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MLS Minnesota United FC

MNUFC Loses 2-1 to Orlando City

April 15, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Minnesota United FC News Release


SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota United for the first time this season lost at home, falling to Orlando City SC 2-1 in a night where the Loons outshot their opposing side, with Bongokuhle Hlongwane scoring the only goal for MNUFC.

MNUFC had an impressive start to the first half, leading the Lions on nearly all fronts, outshooting Orlando eight shots to five and holding the advantage in both corners and crosses. Two minutes after the opening whistle, forward Mender Garcia made a run down the field into Orlando's attacking third, sending a cross to the center of the box, finding Bongokuhle Hlongwane, who's shot missed just to the right of the net. At the end of the half, in the 40th minute and in his first MNUFC start, forward Sang Bin Jeong nearly found the back of the net after a cross from Robin Lod to the center of the box, but the shot was saved by Orlando's Pedro Gallese.

The Loons opened the scoring just 10 minutes into the second half. Midfielder Hassani Dotson made a long run down the right side of Minnesota's attacking half and crossed the ball into Orlando's six-yard line where forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored his second goal of the season. Dotson earned the assist, his first since returning from injury. Notably, the Washington native earned his milestone 100th game appearance, across all competitions, for MNUFC.

After the second-half started, Orlando City SC had their best chance of the night and found the back of the net after a far-post run from Ivan Angulo, notching the equalizer with service from Gaston Gonzalez in the 66th minute. Frantic play followed, with both squads eager for the lead. In the 85th minute, Franco Fragapane almost scored the go-ahead goal after a through-ball from forward Luis Amarilla landed inside the six-yard box.

Orlando secured the game-winning goal just three minutes later with a header from forward Duncan McGuire in the 88th minute. Despite a high press from the Minnesota side, it was not enough to overcome the Lions.

With the result, Minnesota United holds a 3-2-2 (W-L-D) with 11 points on the season.

ATTENDANCE: 19,685

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane

LINEUPS:

Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Kemar Lawrence, Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall (c), DJ Taylor; M Robin Lod, Hassani Dotson, Kervin Arriaga; F Mender Garcia, Sang Bin Jeong, Bongokuhle Hlongwane

Bench: GK Clint Irwin; D Brent Kallman, Mikael Marques, Zarek Valentin; M Franco Fragapane, Joseph Rosales, Wil Trapp; F Cameron Dunbar, Luis Amarilla

Orlando City SC XI: GK Pedro Gallese; D Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Gaston Gonzalez, Antonio Carlos; M Cesar Araujo, Mauricio Pereyra (c), Ivan Angulo; F Ramiro Enrique, Martin Ojeda, Facundo Torres

Bench: GK Mason Stajduhar; D Luca Petrasso, Rafael Santos, Kyle Smith; M Wilder Cartagena, Felipe Martins, Dagur Thorhallsson; F Ercan Kara, Duncan McGuire

UP NEXT:

MINNESOTA UNITED FC @ SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

Lumen Field | Seattle, Washington

04.22.2022 | MLS 2023 Regular Season | Matchday 9

9:30 pm CT (MLS Season Pass/1500 ESPN)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH

On the difficulty of playing at home this season...

"There's different circumstances for each game. I did say after the Vancouver game, I thought they did enough maybe to get it but the circumstances that they got it wasn't right at the time. Today, I feel for the players a bit because I think they only had two efforts at goal. I can't think of much else that Dayne [St. Clair] has had to do, and I thought the first half we played really well. I thought there was a lot of good football and we've talked about creating opportunities. Bongi's [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] had an unbelievable opportunity after a minute. Fraga's [Franco Fragapane] probably had the best chance of the game to go 2-1 up. Robin's [Robin Lod] had a really good chance by his standards, so it's a difficult one to take but that's football. Small margins, at either end, and tonight they've [Orlando City SC] probably had a little bit of the rub of the green and we haven't."

On two consecutive 2-1 losses...

