On a balmy Fourth of July evening, Minnesota United FC found themselves a bit shorthanded against visiting Columbus Crew SC. Missing a pair of defenders and midfielder Johan Venegas to call-ups and several more players to injury, the team saw reserves step up to provide a solid defensive effort, but with finishing left wanting, the Loons fell 1-0 to Crew SC.
MNUFC began the evening in a 5-4-1, an unfamiliar formation for the team that was previously broken out against Sporting Kansas City in their U.S. Open Cup match. Although certainly due at least partly to having to compensate for the absences of center backs Francisco Calvo and Jermaine Taylor to international duty, the shape wasn’t as defensive as it might have appeared. One of the goals was clearly getting wing backs Ismaila Jome and Kevin Venegas to overlap and get ahead of the play.
Crew SC, though, tweaked their own formation, sending out a three-man backline that effectively clogged the middle third of the field. As a result, the Loons’ passing game broke down along the left side as players looked for space and found it wanting.
“We went on their last two or three performances,” said Head Coach Adrian Heath. “Then their shape completely changed from what we thought they were going to do. They went with the three at the back, and it changed the way that we’d set up really.”
Defender Jerome Thiesson — playing right center back instead of his usual left back — provided an early highlight in the 22nd minute when he stymied a Crew SC counterattack with a timely block. He also provided some of the best chances for MNUFC to open up the field on long passes out of the back. He found forward Christian Ramirez streaking toward the net in the 28th minute, but Columbus’ center backs gobbled up the attack effectively.
Neither team was racking up the chances in the early going, though. Ramirez’s first real opportunity didn’t come until the 37th minute, when a long outlet pass hung up on the hot turf long enough for him to corral it, but his shot went high over the crossbar, nearly cutting in line at the Surly concession stand on the West Plaza.
In the 42nd minute, Head Coach Adrian Heath was forced to look to his bench after Abu Danladi came up lame. He subbed in Collen Warner, but the match remained deadlocked. The first half ended with a grand total of one shot on goal for both teams — a bicycle kick by midfielder Ethan Finlay following a string of headers in the box that dribbled into goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth’s waiting arms.
“We had an objective,” said Columbus Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. “We wanted to make it difficult for Minnesota. In the first half, we had excellent defensive shape, the ball movement was good, and we were making it difficult. Focus was on 0-0 ahead at halftime, and coming into the locker room we achieved our objective. We thought that there would be space opening up in the second half. We weren’t pleased with the counter attack in the first half; we thought that we could have been more effective on certain opportunities.”
MNUFC came out of the half in its more customary 4-2-3-1 formation and it instantly gave the team a shot in the arm. In the 53rd minute, the Loons put together the best sequence of the match up to that point when midfielder Sam Cronin curled a low pass out to a streaking defender Kevin Venegas on the right wing. Venegas fired a hard cross that couldn’t find Ramirez and instead was swallowed up by goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
Two minutes later, midfielder Kevin Molino put on a ballhandling clinic as he scooted around several Crew SC defenders before spinning around a few more and going down at the edge of the box, setting up a free kick in a dangerous spot for MNUFC. Ibson curve the free kick around the left edge of the wall, forcing Steffen to dive and just bat the ball away from the waiting goal. In all, it appeared that the Loons were taking command of the match.
But in the 58th minute, a long strike from forward Kekuta Manneh off the counterattack caught the defense flatfooted as the ball settled in the back of the net for a 1-0 Crew SC lead. The momentum didn’t swing entirely to Columbus’ side, but it certainly seemed to subside.
“I thought we started the second half very brightly,” said Heath. “And then they got a goal against the run of play actually, and it just sort of took the wind out of our sails again.”
In the 63rd minute, Crew SC brought in Justin Meram for Manneh, and his nose for the ball kept MNUFC from being able to throw everything forward.
Despite a flurry of chances late, MNUFC struggled to make the most of the final ball. In all, they managed just six shots to Columbus’ 14, and only one of them was on target. As the final whistle blew, Minnesota sat on the wrong side of a 1-0 result.
“The little break now I think has come at a really good time for us because we’re sort of running on fumes at the moment, so it’ll give one or two players an opportunity to get themselves fully fit again,” said Heath. “One or two to recharge the batteries a little bit. Because I think the one thing that it showed tonight, that our strength in depth has been certainly tested to the maximum with the players out and the injuries that we’ve got. So, transfer window is around the corner, let’s see if we can go and get some players to help us with both working on the team, and with the squad in depth. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
They’ll look to take advantage of the layoff until their next match — an international friendly against Atlas FC of Liga MX on Saturday, July 15 — to get some much-needed rest and recovery for some injured players. Their next MLS match is on Wednesday, July 19 against Houston Dynamo at TCF Bank Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on My29 and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN.
Lineups
Minnesota United FC Starting XI: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Kevin Venegas, Jerome Thiesson, Joe Greenspan, Justin Davis, Ismaila Jome (Bashkim Kadrii 77’); M Kevin Molino, Sam Cronin, Ibson (Miguel Ibarra 77’), Abu Danladi (Collen Warner 43’); F Christian Ramirez
MIN Unused Subs: GK Patrick McLain; M Rasmus Schuller, Collin Martin
Columbus Crew SC Starting XI: GK Zack Steffen; D Lalas Abubakar, Alex Crognale, Nicolai Naess (Josh Williams 34’); M Hector Jimenez, Mohammed Abu, Wil Trapp, Jukka Raitala; F Ethan Finlay, Ola Kamara (Adam Jahn 90+‘), Kekuta Manneh (Justin Meram 63’)
CLB Unused Subs: GK Brad Stuver; D Waylon Francis, Connor Maloney; M Artur
Match Events
Goals
58’ – Manneh – CLB
Discipline
9’ – Ibson (YC) – MIN
90+’ – Steffen (YC) – CLB
Attendance: 18,564
