21' - MNUFC continued to put pressure on the Quakes after Joseph Rosales dribbled inside and laid it off to Kelvin Yeboah inside the 18-yard box for a wide angle shot that was deflected out by San Jose's goalkeeper Daniel.

32' - The San Jose Earthquakes leveled the score after a long-ball over-the-top was misdirected by Minnesota, allowing Amahl Pellegrino the second header and flicking it towards the goal, where he found Ousseni Bouda inside the six-yard box for a left-footed shot to put it past Dayne St. Clair.

35'- St. Clair made two consecutive diving saves: the first coming from a close-range header by Bouda that St. Clair was able to deflect out and allowing the home team a corner kick, which lead to the second save for the Canadian international, after a shot from outside the 18-yard box was curved towards the far-right post that was deflected out yet again.

63' - The Loons took the lead after Hlongwane found the other end of Joseph Rosales' long-throw in for a one-touch shot that was deflected up, ricocheting off the crossbar and back to Hlongwane for another shot that was again deflected by a San Jose player into goal.

92' - Two minutes into stoppage time, the last chance of the game was created by the Quakes after defender Paul Marie took space up the right side, crossing the ball into the 18-yard box where Daniel Munie was able to get a one-touch shot from the center of the box but overpowered the shot, going over the goal.

GOAL SUMMARY

1-0 MIN - Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Robin Lod) - 9'

1-1 SJ - Ousseni Bouda (Amahl Pellegrino) - 32'

2-1 MIN - Bongokuhle Hlongwane - 64'

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY

MIN - Jefferson Diaz (caution) - 79'

SJ - Carlos Gruezo (caution) - 87'

NOTABLE STATS

8 & 9 - Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored his eighth and ninth MLS goals of the season. It's his second MLS regular season brace and first regular season brace since September 20, 2023 against LA Galaxy on the road.

18 - Robin Lod has 18 goal contributions (six goals, 12 assists) this 2024 regular season after assisting Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the ninth minute.

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Bongokuhle Hlongwane

LINEUPS:

Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Joseph Rosales, Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall ©, Jefferson Diaz, Sang Bin Jeong; M Hassani Dotson, Wil Trapp, Robin Lod; F Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Kelvin Yeboah

Bench: GK Alec Smir; D Devin Padelford, Carlos Harvey, M DJ Taylor, Franco Fragapane; F Samuel Shashoua, Matúš Kmeť, Teemu Pukki, Tani Oluwaseyi

San Jose Earthquakes XI: GK Daniel de Sousa Brito; D Benjamin Kikanović, Daniel Munie, Rodrigues, Vítor Costa; M Carlos Gruezo, Jackson Yueill, Cristian Espinoza, Hernán López, Amahl Pellegrino; F Ousseni Bouda

Bench: GK William Yarbrough; D Paul Marie, Tanner Beason, Oscar Verhoeven; M Jack Skahan, Niko Tsakiris, Alfredo Morales, Tommy Thompson; F Preston Judd

UP NEXT:

MINNESOTA UNITED FC @ ST. LOUIS CITY SC

CITYPARK | St. Louis, Missouri

09.14.2024 | MLS 2024 Regular Season | Matchday 32

7:30 p.m. CT (MLS Season Pass/1500 ESPN)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ERIC RAMSAY

On his thoughts on tonight's match...

"It felt far more edgy than it needed to feel at the end. I think that's the nature of the situation that we're in at the moment. We're not a team that is in a rhythm of winning games, closing games out, being clinical, being ruthless. But it'll be one of those that when you watch it back, it was far more comfortable than it felt at the end aside from the one chance they had. Up to the first 20-25 minutes, we were very, very good, [had a] real control, had a really, really nice balance of enough of the ball to control the rhythm and enough of the ball to move up the pitch together, enough of the ball to keep the team connected. But we attacked quickly enough to create a load of good chances and arguably could have put the game to bed very early on, that's sort of typical for us at the moment, an inevitable messy period beyond that but we smoothed out a little bit in the second half. Largely up until the point at which they had the chance, right at the death, it was a performance that was full of control and dominance for far longer than we've been able to display over the course of the last couple of months. It was a pleasing night and it obviously puts us right back in the mix.

On the first 30 minutes of the match...

"We've obviously talked over the course of the whole of this season but particularly now we've got a much fuller group and a group that is really well equipped to compete at this level. We want to be a team that can be dominant or certainly very, very competent in all the phases of the game. I felt like for the period where we struggled over a couple of months we were very reliant on counterattacks and didn't have the continuity on the ball that we really want and that has been a big focus over the course of the last couple of weeks. We really executed that well in the first 20-25 minutes. We looked [like] a team that was full of personality, full of composure, players that really wanted to get on the ball, keep the rhythm of the game and that is something that I really emphasized over the course of this last period of the season. We've seen it in both the Seattle [Sounders] game and the game today [San Jose Earthquakes] that it's a very obvious step forward. It's a very obvious part of the evolution for us. We, of course, don't want to be a team that is slow, lacks rhythm, doesn't attack quickly because we've got a lot of players that want to attack with a really high rhythm that want to take the space in behind. And I don't think we'll ever be a team that sits around the 60-65 percent mark when it comes to possession, but we have to find a better balance and I feel like tonight was a nice step forward in that sense.

