On a cool mid-May evening, Minnesota United squared off against the visiting LA Galaxy at TCF Bank Stadium. Despite winning the possession battle 65.5% to 34.5% and showing good quality with their passing, crosses and opportunities in the box, MNUFC was ultimately undone by a late own goal, giving LA a 2-1 victory.
MNUFC established an advantage in possession early on that would persist throughout the game. They would probe LA’s defense, pull back, rotate the ball through the defenders and deeper midfield, then try again. In the 16th minute, it produced a terrific opportunity as a long outlet from Ibson found Jerome Thiesson down the right. Thiesson volleyed a cross in, but Christian Ramirez was a step slow and couldn’t push his way through the defense to get close to the ball.
Minnesota United continued to move the ball up the left side before switching fields and looking for penetration into the box from the right side. In the 24th minute, a string of opportunities by Miguel Ibarra and then Ramirez led to a Galaxy deflection and a corner kick for the Loons. Overall, MNUFC had 22 shots and 12 corner kicks — more than doubling up LA in that stat.
But after that early pressure in possession, Minnesota seemed to let up a bit and Galaxy responded with a series of long shots from Joao Pedro and Romain Alessandrini in the 26th and 28th minute, respectively, that forced Bobby Shuttleworth to get a hand on the ball. Their counterattacking play finally paid off in the 38th minute when Alessandrini moved the ball into position on the right wing and began to look for attackers in the box. The late-arriving Giovani Dos Santos slowed up at the edge of the box and then suddenly gunned forward in time to volley Alessandrini’s cross past Shuttleworth for a 1-0 Galaxy lead.
“I thought we started the game really brightly in the first 15, 20 minutes,” said Head Coach Adrian Heath. “I thought then we let them take the initiative away from us a little bit. Let it become too comfortable again for them. 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.”
Going into the half, MNUFC was winning the possession battle 61% to 39%, but all in all, the teams played each other evenly for much of the opening stanza. LA’s lead mostly came down to a good bit of play at the right time, and Minnesota looked to come out of the gate with renewed purpose to begin the second half.
“We had a few words at halftime and got about it the second half,” said Heath. “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.”
The pressure was immediate, with Ramirez getting an early open look in the 52nd minute. Ibson nutmegged a Galaxy defender to get the ball ahead to Miguel Ibarra. Ibarra scooped the ball around a diving Brian Rowe and got it to Ramirez. It was only a diving Ashley Cole that stopped the ball from going in and equalizing. Moments later, Ramirez was foiled again when his header off a cross by Kevin Molino from the left side was narrowly knocked into the post and away by Rowe.
But Ramirez was not to be denied in the 66th minute. A long free kick by Ibson from the right side of the pitch was cleared by Pedro, but not far enough because Sam Cronin headed it back into the penalty area to Ramirez, who was lurking just onside before darting in. He cracked a volley into the back of the net and leveled the score at 1-1.
Despite consistent pressure and a bevy of chances, Minnesota was unable to break through into the lead following Ramirez’s goal. LA hung around long enough to earn a free kick on the left side of the pitch in the 84th minute and Alessandrini — consistently dangerous on set pieces — curled a high ball into the box that found Ramirez’s leg and then the net. The own goal was Ramirez’s second in as many weeks and the dying minutes of the game brought more chances but no goals, giving Galaxy a 2-1 win on the road.
“It’s the worst thing you could imagine,” said Ramirez of the own goal. “I hate being in that position to give that goal up. I’ll look at it and put that on myself. 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 telling ourselves that this is good enough and be that team that everyone says you guys are pretty good afterwards.”
Next week, MNUFC hosts Adrian Heath and Kevin Molino’s former club, Orlando City SC, at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday, May 27. MNUFC is kicking off LGBT Pride Month a little early with a special Pride Night for the match. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and you can catch the action on My29 and MNUFC Radio on 1500 ESPN with pre-match coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. For tickets, go to MNUFC.COM or call 763.4SOCCER.
Lineups
Minnesota United FC Starting XI: GK Bobby Shuttleworth; D Jerome Thiesson, Brent Kallman, Francisco Calvo, Mark Burch; M Sam Cronin, Ibson, Kevin Molino, Abu Danladi (Johan Venegas 41’), Miguel Ibarra (Ismaila Jome 78’); F Christian Ramirez
MIN Unused Subs: GK John Alvbage; D Jermaine Taylor, Justin Davis; M Collin Martin, Collen Warner
LA Galaxy Starting XI: GK Brian Rowe; D Dave Romney, Daniel Steres, Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole; M Romain Alessandrini, Joao Pedro (Jaime Villarreal 87’), Baggio Husidic (Rafael Garcia 8’), Emmanuel Boateng (Raul Mendiola 76’); F Giovani Dos Santos, Gyasi Zardes
LA Unused Subs: GK Jon Kempin; D Nathan Smith; F Jack McInerney, Jack McBean
Match Events
Goals
38’ – Dos Santos (Alessandrini) – LA
66’ – Ramirez (Cronin) – MIN
84’ – Ramirez (Own Goal) – LA
Discipline
45+’ – Van Damme (YC) – LA
73’ – Steres (YC) – LA
74’ – Ibarra (YC) – MIN
79’ – Alessandrini (YC) – LA
90+’ – Dos Santos (YC) – LA
Attendance: 19,107
