MNUFC Earn Draw against Chicago Fire to Stay Undefeated in Seven Games
November 5, 2020 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release
SAINT PAUL, Minn. - It was yet another game where Minnesota United had to cope with a plethora of injuries and absences - nine in total - and it was up to Head Coach Adrian Heath to make adjustments and face down a Chicago Fire FC side badly in need of a win. While the visitors would claw their way to a 2-0 lead early in the second half, a late burst fueled by Emanuel Reynoso off the bench drew the Loons level. A late Chicago goal was called back for offside and the teams would end up splitting the points, with Minnesota extending their unbeaten streak to seven games
Desperately in need of three points to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Fire came out hot and ready to put Minnesota on the back foot. In the opening minutes, Chicago midfielder Djordje Mihailovic got open in the box, forcing defender Brent Kallman - starting alongside Jose Aja with Michael Boxall unavailable and Bakaye Dibassy shifted out to cover for Chase Gasper at left back - to clear the ball over the crossbar.
Minnesota were not without teeth early on when it came to the offense, pelting balls into the box from the wings but not connecting with attackers in the box. But in the 14th minute, former Loon Bobby Shuttleworth had to make a pair of bang-bang saves on a header by Jose Aja and then a strike by Kei Kamara after the ball could not be cleared.
In the 17th minute, Chicago took advantage of a disorganized Minnesota defense when former Loon Francisco Calvo sent a long diagonal ball ahead to Przemyslaw Frankowski on the right wing. Frankowski shed Dibassy before lining up a cross to Robert Beric that Beric directed expertly past goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
Moments later, the Fire missed a golden opportunity to double the lead after Mihailovic missed a wide open shot from six feet out, skying it over the crossbar after Dayne St. Clair had come off his line to trouble the attack. It nearly happened again in the 25th minute when only a last ditch slide by Kallman kept the ball out of the net. In the 37th minute, defender Boris Sekulic got deep down the right wing before sending a cross along the ground that rolled untouched through the entire six-yard box, a chance that only went begging because no Fire player got on the end of it. In total, Chicago's midfield had their way in the first half as Minnesota's defense struggled to contain threats and shut down lanes.
MNUFC generated the best opportunity of the night to that point in the 38th minute as Kamara turned his defender on an outlet near midfield and got on his bike, rocketing up the pitch before finding midfielder Ethan Finlay on the right side of the box. The ball was delivered directly to Finlay's feet, but his finish lacked conviction and Shuttleworth bottled it up easily. The teams headed into the tunnel with Chicago up a goal.
The second half began much as the first, with Chicago pressing the issue. In the 52nd minute, defender Romain Metanire found himself with the ball deep in Minnesota's half after forcing a turnover. His attempt to get the ball downfield was rebuffed and the ball rolled back towards the touchline. Midfielder Alvaro Medran tracked it down and crossed it back into the box where Kallman attempted to clear it but instead it fell to Pineda who did not miss from close range, doubling the lead.
Seeing that something would have to change if the Loons were to take something from the game, Heath went to the bench in the 60th minute, bringing in forward Aaron Schoenfeld for Kamara and midfielder Emanuel Reynoso for Finlay. Immediately, the attack sprung to life and in the 64th minute, MNUFC earned a free kick on the right side of the pitch. Reynoso launched a curling ball that found Aja's outstretched right leg and he tapped it in with the outside of his foot to cut the lead in half.
In the 81st minute, Metanire found space down the right wing and delivered an inch-perfect cross to the head of midfielder Robin Lod, who had shifted over to his favored right side after Reynoso's entrance. Lod flicked it onto the far post for his seventh goal in MLS play this season as the home side drew level at 2-2.
Both teams looked occasionally dangerous down the stretch, but it was Chicago who appeared initially to make the most of it. In the 92nd minute, the Fire lined up a corner kick and after the ball was sent in, confusion reigned for a moment as the ball pinged around in the box and appeared to go in. Chicago began to celebrate, but the referee went to video review. The review showed that the ball had initially come off Pineda before striking Beric on the endline in his thigh and going in. When Beric played the ball, he was past St. Clair and thus offside. The goal was called back and the teams would settle for the 2-2 draw as they looked ahead to Decision Day on Sunday.
BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Midfielder Emanuel Reynoso
GOAL BREAKDOWN
17' | Calvo's long outlet finds Frankowski on the right wing. Frankowski sheds Dibassy and then Aja gives Beric too much space and he finishes with a header. 1-0
52' | Medran tracked down the ball after Metanire can't clear it and then Medran crosses it, Kallman can't clear the ball and Pineda finishes it. 2-0
64' | Off the free kick, Reynoso launches a curling ball that finds Aja's outstretched right leg and he taps it in with the outside of the right foot. 2-1
81' | Metanire sends in a lovely, inch-perfect cross to Lod's head and Lod flicks it onto the far post and in. 2-2
LINEUPS:
Minnesota United: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Bakaye Dibassy, Brent Kallman, Joe Aja, Romain Metanire; M Jan Gregus, Marlon Hairston, Kevin Molino, Robin Lod, Ethan Finlay; F Kei Kamara
Chicago Fire: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Boris Sekulic, Jonathan Bornstein, Francisco Calvo; M Alvaro Medra, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Djordje Mihailovic, Mauricio Pineda, Gaston Gimenez; F Fabian Herbers, Robert Beric
UP NEXT
Minnesota United vs. FC Dallas
Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota
11.8.20 | MLS Week No. 24 | MLS Game 21
5:30 p.m. CT (FOX Sports North, FOX Sports GO, MNUFC Radio on SKOR North)
MINNESOTA UNITED QUOTE SHEET
MINNESOTA UNITED HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On what he felt like was the issue in the first half defensively ...
"I don't think it was defensively. I think it was an attitude. Attitude of mind. It looked like one team needed to win and get into the playoffs and one was happy just to be playing football. And, that was a big difference. After about 25 minutes, I felt we started to play on the front foot a little bit more and then in the second half, it was more like when we're at our best."
On what changed in the second half ...
"Attitude. Individuals taking responsibility. Not taking the easy option. Playing on the front foot. Individual battles. It sounds very simple. It's one of the hardest things to do in modern day football. Everybody is a coach. Everybody knows what to do. Everybody knows what tactics are. I think with Chris Wilder recently it was said, I'm fed up with teams beating us and then everybody talks about the tactics. They never talk about how people want to run. How people want to fight. How people want to play the right ball and get out of your comfort zone. And, if we do that, we're okay. As we proved second half. I thought some of our play was excellent second half. But, it shouldn't need me to be as irate and as emotional I was at halftime to get that type of reaction."
On Minnesota United not losing a game since the end of September and what that says about this group and all the shuffling of the lineup it's had to endure to keep a streak going that long ...
"The one thing I can take out of it, it's seven games I think that we haven't lost a game. You know, we've kept going. And the response was excellent today in the second half. But, as I said to the players, and I wasn't being disrespectful, we cannot play at 75 percent and win games. We can't do it. We're not that good. And I'm not on about our team. I'm on about teams in the MLS. The parody that there is in this league, if you play, as I say, 75 percent, 80 percent, you're going to get beat. And it shouldn't need me at halftime to be as animated and as angry as I am to get that response in the second half. Because it's nothing to do with the fact that we haven't played. Yeah, we could use it as an excuse. We haven't trained together since the last game. The last Wednesday game. I get that. That doesn't mean you can't run. That doesn't mean you can't fight the guy you're playing against. And that's never changed. I played in a really good team. Full of internationals. And we were the same. We dropped it a notch, we were bang average. But we knew, if we wanted to be successful, we knew what it took. And we weren't prepared to put up with mediocre and 75 percent. And we never let anybody get away with it. And that has never changed. And it never will."
On what he saw from Brent Kallman and Jose Aja ...
"I thought for the first half an hour they summed everybody else up. It wasn't just them. Everybody took a backwards step rather than taking a forwards step. Because taking a forwards step actually gets you out of your comfort zone sometimes. And then as the game wore on, then it was individuals. I'm going to win my individual battle. We're going to win this and then we're going to play in their half. Then we're going to run forward. Then we're going to run back. Quicker than the opposition. You can talk about, obviously the quality, when [Emanuel] Reynoso was there for all to see. Completely changed the game for us. I know that. But, the most important thing, was not all that. It was us getting out of our comfort zone and getting them out of their comfort zone. Making the, play quicker than they wanted. And when we do that, we're okay. When we don't, we play like we did for the first half an hour."
On if we saw the value of Michael Boxall tonight ...
"Well, I actually thought the two center backs, after... As I say, after they've... they weren't worse than anybody else, the first half an hour. You can't play football going backwards all the time. Playing backwards. Passing it to your goalkeeper. Letting him try and find people. Take the responsibility. And I felt after the first 25 minutes we started to do that. We started to be progressive in our play."
On if he expects any players in particular back for the weekend ...
