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MLS Minnesota United FC

Minnesota United Loses at Vancouver Whitecaps 3-2

May 7, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Minnesota United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC battled in a back-and-forth game on Saturday night, but key Minnesota turnovers made the difference, and the home team secured the 3-2 win.

It was an end-to-end start to the match under the roof at BC Place, where both Minnesota and Vancouver exchanged scoring opportunities in quick succession within the first 15 minutes. But it was the Whitecaps who held the edge in chances during the first 45 minutes, which eventually led to the opening goal in the 17th minute. MNUFC midfielder Wil Trapp mishandled a pass, turning the ball over and giving the 'Caps the ball. It was passed up the field via a through-ball to Brian White, who beat out defender Miguel Tapias and ultimately goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to give the home side the early 1-0 lead.

The Loons fought back before half time, earning a corner kick in the 33rd minute. Following service into the six-yard box, Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka's punch-out was poorly cleared, giving Minnesota center-back Michael Boxall the opportunity to handle the rebound, where he then finished the shot and scored the equalizing goal. This was notably the first goal for Boxall since he last found the net on September 29, 2019 versus Los Angeles Football Club. The first half didn't simply fade away, and in the 45th minute, White found space in the Loons' six-yard box, took the strike but was ultimately saved by St. Clair's right foot.

Seven minutes into the start of the second half, Vancouver regained the lead when Julian Gressel headed the ball close to the goal, and White was able to get a touch on the ball - just moments before colliding with St. Clair - scoring the go-ahead goal in the 52nd minute. Four minutes later, MNUFC midfielder Robin Lod's back pass was intercepted by Vancouver, where Ryan Gauld passed the ball off to Simon Becher, who then finished the chance at close range, extending the lead to 3-1.

Minnesota United pulled within one in the 65th minute when Lod connected a pass to attacker Sang Bin Jeong, who had space atop the 18-yard box. Jeong then struck the ball into the lower left corner to make the score 3-2. The South Korean international on Saturday night notably scored his first-ever MNUFC and Major League Soccer goal. In the waning moments of the match, Minnesota fought back to try to equalize the match once more. Jeong, in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, had the Loons' closest chance at leaving Vancouver with a point when his shot at goal from atop the box bent towards the upper corner of the far side, but missed just wide of the net. The game ended 3-2 in favor of the Whitecaps.

With the loss, Minnesota United holds a 3-4-3 (W-L-D) record and 12 points in 2023 regular-season action.

NOTE FOR TWIN CITIES MEDIA: Credential requests for Minnesota United's U.S. Open Cup home contest on Tuesday, May 9 are due by tomorrow, Sunday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. Please submit a request here if you wish to cover either game.

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Sang Bin Jeong

LINEUPS:

Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Kemar Lawrence, Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall, DJ Taylor; M Robin Lod, Wil Trapp (c), Franco Fragapane; F Sang Bin Jeong, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Luis Amarilla

Bench: GK Clint Irwin, Eric Dick; D Brent Kallman, Zarek Valentin; M Hassani Dotson, Joseph Rosales; F Cameron Dunbar, Mender Garcia

Vancouver Whitecaps FC XI: GK Yohei Takaoka; D Ranko Veselinovic, Tristan Blackmon, Luis Martins, Javian Brown; M Alessandro Schopf, Julian Gressel, Andres Cubas, Ryan Gauld (c), Pedro Vite; F Brian White

Bench: GK Thomas Hasal; D Ali Ahmed, Mathias Laborda; M Sebastian Berhalter, Deiber Caicedo, Ryan Raposo, Russel Teibert; F Simon Becher, Sergio Cordova

UP NEXT:

MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. PHILADELPHIA UNION

Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota

05.09.2023 | U.S. Open Cup | Round of 32

7:30 pm CT (Bleacher Report App, B/R Football YouTube)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH

On midfield turnovers contributing to the loss at Vancouver...

"It's always difficult when you go on the road, and you give the opposition three goals. All three goals were our fault. It's comical, schoolboy-era stuff. Individual mistakes have cost us dearly. And when you play on the road and defend like we've done today and give the opposition the chances that they've had, and then you also miss the chances that we've had, invariably, you're not going to win too many games on the road with that combination."

On the number of chances in the final third...

"I'll have to see again when I watch it back, but I can think of two Mender's [Garcia] had in the last couple of minutes and then Sang-Bin's [Jeong] unlucky with the one he's bent around. Kemar [Lawrence] had a chance and fallen over it. I can't, for the life of me, think about the goals because as I say, it's bordering on comical, it really is; that we give professional players the opportunity to score goals that easily is scary."

On the three substitutions and tactical switches...

"Luis [Amarilla] has got a groin issue. He pulled his groin early on. Obviously, we don't want to keep making it any worse. The 3-5-2 I just thought that maybe a change of shape might help us, and it did. We suddenly got a foothold in the game and started controlling the game again. The more men we push forward, we left ourselves a little bit vulnerable, but we did start to get some passages of play in their half of the field, which we hadn't done enough of in the first half."

On Sang Bin Jeong's efforts with the team since joining the squad...

"He's looking better. I thought he took his goal really well. When we pushed him further up the field, I thought he looked dangerous. He's still nowhere near 100 percent fit. He got a cramp again, but that's to be expected when he's not played much football for a long time. He was the least of our worries tonight."

On the overall defensive effort...

"The first goal, obviously, we turned it over cheaply and then it's too easy; just a straight run, a straight ball which is a problem for our two center-backs, that's their problem. The turnover first is our problem. But, the marking after that wasn't good enough. Robin [Lod] turns the next one over which is not good enough. In the end, I'll have to see the goal back again, but they looked awful goals to concede, and individual errors have cost us. I don't think that Brian White has had to work hard for his goals. Even the second one: we deal with the first phase of the corner, and then the ball is coming out the sky, and we don't have anybody going and challenging it and then he's gone out for the second ball which we were not as well. I'll have to watch it back but embarrassing defending at times from a back-four who have been very good. We've played nine, ten games now [and] I think we're third or fourth in terms of goals conceded. You wouldn't have thought it with the way we conceded tonight."

