On an evening much clearer but no less cold than when last these teams met at TCF Bank Stadium, Minnesota United hosted Atlanta United in a match that featured a lot of action but not much scoring. After going down a man just before the half, the visitors held on to a 1-0 lead they got in the third minute off an own goal to walk away with three points.
"I’m really proud of the players," said Head Coach Adrian Heath, who was upbeat despite the loss. "I thought they were magnificent. A really bad mistake in the first minute. After that, I thought we were the better team. Before the sending off, and after the sending off, we could have done much more. Probably could have put a bit of better quality in the box late on. Could have been on the move a little bit more. Overall, I’m absolutely delighted with my players — as pleased as I’ve been with them, probably since I’ve been here. Because a lot of the stuff that we asked of them before the game, I thought we carried the game plan out to a T. And I feel for them tonight, because they do not deserve to come out of the game with nothing."
The match had barely begun when two important events occurred. In the first minute, defender Leandro González Pirez was given a yellow card after midfielder Sam Nicholson went down as he was attacking down the left side of the pitch. Then in the third minute, an Atlanta corner kick led to multiple chances in front of net, punctuated by forward Hector Villalba striking the crossbar. As the ball bounced down, it glanced off defender Francisco Calvo’s leg and went in, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.
It took the Loons a while to regain their footing after that, and the first 20 minutes or so of the match were marked by a swarming Atlanta defense and several cheap giveaways from Minnesota United. But in the 19th minute, midfielder Ibson served up a good ball from the left side and over the next couple minutes, the Loons started to string together possession across the top of the box as they poked and prodded at Atlanta’s backline.
But Atlanta plays very wide, with just three in the back and their wingers with their feet on the chalk. The result was that Minnesota got forced into narrow spaces and ended up having to work down the left side because midfielder Ethan Finlay was clearly a defensive priority for the visitors on the right side. With a goal in the hand, Atlanta didn’t exactly park the bus, but they seemed content to contain the home side more than press them through the middle part of the first half.
The tenor of the match, though, shifted dramatically when Pirez received a second yellow in the 38th minute after appearing to shove Nicholson in the back and into the boards after he was already out of bounds. MNUFC immediately flashed to life over the final six-plus minutes as they attempted to slide a goal in before the half, but they ultimately couldn’t find the equalizer and the teams headed into the break with Atlanta up 1-0, despite Minnesota owning 64% of the possession.
"You’ve gotta try and obviously be patient, and try and stretch the play and move the ball around," said Heath when asked about the strategy coming out of the half. "Switch it side to side, try and get them out of shape. And I thought [Atlanta] defended the box well. They had a lot of help with that. But overall, other than the final ball, I thought some of our play was excellent."
That possession stat would only rise in the second half as Minnesota played the final 45 up a man. Atlanta responded by dropping everyone back — you could watch their two even rows of four men apiece move up and back almost as one as Minnesota worked time and again to get crosses into the box. The Loons were successful on that front, putting in 50 crosses, but they also notched only three shots on target. Although their possession would eventually creep up to 70%, the final ball was just not there for Minnesota on the night, even after Heath pulled defender Marc Burch for forward Mason Toye in the 81st minute.
Whether it was due to Atlanta’s size or initiative in their own box or Minnesota’s inability to play fast enough to stretch the defense or how unaccustomed they were to playing with possession instead of on the counterattack or something else entirely, the Loons simply couldn’t find the back of the net. Down the stretch and into seven minutes of stoppage time incurred mostly by Atlanta players who went down, Minnesota created a number of chances and Mason Toye even banged a shot off the post in the 88th minute.
Following this 1-0 loss, Minnesota United will get a chance to recover with a bye week, giving them a chance to get a few players healthy and work to integrate new addition Darwin Quintero. They'll head to Portland to face the Timbers in their home opener at the newly renovated Providence Park on Saturday, April 14. The match kicks off at 9:30 p.m. CT with pre-match coverage beginning at 9:00 p.m. on FOX Sports North and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN.
Lineups
Minnesota United FC Starting XI: GK Matt Lampson; D Tyrone Mears, Michael Boxall, Francisco Calvo, Marc Burch (Mason Toye 81’); M Ibson, Rasmus Schuller, Ethan Finlay, Sam Nicholson, Miguel Ibarra; F Abu Danladi (Christian Ramirez 61’)
MIN Unused Subs: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Carter Manley, Brent Kallman; M Frantz Pangop, Collen Warner
Atlanta United FC Starting XI: GK Brad Guzan; D Leandro Gonzalez Pirez, Michael Parkhurst, Chris McCann; M Julian Gressel (Kevin Kratz 86’), Darlington Nagbe, Jeff Larentowicz (Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu74’), Greg Garza; F Miguel Almiron, Hector Villalba (Sal Zizzo 64’), Josef Martinez
ATL Unused Subs: GK Alec Kann; D Mikey Ambrose; F Romario Williams, Brandon Vazquez
Match Events
Goals
3’ – Calvo (own goal) – ATL
Discipline
1’ – Gonzalez-Pirez (YC) – ATL
38’ – Gonzalez-Pirez (2YC) – ATL
90+1’ – Guzan (YC) – ATL
90+3’ – Calvo (YC) – MIN