"What's gone wrong? I'm not sure it's gone wrong. When I look at the 90 minutes, for them to have two chances in 90 minutes with the amount of forward players they have on the field, I think we did a really good job looking after them [Orlando City SC]. But obviously they've got the overload for both goals. We'll have to look at it but the way they played, they played their three front guys very narrow, so that brings your back-four in and then they've got the high wingbacks and they cause you a problem with it, but we dealt with it most of the evening. A couple of occasions where we haven't with Kemar's [Lawrence] had to come across to pick people up in the middle and [Ivan] Angulo was available for both of them. He scored one and then he chipped and it's come off the crossbar for the second one."

On the concern of finishing scoring chances...

"Well we've had good opportunities this evening and invariably, [with] those opportunities you would expect to score goals. But we've certainly looked better today going forward, creating more opportunities. I thought our movement in forward areas was a lot better, I thought we got more in the box, I thought we got more final-third entries. All of the things that you talk about we've done a decent job of it tonight. Obviously, people don't mean to miss chances. Hopefully, we'll start to get a little bit more of a bit fortune and then take opportunities when they come because we've had really big opportunities at important times. If Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] scores early on, it changes the whole complex of the game. And then Fraga's [Franco Fragapane] opportunity, it's 2-1 then Robin's [Lod] goes 2-1 it's good opportunities."

On defensive changes after the first 50 minutes of play and two conceded goals...

"I'll have to have a look at them because in the cold light of day everything's connected. Did we do enough to stop the ball going forward? Did we do enough for the first ball? Did we do enough with runners in the box? So I'll have to have a closer look at it, and we'll decide from there. But as a back-four this evening, we've done well, in general. A couple of lapses have maybe cost us, and at this level, you get punished. That's always been the case."

On missed calls during the game...

"No, I'm not going to talk about that. I'll get myself in enough trouble. The one thing I will say... three minutes? We had eight here the other week. No difference. Very hard to work out what is extra time now, it really is. Really difficult but every referee sees it different, I suppose."

On offensive substitution in the second half for Sang Bin Jeong...

"I thought the movement was really good in the first half. For Sang Bin [Jeong] to, we thought we'd get an hour out of him, which is just about what we did. He's not played consistently for nearly a year now, so for him to do what he did, I thought he showed glimpses of what we've got to see. [He] looked sharp, got a really good vision, good appreciation of the game, can play and combine with people. He'll be better in the next few weeks when we can get more work into him."

On the decision to keep Robin Lod and Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the field...

"I wanted to leave the two of them [Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Robin Lod] on. They looked dangerous. Robin's had a great chance. Bongi's had a couple of opportunities, scored a goal. I can't take them off just to put Fraga [Franco Fragapane] out there. [We] put Fraga in a position where we thought there might be a pocket of space for him to be able to run with the game because it started to get a little bit end-to-end, and Mender [Garcia] hasn't played a full 90 [minutes]. We have to make decisions when we feel as though we need a bit of impetus, that we need some fresh energy and some fresh legs and that's what we do."

On Orlando's aggressive defense..

"They way that they played, the three at the back, and they stretch you out, and they are very composed on the ball. You're always reluctant to keep sending them forward because they do leave the wingbacks so high that affects your fullbacks. And then they play the three narrow that basically contains your back four, so they're difficult to play against when they stretch the game out, but I thought in the first half we managed it really, really well. I don't know what Oscar [Pareja] said, but they'll be really pleased to get out of here with three points. They'd have probably settled for one from any time during the game, I would've thought, so it's disappointing. I was really disappointed with the effort in the group last week. I'm certainly not that this weekend.

On Kemar Lawrence's injury status...

"Yeah, he's fine. He's fine."

MIDFIELDER ROBIN LOD

On dropping points at home...

"It's not ideal to start three home games and haven't won. The frustrating part is that we had the lead in all of those games I think and then just collapsed. Especially today I think we had enough chances to score. We just have to be more precise in the final third. That was the issue today for sure."

On challenges of playing different positions...

"I mean it's challenging because you always have to think a little bit different, but at the same time I enjoy it. It was nice to get back to the right side. Unfortunately we didn't do enough as a team and didn't win today."

