SHIFTING BACK TO THE 4-2-3-1
As players have gotten healthy, Minnesota United has shifted back to its preferred 4-2-3-1 formation in recent games, albeit with a new wrinkle with a pair of defensive-minded midfielders manning the center of the field. That change yielded new positions for both midfielders Rasmus Schuller and Romario Ibarra and helped key the Loons to victory against the Timbers.
With Fernando Bob and Maximiano emerging as a reliable duo in central midfield, Schuller was deployed higher and wider than usual as a winger opposite Miguel Ibarra on Saturday against Portland. Though he also saw time in that spot late on against Real Salt Lake, it is still a new look for Schuller. He has made his name in MLS as a relentless defensive workhorse in central midfield, so the move required some adjustments.
“I still tried to play the football that I normally play and what I am good at,” Schuller said. “I still like doing a big defensive job even though I am a bit higher on the pitch. I try to play with my strengths and I think I did OK with that today, even playing in a more unfamiliar role for me.”
Romario’s transition came much more naturally. In his career with Universidad Catolica and Ecuador’s National Team he has played on the left and the right as a winger and as both a No. 10 and a No. 9. Romario has been primarily utilized as a winger so far with MNUFC, but was run out at the top of Minnesota’s 4-2-3-1 against the Timbers with great success in 39 minutes before sustaining an injury.
The 24-year-old notched a brace in his second-ever start for the Loons and showed instant chemistry with playmaker Darwin Quintero. Quintero and Romario linked up on both of the Ecuadorian’s goals, which bodes well for the MNUFC attack moving forward.
“Over the course of my career I’ve had the opportunity to play all of the attacking positions,” Romario said. “I feel very comfortable in any of those attacking positions and have no problems doing it. It is something very important for me, to be able to play in any of the attacking positions.”
MICHAEL BOXALL’S BIG WEEKEND
MNUFC defender Michael Boxall may have scored what proved to be the game-winning goal against Portland on Saturday — a thrill for him, no doubt — but it was not close to being the top highlight of the New Zealand international’s memorable weekend.
Boxall popped the question to his girlfriend, Libby Matthews — the author of a popular health blog and a best-selling cookbook — earlier in the week. In the excitement of the couple’s engagement, Boxall said Matthews had a spot-on premonition that more was in store for him against the Timbers.
“She actually told me, I think sometime this week, she said I am going to score,” Boxall said. “I think I told her she was talking (nonsense). But maybe she knows a thing or two about football.”
Boxall’s exuberance after scoring the goal, which put MNUFC up 3-0, was evident. After smashing the ball into the net, he leapt for joy, fist pumped and sent the ball about 15 rows up into the supporters section before pointing into the crowd, fittingly dropping to one knee and blowing a kiss up towards the suites at TCF Bank Stadium.
The euphoric celebration was a perfect encapsulation of the intense passion sports can elicit in the moment and, for Boxall, it was the culmination of a weekend he will not soon forget. He admitted the idea of scoring a goal to mark the personal milestone occasion had crossed his mind, but with just one MLS goal to his credit coming in he did not want to get ahead of himself.
“I mean I thought about it, but what are the chances of me scoring? Especially that close to when I (proposed),” Boxall said. “I think I blacked out because I think I did about three or four celebrations all within the few seconds after it went in.”