"We'll have to see. You know, we've even got a couple of knocks from tonight's game as well. Some we'll have to see where we are and we'll do what we can. But, the end of the season can't come quick enough in terms of us sort of getting the troops together and having a little look where we are and hopefully getting some time together. I know it's an international break and we're going to lose two or three players, but the fact that we could have a week, 10 days together, doing some work, would help us."
On if there's a reason he believes players are coming out at 75, 80 percent in a game like this ...
"I don't know. I don't know. It's not good enough. I know that. I know it's not what we expect. And they know that."
On how much his heart sank when Chicago scored at the end before VAR called it back ...
"No, it didn't. I was pleased with the second half. And it would have been positives. And them things happen in football. As it happens it was either offside or we hand balled. But in the second half we deserved to be 2-2. And had the game gone on longer, with the attitude we were showing, I expected us to go and win the game."
MINNESOTA UNITED MIDFIELDER ROBIN LOD
On what changed between the first and second half...
"No one was satisfied with the performance in the first half and we spoke at halftime that we need to work harder and run more. We need to make it more difficult for the opponent and that's what we did in the second half."
On why the team came out so flat on in the first half...
"The last week has been a little bit different. We couldn't train properly as a team and there were some days off and people training alone and of course that affected us a little bit. As we got the rhythm the second half was much better."
On how important Decision Day will be next week for homefield advantage...
"We need to play a little bit better. There are times we played well in the game, but we struggle sometimes to have a full 90 minutes. That's really important for us. We have shown we have played well, but we need to show that we can play the whole game well."
On your goal...
"Romain [Metanire] hit the perfect cross and it came straight to my head and I was lucky to head it in."
On what has made you more comfortable in scoring this season...
"I know what I can do. I am just trying to do my best in every game. Sometimes when you get a few goals you get a confidence boost and that has been helpful for me this season."
On what Emanuel Reynoso brings and your comfort level on the left...
"As a left-footed player it suits me better sometimes to come from the sideline and get my left foot on the inside of the game and it makes it a bit easier to make passes and through balls."
On takeaways from the halftime speech from coach Heath...
"You just need to give your all in the game. You just can't go into a game and expect something to happen for you, you have to make it yourself and you need to work hard."
MINNESOTA UNITED MIDFIELDER JAN GREGUS
On what got the team going in the second half...
"I just think everybody could just feel like the first half was not enough, and what we needed to do was adjust the pressure, defend, and run more and have a better movement and I think that's what happened second half."
On staying unbeaten through seven games...
"Yeah we are, but on the other hand I think we could do much better with a few of the games and get a win. But in general I think the shape was good. I think, especially second half, from our part was very good in the games and hopefully next game is going to be a full-game [performance] from the start - from the beginning."
On playing with Marlon Hairston and both being more attacking center-midfielders...
"Well, yes like you said, yes maybe. But, on the other hand we knew that we had to press the midfielders and basically the strikers were up to the defenders. So, our job was basically when you play like an eight, or let's say the other midfielder (defending one), it's our role. Yeah, I think Marlon did a really good job, good game."
On difficulty of establishing a flow with guys coming in and out of the lineup...
"Like you said, if you would like to use it as an excuse, we should use it the whole season because from the start of the season to this game, there were so many changes, and injured players. I think, many new players that came in and do a very good job. And that's the point. You have to have a strong squad, and when somebody pulls out of it, there's a next one that is that good or maybe even better, so that's a huge advantage when you have players like."
On facing FC Dallas next and thoughts on wanting to win points tonight...
"We did, we did, especially the home game was good for us. The plan was a little bit different, the plan was to win this game and then the following one. That didn't happen but we need to do what we need to do basically and that's to win the next game whatsoever. Whatever will happen after will happen and will not be in our hands. In our hands, is to put a great performance on, on Sunday, against Dallas and that's the most important thing right now."
On what it meant to wear the captain's arm band...
"Oh, it's a huge privilege. I was a little bit surprised to be honest when I saw it...but also I felt very good to wear it and lead the boys. Obviously, there is Ozzie [Alonoso} that is the main captain and [Michael Boxall] was out also. Being the third one wearing it is a nice feeling and I really appreciate it."
On if the game changes when Emanuel Reynoso is in...
"Yeah, we know his quality, his very strong one-on-ones, so every time he does some dribbling and we can go with more players up front and 'we have this.' Yes, with him there is - I have a feeling - we have more offensive possibilities. Obviously he has great technique and he's showing it every game that we play, so it's good for us."
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