On setting up the team goal...

"I saw Hassani [Hassani Dotson] making a great run and saw a gap to pass there and I think he did really well on putting the ball on the goal and Hlongwane [Bongakuhle Hlongwane] was in the right place at the right time. It was good, but it doesn't make me happy at the moment."

On feeling more comfortable playing this week...

"I definitely felt more comfortable. At the same time we didn't play that well in Chicago and I think we played today better, but we didn't win and we need to work hard."

On Sang Bin Jeong's first start...

"I thought he played really well. I think he hasn't played that many games lately, so the time he was on the field I think he did really well and you can see that there is a lot of potential."

On Sang Bin Jeong's strengths...

"I think he's a skillful player. He works hard and I think he likes to play combination plays. He's a pretty good all around player."

On conceding goals down the left side...

"I don't know. If it was, then they did really well. Both goals were pretty similar so that's tough and that's something that we need to correct."

On conceding goals on the opposition's only shots on target...

"It's not nice. Especially with how many chances we had. We just need to score more. That's the truth. All these games when you have the chances I feel like if you don't make it they end up in your own net. That's something that we need to work on."

On if the team's poor finishing was bad luck or if it needs to be worked on...

"I think both. It wasn't good enough today and overall we need to be more precise on the goal."

MIDFIELDER HASSANI DOTSON

On what might not be working at home so far this year...

"We're unfortunate to not get the win tonight. But, it's about weathering the storm. I think there's a moment in time you could tell we got a little bit tired, a little bit sloppy in our decision making and I think that's just when we come together as a group and maybe defend the little deeper block for a little bit and then let everyone collect their breaths and go again. "

On tonight's performance...

"This is the game where we created the most clear-cut chances, so it's tough when you don't capitalize. The team like Orlando [City SC] has good quality attackers, they can punish us but at the end of the day, they also only made two shots on goal, so it's just a little bit unlucky for us tonight."

On the lack of finishing and giving up two goals in the past...

"I wouldn't put this as the same bracket as Chicago. I think we were pretty outplayed in the first 70 minutes or so. I really feel like we were unlucky tonight and let the guys know that we can sulk for the rest of the day and then look at the positive film and take that towards Seattle."

On specific parts of the scouting report for Orlando...

"They do a good job with their getting the ball to their two sixes and going out wide and having their inverted wingers. I think they just try to switch the ball until they find the opening and unfortunate enough, for us, the ball found their right wingback and when you are defending you defend inside out.

On his reaction with the calls...

"Sometimes I clear the ball and I get stepped on, and I mean, it's part of the game and I had a word with the referee. And I'm like, hey, I know it's tough on his end too but, 'follow the play through, maybe you can see that one', but I can't put today's game on the referees at all."

On the setup of the goal...

"We just changed shaped and I believe DJ [DJ Taylor] had the ball first and I saw a gap with their outside back or maybe their outside centerback, and it went to Robin [Robin Lod], and I saw a quick gap for me to burst into. And then Bongi's [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] been been making that run all game, so I just decided to hit it with some pace for him to have a chance at goal."

On not being able to find another goal...

"I think it's just disappointing not to get three points at home for how the fans have been and we have that many chances, it's disappointing. But I think we'd rather have that problem than not create any chances at all and sometimes that's just how the cookie crumbles. I have all the confidence in our attacking players and we are a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team."

On Sang Bin Jeong's debut game...

"I think he's a very lively player, he's a team player first. He is a good guy, he's quick. He has a good understanding of the game, he's a good set piece taker. I think he'll be a good asset for us moving forward."

On changing shape and possibly giving Orlando space...

"I think it was just a little bit of defensive confusion and as the game goes longer, we got a little bit tired and we don't stay compact as a group, they are bound to break us down, when they have a little bit more possession in that time period."

On game stoppage...

"I am so focused on the game, I don't really notice the stoppage time until I hear the cries out from the crowd or I see it on the replay screen. I was on the bench that time, so I know some of the fans are definitely unhappy but I think for us it is just about controlling what we can control."

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