Head Coach Adrian Heath has frequently pointed out that MNUFC can be a match for any team in the league when the side plays with purpose and intensity — two qualities that come out most strongly at home for the Loons. Tonight, the young team showed their resiliency in the second half, erasing a 2-0 deficit and coming back to draw 2-2 with Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Heath, though, believes they're capable of even more.
“A loss of two points,” he said when asked how he viewed the result. “We were the best team all evening. Every stat tells you that. As I said to the guys at halftime, if you don’t want to work the penalty area, if you don’t want to put the crosses in, if you don’t want to run behind, if you want to play a nice game of football, that’s great. I can play a nice game of football. What I can’t do is run. And run fast. And run behind. And make people uncomfortable. And second half we did that. And when we do, we’re good. And when we don’t, we’re batting average. That’s two points dropped.”
The match opened promisingly for MNUFC with midfielder Miguel Ibarra hitting a low cross that was deflected out for the team’s first corner kick just two minutes into play. This pattern persisted over the first 15 minutes, with Minnesota sending crosses in but not finding that ultimate connection in the box. For its part, Vancouver frequently managed to break free from Minnesota’s offensive pressure to apply pressure of its own, earning its first corner kick six minutes in.
In the 16th minute, a defensive miscommunication in the box opened up an opportunity for Whitecaps FC. Midfielder Brek Shea pounced on the loose ball and drove it straight at goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, who was forced to attack the ball and in doing so, drew a penalty. Midfielder Christian Techera lined it up and fired the ball into the left side of the net, giving the visitors an early 1-0 lead.
Throughout the rest of the first half, the Loons looked very much the better team, but time and again, their crosses went begging. In the 21st minute, they built up an excellent string of possession before the ball got poked away, but defender Kevin Venegas made an excellent move to knock the ball back toward the right wing. Ibarra eventually carved his way through the defense and got the ball in to Molino, but the finish was once again wanting.
As the half wound down, it looked like MNUFC might scoot into the break down just a goal, but at almost the very last minute, midfielder Alphonso Davies found a seam down the left side, forcing defender Brent Kallman to foul him just beyond the box. That set up a free kick for Techera, who struck a curving pass into the box and found the head of midfielder Tony Tchani as he sailed in from the right side. Tchani struck the header authoritatively into the goal and gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead heading into the break, despite losing the possession battle 23.3% to 76.7%. Minnesota also attempted almost twice as many crosses, putting in 11 to Whitecaps FC’s six.
“[Heath] was disappointed like everybody,” said Thiesson. “I don’t know how much but I felt like we had the ball 60 or 70 percent of the time. We also were a little dangerous. The other team never really had the ball or the opportunity but they were 2-0 up. He was angry and disappointed like everybody. He found the right words because we came back.”
The second half was an entirely different story for the home side. MNUFC continued to get balls into the box, but now they had weight behind them as players ran in with greater purpose to support the attack. Early on, Kallman had to come off after taking a knock with Jermaine Taylor taking his place on the backline.
The breakthrough came when Molino pushed the ball up the left wing and fired a long cross all the way across the face of goal in the 50th minute. Waiting on the other end was defender Francisco Calvo, who scored his first MLS goal on a header that struck the ground directly in front of the goal and bounced into the right side off goalkeeper David Ousted’s outstretched hand.
Although MNUFC had seemed dominant most of the night, the momentum seemed to shift decisively in its favor at that point. The Vancouver attack continued to get looks, but they were rarely well set up, instead coming off the counterattack and on long passes from one half into the other.
In the 63rd minute, Ibarra took the ball from the right wing across the top of the box and sent it to a streaking Jerome Thiesson who found it at the top of the arc, then drilled a bouncing shot into the left of the goal to knot the game up at 2-2. He capped it off with a wing-flapping celebration that eerily mirrored the ungainly takeoff of the loon, much to everyone’s delight.
“I don’t think a lot about goal celebrations because I score like once in a hundred games,” said Thiesson. “It just felt right at the moment. Perhaps it was because we weren’t winning yet. It just came out. It’s not a feeling I have a lot in my life so I can’t explain it really.”
In the 69th minute, Thiesson almost returned the favor as Ibarra nearly finished off a pass from the defender but instead hit the crossbar. In the 79th minute, Shuttleworth had to make a fingertip save to preserve the tie. Molino very nearly finished off a solid pass from sub Bashkim Kadrii — who came on for midfielder Johan Venegas in the 85th minute — but he was denied by Ousted and the Vancouver defense. Despite the resilience shown in battling back to level the match, the Loons couldn’t quite turn the comeback into a full-on win, instead settling for a point on the night and four total points on the week, following their strong showing against Portland on Wednesday.
“Well, we worked the penalty area, didn’t we?” said Heath when asked about the pair of goals from two of the team’s defenders. “Got crosses in there. Got bodies in the box. Second one, it’s okay. It’s a finish. It’s 2-2. But we can’t wait till halftime when I come in and lose my voice at halftime to get the reaction that we had. Because if we do, it’s not going to be enough, and we’re going to have to change things.”
MNUFC makes a trip to the Big Apple next week to take on New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, June 29 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast on My29 and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN, with pre-match coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Lineups
Minnesota United FC Starting XI: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Kevin Venegas, Brent Kallman (Jermaine Taylor 47’), Francisco Calvo, Jerome Thiesson; M Ibson, Sam Cronin, Kevin Molino, Miguel Ibarra, Johan Venegas (Bashkim Kadrii 85’); F Christian Ramirez
MIN Unused Subs: GK Patrick McLain; D Justin Davis; M Collin Martin, Collen Warner, Rasmus Schuller
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Starting XI: GK David Ousted; D Jordan Harvey, Tim Parker, Andrew Jacobson, Jake Nerwinski (Marcel de Jong 90’); M Cristian Techera (Mauro Rosales 90’), Matias Laba, Tony Than, Brek Shea, M Alphonso Davies; F Fredy Montero (Bernie Ibini-Isei 73’)
VAN Unused Subs: GK Paolo Tornaghi; D Cole Seiler; M Marco Bustos, Russel Teibert
Match Events
Goals
17’ – Techera (PK) – VAN
45+’ – Tchani (Techera) – VAN
50’ – Calvo (Molino) – MIN
63’ – Thiesson (Ibarra) – MIN
Discipline
16’ – Shuttleworth (YC) – MIN
26’ – Tchani (YC) – VAN
45+’ – Kallman (YC) – MIN
54’ – Theisson (YC) – MIN
59’ – Ibson (YC) – MIN
65’ – Techera (YC) – VAN
Attendance: 19,017
