Minnesota United outmatched LA Galaxy in possession, shots and most other positive stat-lines, but ultimately fell short when the visitors struck late to take a 2-1 lead. We caught up with the team after the match, here's what they had to say:
MNUFC Head Coach Adrian Heath
On if they were feeling unlucky today:
I don't know if it's tough luck. Disappointed today. Certainly done more than enough to take something out of this game today. I don't know how many clearcut chances we had second half but my god, you don't get them against good teams and if you don't take them, invariably they come back to hurt you. That's what's happened today. I thought we started the game really brightly in the first 15, 20 minutes. I thought then we let them take the initiative away from us a little bit. Let it become too comfortable again for them. We had a few words at halftime and got about it the second half. It was a bit more like what I wanted. We got good possession, we got good combination play, we got the ball wide, we got good crosses in. Somebody's just said we had 22 efforts on goal and we've had, what, four golden chances? When you don't score them it can come back to haunt you.
We spoke about the quality of their delivery from set pieces and it was something that worried me all afternoon. Because they've got some big bodies there. With the quality of Alessandrini's set pieces — corners, free kicks — I thought would be a problem for us and it turned out to be. So bitterly disappointed but we'll dust ourselves down and go again.
On Christian's own goal and if he says anything to him:
I'll have to have another look at it and see if there's anything we could have done. There was one or two things that I was disappointed in, in terms of the way we were defending the box at times from their set pieces, although I've just said their quality was good. I don't think we defended the box as well as we can. I thought we were a little bit lax and a little bit sloppy in some of the defending.
On whether Christian's unlucky:
Let's hope so. Because obviously it's two in two weeks. Obviously, the one last week was a foul, the one today, I only saw it briefly on the replay, so I'll have to have another look at it. I'm sure there'll be lots of positives from the game. I think it's a little sign of how far we've come that we're really bitterly disappointed playing against probably the standard bearers of this league for the last ten years.
On positive aspects of possession:
Well, we have possession, but you have to do things with possession. Stats can mean an awful lot. Second half we had some end product from the possession that we had. We had the ball in the final third an awful lot. We got crosses in, we got bodies in the box and made it difficult for them. I don't want to be a team that just passes the ball about and looks pretty but doesn't go anywhere. I thought second half today we had good possession in good areas. On a better day, with better finishing, this game could have been over. At 1-1, with their quality on the break, the more you push men forward, the more you leave yourself a little bit exposed, which I felt we did at times, we took a calculated risk and it backfired on us. The set piece was very harsh, I felt.
On what changed in the 25th minute:
I thought we lost our shape. I thought our attacking midfield players underneath Christian suddenly started to get in poor positions and it wasn't affecting their group and our two central midfield players started to get the ball deeper and deeper. We allowed them to take the initiative, which is something that you don't want to do at home. As I say, after halftime we had a few words and managed to change one or two things and I thought it worked a lot better.
On Johan's shift:
It shows glimpses of what he's got. He's got quality and in the end, he's had another great chance like he did last week in Toronto. He came on and had a really good header and today I thought he was going to score because he's a really good finisher with his head. I'm sure that he'll be pleased to get a few more minutes under his belt and I'll have to have a look at it.
MNUFC Defender Brent Kallman
On what the team was looking at prior to the match:
We knew they were dangerous on the counter. They were going to look to break on us. And honestly their striker pairing looked very similar to last week [against Toronto]. You have [Tosaint] Ricketts is kinda comparable to [Gyasi] Zardes where he’s super fast ya know and he’s trying to get in behind. And [Giovani] dos Santos is like [Sebastian] Giovinco. He’s trying to come underneath and find space. I felt like we were prepared because we faced something similar last week. Just mental mistakes by us again.
On what sticks out on the own goal:
Well it starts with the foul, right? Ref calls a foul. It’s not a foul. He takes a bad touch, and he falls down. The ref calls a foul. Whatever. From there it’s really difficult. Someone sends in a nice ball like that and you’re running towards your own net it’s very difficult defend. That’s why you don’t give up set pieces around your own box in the first place. I’ll take responsibility for that. I think me and the referee have to share responsibility on that, because that was a shame. We had control of the second half and we dropped the points like that. It sucks.
