On a warm but breezy late-May evening, MNUFC welcomed Orlando City SC to TCF Bank Stadium. For Head Coach Adrian Heath (and several members of his staff) it was a chance to face his old team, but his squad and a sea of whirling scarves wielded by boisterous fans were up to the task. The Loons got on the board first with a goal in the 56th minute and refused to relinquish the lead, ending the night with three points and on the right side of a 1-0 result on Pride Night.
“Our determination to try and get a result, and to hold onto it at the end, I thought was evident and was there for everybody to see,” said Heath. “I think the most important thing for me was the three points. To give them some reward, because it’s really difficult to keep trying to convince players to keep doing what you’re asking them if you don’t get results.”
Midfielder Kevin Molino — who came over in a transfer from Orlando City in the offseason — was unable to play due to illness. “Him and Bash[kim Kadrii] weren’t feeling too clever on late Thursday,” said Heath. “On Friday we thought we’ll keep them away from the rest of the group, and they just really haven’t responded to it. I knew we were going to need a lot of energy today, so we didn’t want to take any risks.” MNUFC also had to cope with missing forward Abu Danladi, who’s recovering from a groin injury. Orlando had to compensate for the loss of star midfielder Kaka, who was left home with a nagging injury.
There wasn’t much between the two teams in the early going. In the 16th minute, midfielder Ismaila Jome — starting in his first MLS match — went down in the box but didn’t draw the penalty. On the other side, Orlando generated shots in the first 30 minutes, but they mostly went sailing harmlessly over the crossbar and into the stands.
It wasn’t until the 38th minute that forward Carlos Rivas got a decent look at the goal. After poaching an errant pass in Minnesota’s final third, he took a shot that got past goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth but rolled harmlessly into the left post before being scooped up.
Toward the end of the first half, Minnesota began stringing together possession, although Orlando worked hard to keep defensive pressure on the edge of the final third. The result was some tough sledding for the Loons’ midfielders as they worked to break down their counterparts. Their best look in the first half came in the final minute as defender Marc Burch sent a cross from the left wing that sailed all the way through the box before settling at the feet of midfielder Miguel Ibarra on the right side of the box. Unmarked, Ibarra sent the ball too high, but it augured good things for the team in the second half.
The play appeared to loosen up at the start of the second, with forward Cyle Larin sending one into the center of goal from the left side of the box, midfielder Johan Venegas sending one over the bar from just outside the box and midfielder Luis Gil sending one directly into Shuttleworth’s arms from beyond the box in the 48th, 49th and 50th minutes respectively. There was a burgeoning sense that the dam would break, with the fans ramping up their intensity.
“It’s been pretty unreal, how loud the stadium gets when the whole stadium starts chanting,” said forward Christian Ramirez. “We make it a point, every game whenever we feel like there’s an opportunity to get momentum building, we start throwing our hands up to get the fans going, because we know how important they are to our team. And how miserable it is for an away side to start hearing and feel the stadium coming on to you. We make sure to get them involved as much as we can.”
The deadlock was finally broken in the 56th minute, and it was Ramirez who did the breaking. Venegas neatly flicked a pass from the middle of the pitch with a backheel and found a streaking Ramirez. Ramirez had to sidestep goalkeeper Joe Bendik, recover the ball and then cut it back against a diving Jose Aja, but once he had done all that, the net sat wide open before him and he fired it home easily for his eighth goal on the year. Following the goal, he sought out Heath on the sideline, telling him, “That was for you. I know how much this means to you.”
“It was an in the moment thing,” he said after the match. “I know how much this game meant to him. For everything he has done for [Orlando] and how things ended there, I made sure he got recognized for what he’s doing here.”
From there, the responsibility fell heavily on Bobby Shuttleworth and the defense. Shuttleworth notched seven saves for the clean sheet — his third of the year — and it was a testament to the team’s defense as a whole that Orlando didn’t get their first corner of the night until the 85th minute. Defender and captain Francisco Calvo came up big several times and in the 82nd minute, midfielder Ibson tracked back to recover the ball on a slide tackle, then somehow managed to spin completely around while keeping the ball away from three or four Orlando City players before standing back up and dribbling it away toward midfield.
“You see the energy that [Ibson] plays with, for a 33 year old,” said Heath. “You know, Ish [Jome], these younger guys, if they want a role model, just look at this guy. Achieved virtually everything in the game. 33 years of age. Wants to train every day. Trains every day at his maximum. Comes and plays. Loves playing football. He’s an incredible role model for the younger players at this football club.”
At the final whistle, the 1-0 victory in hand, the team formed a chain and ran out to face the Supporters Section as “Wonderwall” — the team’s traditional post-win anthem — boomed from the stadium’s speakers, hushing itself for the chorus and letting the crowd carry the refrain aloft into the night.
“I think [the crowd] gets better by the week, I really do,” said Heath. “I think the relationship and the bond between the players and the crowd is getting greater every single week. We have to keep building that. We have to keep getting the crowd going, and getting them off the seat. Because that’s what they’re here for, they’ve come here to be entertained. The crowd energized the players last week, and I thought it kept them going again this week. They played their butts off.”
Next week, MNUFC heads to Kansas City to face Sporting KC at Children’s Mercy Park. Kickoff is set for 4:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN with pre-match coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. on the latter.
Lineups
Minnesota United FC Starting XI: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Jerome Thiesson, Brent Kallman, Francisco Calvo, Marc Burch; M Sam Cronin (Collen Warner 77’), Miguel Ibarra, Johan Venegas (Jermaine Taylor 86’), Ismaila Jome (Collin Martin 79’); F Christian Ramirez
MIN Unused Subs: GK John Alvbage; D Justin Davis, Joe Greenspan; M Kevin Venegas
Orlando City SC Starting XI: GK Joe Bendik; D Jonathan Spector, Jose Aja, PC, Scott Sutter; M Antonio Nocerino (Christian Higuita 74’), Luis Gil (Giles Barnes 72’), Matias Perez Garcia, Will Johnson; F Carlos Rivas, Cyle Larin
Orlando City SC Unused Subs: GK Josh Saunders; D Donny Toia, Leo Pereira; M Hadji Barry, Servando Carrasco
Match Events
Scoring
56’ – Ramirez (J. Venegas) – MIN
Discipline
38’ – J. Venegas (YC) – MIN
66’ – Cronin (YC) – MIN
76’ – Jome (YC) – MIN
81’ – Burch (YC) – MIN
90+1’ – Ibarra (YC) – MIN
Attendance: 18,896