On his relief with Emanuel Reynoso back in Minnesota...

"I haven't really thought about that. He's back here and we'll have a chat over the weekend and see what he's like and then we can address that then. I've got too much other stuff going through my head at the moment, to be honest."

On roster plans for a quick turnaround with a U.S. Open Cup match on Tuesday...

"We'll assess, we get back tomorrow pretty late. Monday, we'll have a little look at what we think and we'll go from there. But there's enough bodies. We've got a big squad, enough players. We'll have to decide what we'll do. One thing I do know, we'll have to play a lot better than we did tonight."

On the possibility of call-ups for MNUFC2 players against Philadelphia Union...

"Maybe, we'll have to see."

On the defending contributing to the loss rather than the lack of goal-scoring...

"No, this is not like a recurring thing. This is the first time all season that we haven't looked good at the back, and we haven't looked tight. As I said, we didn't help the back-four with the amount of really cheap turnovers that we gave away to the opposition, but we have to then defend that better. It's not that we didn't have bodies back, we just didn't do our jobs properly. People in front and then the back-four, when it became 1v1 or 2v2, we didn't deal with it well enough which we can't say that has been the case all season, but tonight, it was."

On Dayne St. Clair's performance...

"Well he kept us in the game tonight, yeah. He has kept us in the game tonight, but as I said to the players at halftime, they've got to start playing with some more belief and a little bit more passion, and a little bit more energy, a little bit more desire. We can all talk about shapes and tactics and three at the back, five at the back, 4-3-3... you can do whatever you want, but if you don't want to compete then you're not winning games. That's not just us, that's everywhere. [Erik] ten Hag was saying it last week about Manchester United; you have to compete. The opposition are not just going to let you play 90 minutes the way that you want to. They're going to ask questions of you, but tonight, we didn't have any of the answers."

On removing Sang Bin Jeong from the match if he had the option...

"Maybe, but we didn't have that option. We have a mute point, really, because we couldn't do it, so we had to leave him on. Even with the chance he had, virtually, the last kick of the game, he's got a good spot, great first touch, and he's really unlucky. He's just put it on the wrong side of the post. But as I've said, he's going to be a good player for us and in this league."

On Kervin Arriaga's absence affecting midfield play and his availability for Tuesday's match...

"We don't know if he'll be available for Tuesday, but Kervin being on the field would not have stopped the errors of somebody else, which is what it's been this evening. It's not like we've thought 'well, the shape wasn't right and they outnumbered us or their shape influenced the way we defended,' but it was individual errors. As I've just said to the guys in the locker room, you can't do that. Can't defend like that, can't give the ball away like that and if you do, we ain't winning too many games."

On Robin Lod playing in the midfield this evening over Hassani Dotson...

"I thought that he gave us a lot more solidity in there last Saturday when he went in there. It's not been a great evening for him and turned the ball over for the second or third goal, whatever it was. But no, we're still waiting to see the Robin Lod that we all know, and we've seen over the last two or three years. At this moment in time, I think it's fair to say he's not playing the way he has done for the last two-and-a-half years, and we're going to need him because he's one of our best players, and he has been for the last two or three years. We need him to play at the level when he influences the game and influences the opposition."

On moving forward with attacking pieces after a lack of scoring...

"We'll see, we'll see how everybody is. We'll see how everybody is after today. Normally, you get a few knocks and bruises, so we'll see how everybody is tomorrow and that will decide or influence what we pick out for the game on Tuesday night. As I said to the boys: Tuesday, a big opportunity, but we're going to have to do a lot better than we did tonight against Philly [Philadelphia Union]."

DEFENDER DJ TAYLOR

On how some lapses in defensive sharpness may have led to the loss...

"I think it was more than just defensive lapses. We didn't compete from the first minute, especially the first half. I think second half we came out with more energy, more fight - that was more like us. But, definitely some defensive lapses as well. I don't think we competed, so we never won our second ball, we were always second to everything, late reactions. All those things contributed to us not competing from minute one."

On the news of Emanuel Reynoso's arrival to Minnesota...

"Obviously, we heard the news. But, I think the guys, we were all focused on us and what we've been doing, like we have been the past couple weeks since the league started; we've had to play without [Emanuel] Reynoso. Our main focus was just on us, on the team. When we get to see Reynoso, we get to see Reynoso and we'll address it then. I think most of us were just focused on tonight's game, and we know we have tons of matches coming forward."

On issues in the midfield tonight against Vancouver...

"It comes in multiple variables. Are the other guys around the person who's getting the ball moving, fast enough - that could be one thing. Maybe guys aren't moving, creating the angle quick enough. Just decision making. There's times where you get in dangerous spots, and it's a risk-reward situation. We'll have to evaluate, when we put ourselves in positions, is it worth the risk? Is it worth the reward? Sometimes it goes the wrong way. But, I think the main focus is just to pick those guys up, pick up everyone and get ready because we have no time to put our heads down. We have a game Tuesday and tons of games coming up this month."

On Dayne St. Clair's performance and if that can give the defense confidence...

"I think Dayne [St. Clair] had a huge impact, especially his season last year was amazing and today he showed it more. Had a couple amazing goal-stopping saves and it just adds confidence knowing that we have someone who has our backs. We all can't be perfect, especially as a back four. We're going to make mistakes at some point in the season. Soccer's a game of mistakes. When you have a keeper like that, it gives you confidence knowing that he has your back and we have his."

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