On his scoring chance:
Well I had a couple of chances, but on that one I came in late, so that was why I was unmarked. [Jelle] Van Damme had been marking me all game. I kinda came into the picture late so I was free. The ball came my way and I was just trying to glance it towards goal. It was wet and skipped off my forehead a little more than I wanted and I missed by a couple feet. That’s the difference man. If I have opportunities like that, guys on the our team have opportunities like that, we gotta finish them. That one’s on me too.
On what can be done to defend set pieces:
When you’re running towards your own net and the ball is coming in and you’re trying to clear it as you’re running towards your own goal it’s really difficult. That’s why it’s a perfect ball to whip in. All you can do is find your man and try to find the ball. That’s it.
MNUFC Goal Scorer Christian Ramirez
On how it felt things were going in the second half when you guys started to put in some persistent pressure:
We made it a point to wake up a bit more in the second half and put them under a tremendous amount of pressure., I thought we did that very well and I had a couple of opportunities off the line ugh it’s frustrating to me to lose in the way that we did um but that’s why soccer is so cruel sometimes but we just can’t wait to wait once, once we get 30-40 minutes in, um we need to start, start the games off with that way, that mentality whatever we can do to get ourselves going um we just can’t keep happening like that.
On that last set piece or your view of what happened there:
I had inside position on my man and I think (Jelle) Van Damme got a knick to it and as I was planting my foot it just hit my knee and went inside net and that was frustrating on my part today, back to back weeks with own goals.
On what kind of emotional swing going from scoring the goal then having an own goal coming ten minutes later:
It’s the worst thing you could imagine, um I hate being in that position to uh to give that goal up I’ll look at it and put, put that on myself for whatever reason I just think we should have not put ourselves in that situation. To let a set piece decide the game like that. After the way we performed in the second half we just can’t keep, can’t keep telling ourselves that this is good enough um and be that team that everyone says you guys are pretty good afterwards yea so that’s frustrating.
On what were you thinking about after the match on the field:
I put the blame on myself, whether I should or not I leave it all out there every game for however long I’m out there for to come up short especially against my hometown team um to it being an own goal it’s pretty frustrating but I’ll get over it.
On what the Galaxy guys said when they came up to you after the match:
They said it was really tough to play against and um I’m in a good rhythm um I’m in good spots um they just told me to keep going and keep my head up., things happen so hopefully I can stay away from defending some pieces a little bit and get me out of that area.
On what Calvo said you after the match:
He just said this is a unlucky bounce, to not put the blame on myself, to we wouldn’t have been in this position if I wasn’t firing on all cylinders in the second half so he just told me to move on.
MNUFC Defender Francisco Calvo
On how you guys reacted to this one after you guys worked so hard at the equalizer to have to deal with this result at the end:
Of course we are disappointed, because we think as a team now that we were better than them. We have to stop saying that. In Toronto we were better than Toronto, and now we were better than the Galaxy. So we have to do something else. I don’t think anybody—it’s us as a team, because we are a team. So, we made a mistake. It’s the team. It’s nobody. But, I think we need to improve something else. We need to get better, and I’m telling you we will. We need to keep trying and to keep working hard.
On if there is anything that you can point to as a team that could be that thing to fix right away:
Sometimes we give too much respect to some teams or to some players, you know? We have to respect ourselves, because we all are good players—that’s why we’re here. But, I mean, as a team we need to improve defensively and offensively, you know? Some things. And we will.
On what you said to Christian Ramirez after the match:
It’s unlucky. He was trying to clear the ball and the ball hit him, and that happens in football and soccer. He doesn’t need to feel bad about it, because he’s trying to do the best for the team and he has the support from our team, the whole team.
On if there things you guys can do better when defending set pieces:
I mean, everyone here has a man before we go on the field, and I think we have to take some responsibility out there. If the coach tells you you have to get that guy, you have to get that guy. So, that’s what we have to do.
On whether nor not set pieces are something that takes a little while for a group to understand:
I mean, no. We have to train. We have to train these pieces, because you don’t train set pieces then we go on the field and then you don’t know what to do even if you are a professional player. So, it’s an important part of the game.
