MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. NEW YORK RED BULLS
TCF Bank Stadium | Minneapolis, Minnesota
07.22.17 | MLS Week #20 | MLS Game #21
3:00 p.m. CT (ESPN, MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN)

2017 Records:
MIN: 5-11-4; 5-4-2 at home
NY: 9-8-2; 3-6-0 on the road

Coming off the club’s first scoreless draw in MLS against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night, MNUFC will have precious little time to prepare for New York Red Bulls at home on Saturday, July 22 at TCF Bank Stadium, presented by SeatGeek. The afternoon match gets underway at 3:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN with pre-match coverage on the latter beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Against a Dynamo side that gummed up the middle of the pitch and stymied the Loons’ attempts to move the ball quickly into the final third, Head Coach Adrian Heath adjusted his formation from the team’s usual 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 at the half. The formation change loosened things up considerably, but for a coach with a side that’s underperforming out of the gate, there’s little he can do from the sideline until the half.

“You wonder how long you can let it continue the way it is,” he said. “And normally, the score-line dictates that. While it was still nil-nil I was prepared to let it wait until halftime. But then I realized that if we were going to get something out the game, we had to change one or two things. So we changed one or two positional things. Changed the way we played a little bit. I thought it had the desired effect. We were certainly a lot better in the second half than we were in the first.”

Christian Ramirez, who very nearly got the match-winner in the contest’s waning moments as he collided dramatically with Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric in the six-yard box, felt that some of the slow start had to do with a team still working on how to work around missing players like Francisco Calvo, Johan Venegas and Jermaine Taylor to international duty.

“I think it was a feeling out process early just because there were some new guys in the lineup for us, some new guys in the lineup for them,” said Ramirez. “It took us a bit to get into the game, which is no excuse, because we should be coming out on all cylinders. But at the end of the day, we managed to get a point. I felt we could have gotten a couple more. But we just have to continue to get better and learn how to start these games.”

For Heath, the adjustments he’s making from match to match and within matches are dictated not only by how he wants his side to play and by what the opposing side gives him, but also simply by who’s at his disposal on a team that’s missing players for a variety of reasons.

“Sometimes you have to look at what you’ve got at your disposal,” he said. “At this moment in time, we haven’t got an awful lot. We didn’t have a full complement to play again last night on the bench, because of injuries, suspensions, people away. Hopefully we’ll have a couple back for this weekend and the options generally dictate what you’re going to do. Have you got front men you can put on to change the game? And what type of front man is it? Is he a quick guy, is he a big guy? So it does influence the way that you play.”

MNUFC expects a tough test against the Red Bulls this weekend. NYRB positively dismantled the San Jose Earthquakes at home to the tune of 5-1 on Wednesday night, and although they sit fifth in the Eastern Conference currently, Heath believes their long track record of success speaks for itself.

“They changed their team last night, which was quite unusual because they normally don’t,” he said. “They’ve had the same sort of formation, and the same people in the same spots for the last two and a half years, really. For me, over the last two years, been the best footballing team in MLS. So I’m looking forward to another very, very difficult encounter against Jesse Marsh’s team. Got a huge amount of respect for Jesse. I like him personally, I think his teams are really well coached. When we had this three-game stretch, I thought this would be the most difficult of the three, and we'll see.”

The next test for MNUFC after the Red Bulls will be next Saturday, July 29 when they square up with D.C. United at TCF Bank Stadium. That match kicks off at 7 p.m. and pre-match coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on My29 and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN.

INJURY REPORT

Minnesota United
OUT: M – Bernardo Anor (left lower leg injury)
OUT: M/D – Thomas de Villardi (left Achilles injury)
OUT: D – Marc Burch (sports hernia surgery 6/20, out 8-12 weeks)
OUT: GK – John Alvbage (right thumb)
OUT: M – Sam Cronin (neck)
OUT: D – Joe Greenspan (head)
OUT: M – Rasmus Schuller (left thigh)
OUT: D – Kevin Venegas (right thigh)
QUESTIONABLE: F – Abu Danladi (right thigh injury)
QUESTIONABLE: M – Miguel Ibarra (left ankle)
QUESTIONABLE: M – Kevin Molino (left ankle)
QUESTIONABLE: F – Christian Ramirez (right thigh)
QUESTIONABLE: M – Johan Venegas (left thigh)
INT’L DUTY: Francisco Calvo, Jermaine Taylor (possible)

New York Red Bulls

OUT: D - Gideon Baah (broken leg - out for season)
OUT: M - Mike Grella (knee surgery - out for season)
PROBABLE: D - Aurelien Collin (hamstring injury)
INT’L DUTY: Kemar Lawrence (possible)

DISCIPLINARY REPORT

Minnesota United
-none-

New York Red Bulls
Kemar Lawrence — If Lawrence returns from international duty, he is scheduled to serve his suspension for his first match back for a dangerous tackle vs. NYCFC

FIRST TOUCHES

• Brandon Allen is with Minnesota on loan from New York Red Bulls and according to the loan agreement, cannot play against NYRB.
• Manny Lagos played for the MetroStars in 1996 and 1997.
• Arun Basuljevic, Alex Muyl and Brandon Allen were teammates at Georgetown in 2014 and 2015.
• Luis Robles and Collen Warner played for the University of Portland in 2006.
• Aurelien Collin was a teammate of Kevin Molino’s on Orlando City SC in 2015 and 2016. While with Orlando, he was coached by Adrian Heath, Ian Fuller and Mark Watson.
• Kemar Lawrence and Jermaine Taylor are both members of the Jamaica national team and were called up for the 2017 Gold Cup.
• The Red Bulls were founded as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars before rebranding in 2006.
• The Red Bulls led MLS with 64 team assists in 2016.
• The Red Bulls had the top two offensive producers last season. Bradley Wright-Phillips was the top goalscorer in MLS with 24 to his credit, and Sacha Kljestan led the league with 20 assists. Both Wright-Phillips and Kljestan were named to the MLS XI.
• Bobby Shuttleworth earned his fourth clean sheet of the season on Wednesday with four saves. He has not conceded a goal in the last 122 minutes of play, the fourth-longest stretch in team history. His longest shutout streak is 146 minutes.
• Minnesota has not scored in 261 minutes. Its last goal came from Christian Ramirez on June 29 against NYCFC.
• Ibson has been fouled 48 times so far this season, making him the fifth most-fouled player in MLS.
• Ramirez has appeared in all 20 of Minnesota’s league matches.
• Shuttleworth and Luis Robles both have made 66 saves and have saved 70% of shots they have faced.
• Six different players have match-winning goals for the Red Bulls.
• Last match was Minnesota’s first 0-0 draw since joining MLS.