On Bongokuhle Hlongwane's performance and start...

"Everyone who knows, everyone who's watched Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] for far longer than I have, knows what a good, capable, effective player he can be at this level. I hate to keep referring to this middle period of the season, but we were very reliant on Bongi at that point to create almost overly so and it was nice to see him today playing a team that wasn't so reliant on him to produce on the counterattack. He was able to play close to Kelvin [Yeboah] who is obviously a really good reference point for him and we were able to get Hassani [Dotson] and Robin [Lod] close to him, and we played some nice combinations. We got Bongi free on the counterattack on a number of occasions. So, he's earned his spot by me knowing that he has the attributes to play that position well for us, and he gave us dynamism and unpredictability, which was obviously very effective in the opening stages. It was one of the reasons that at the hour mark, when we made the first change, I was very keen to keep him on because I thought he was in a good place. We now are in a position where we've got some nice tools at our disposal on that front line and we can do a couple of different things. I'm excited to see what we're able to get from the team and what those guys are able to produce."

On the tactical change in formation...

"So again, it's something I've referenced over the course of this season, we want to be flexible, we want to be adaptable. I do now feel like we're back to that point where we can think about the team looking a number of different ways and at that point in the game, in order to keep Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] on the pitch, it's obviously far more natural for him to be playing slightly higher up if we're going to play with that front two of Kelvin [Yeboah] and Tani [Oluwaseyi] and Jefferson [Diaz] with his athleticism is very capable of defending the outside of the pitch. So, it's nice for us to be able to use that in order to adapt, perhaps an opposition subtlety in the way they play or to make sure that we get our players on the pitch in positions that they're comfortable. So again, I'm very pleased that we now have the capacity to do that and I think in that sense we've made a couple of nice strides today."

On how the team's throw-ins help create chances ...

"First and foremost, we have players, like probably an uncommon number of players in the team that can really throw the ball properly and occasionally it feels really repetitive. It feels like you're not getting much from it, but I can guarantee if you back over the course of the season, Seattle is a very good example. Last week, the moments come from those throw-ins that lead to goals. Either we're getting penalties as we did last week, we're getting corners as a consequence of throwing the ball along. We're getting territory in a very meaningful, purposeful way, and we have the capacity to score in the way that we did today. So, it would be naive of me or remiss of me to not use that when we have players that have real weapons in that sense. So it's something that we're pretty persistent on."

On tonight's game being one of Hassani Dotson's better performances...

"He's [Hassani Dotson] been very good in the last two games. He's played with a real commitment. He's been really dialed in. He's obviously very athletic, very capable defensively as well as what he brings on the ball with his level of energy, his capacity to steal the ball in the middle and drive and give the team a really dynamic look. I've been really pleased with him and he's in a good place and has been a big part of the last two performances, for sure."

On Tani Oluwaseyi's performance in the final 30 minutes of the game...

"He's [Tani Oluwaseyi] really good in those stages of the game where we had momentum at the point which he came on. He adds to that momentum. He really helps you press. Perhaps he looked a little bit rusty at points on the ball and that is certainly to be expected given the length of time that he's been out in the sort of stuttering last couple of months that he's had. But it's brilliant to have him back on the pitch for so many reasons, He's a really big part of what we're trying to do and you saw tonight the makings of a decent partner between him and Kelvin [Yeboah], and then, of course, you've got Teemu [Pukki] who falls into that mix as well. So we've got a really, particularly with Joaquín [Pereyra] coming in the coming days, really healthy competition for places and I'm certainly now in a position, as I mentioned last week, for the first time you've got some genuine selection headaches. There'll be some players that have really contributed in the last couple of games, disappointed over the course of the coming weeks, which is, of course, how you want it to feel."

On his thoughts about San Jose's goal...

"It wasn't a strange bounce. Unfortunately, it's been a bit of a thread, that type of goal that we've conceded, where we lose the connection between players in the back line and some of these spaces are far bigger than they should be. And you're always going to have messy periods in the game, in any MLS game, I'll say, but certainly against a team like those guys who attack quickly. They're [San Jose Earthquakes] direct, they've got pacey athletic players on the front. They're dynamic. They move, they are not a really positional team, so naturally, you're going to have messy periods, and in those messy periods, you have to be really tight. You have to make sure the distances between players in the back line are as they should be and at the point in which they scored, they [the back line] weren't and that's happened too often for us at this point that we talk about it relentlessly. So it's a really disappointing goal to concede in that sense and definitely something that we will continue to work on."

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