Minnesota United remains unbeaten at Allianz Field with another win at home, this time against the Columbus Crew. The Loons scored a lone goal and held off Columbus for a clean sheet and three points. Here's what the team had to say following the win:
MINNESOTA UNITED HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On his thoughts on the game as a whole …
“A lot of balls – certainly in the second half – we couldn’t pick that second pass. Lacked a touch of quality in the final third at times, but overall, I’m really pleased with the guys and I thought it was a well-worthy win.”
On having if these results are the new shape of the team and the team to come …
“Well, I’ll settle for it if it’s three points every week. Obviously, like I said to you a few weeks ago. We started the season – and I think there’s only six teams that have scored more goals than us in the league. That might have changed today. You know, it’s been the last three, four weeks, we haven’t taken the chances we’ve had. Before today, I can think of the last three or four games where we’ve had three or four clear cut opportunities. And tonight, we’ve created two or three good chances as well. So, you know, we’ve got to start taking a bit more of the percentage of them, and if we do, we’re going to be okay. I thought there were some outstanding performances. I thought Romain [Metanire], considering he was in the hospital with his wife all day yesterday – she had the baby – you know, he didn’t train. I thought he was incredible. I thought the two center backs were outstanding. I thought Miggy [Ibarra] did well. A new role for him, against [David] Accam, who is a live-wire. I thought there were a lot of good, pleasing performances.”
On why he wanted to play with Miguel Ibarra at left back tonight …
“Well, obviously if you look at the game last week, people aren’t silly, they’ll keep watching the game and Romain [Metanire] is a problem for teams. And I just felt that we needed the same thing on the left, but more of a threat down the left so they couldn’t keep funneling it down that side and basically think that they’re going to sort it out and just put people on Romain. Now, with Miggy [Ibarra] out there, we have another threat as well. Obviously, you worry about defensively but I thought he was terrific. Really good, smart spots, maybe go to feet, didn’t get done in behind. So, he did excellent.”
On if being a former player, it’s good to see Ethan Finlay score against his old team …
“I’m a huge believer – and I always say to the players – I’m a huge believer in you get out of football and life in general what you put in. And there’s nobody putting more in than him in the last year. It’s a long road. You’ve got an ACL and, in the beginning, everything is fresh and new, but trust me, you’ve been through it when you get to month six and seven and eight, it’s not nice. He’s worked so hard. He’s worked tirelessly to be in the shape he’s in at the minute. He got the goal.”
On his thoughts when the team was up 1-0 …
“Well, one is never enough. You know that. You’re a deflection, a bad decision or whatever away from conceding. But we changed it around a little bit. Went a little conservative, put an extra midfielder player on. Obviously, we took Darwin [Quintero] off and put Abu [Danladi] out wide. So, we just basically tried to protect what we had, but we still had the threat on the break. But we had two or three really good breakaways late on to finish the game off, which would have made it nice for everybody. Me, especially.”
On how he accesses Darwin Quintero’s day …
“I thought it was better. I think he’s getting there slowly. I said on the TV after the game, I thought [Kevin] Molino looked more like his old self today, too. So, we’re starting to get people who make a difference a little bit sharper, a little bit closer to what we know they’re capable of.”
On what it’s going to take for Danladi to convert his runs …
“Relax and settle down. He’s getting a bit anxious. But, he knows what I think of him and he’ll keep getting opportunities. But he’s – you know – the one when he’s trying to dribble the guy, I was never blessed with his speed, but I know what I’d be doing. Knocking the ball by him and running. Not trying to dribble by people. But he’ll be better for that, again. He’s fit and healthy, he looks sharp.”
On the dynamic when both Jan Gregus and Darwin Quintero are behind the ball on free kicks …
“Well, I did say to Darwin [Quintero] at halftime, if you’re going to take free kicks and you’re going to take them off the designated player, then you have to produce. You have to score, or make an opportunity. So, that’s something that we’ll address.”
On being incredibly pumped up after the win, and what caused the extra celebratory actions after the game, and if it has anything to do with the pressure of winning another game at home…
I think it is. I said to the press this week, when I was looking at the league table, you would think we were bottom of the league, not above the line. I don’t know what’s wrong with people. Just calm down, and see where we are in a few weeks’ time. When we’ve evened the season up, when we’ve played seven at home like we’ve done away from home. I’m really pleased for the players. And it’s another game without a defeat at home, so, we can build.”
On if it was the team’s best defensive performance of the season …
“I thought collectively it was really good. I thought the shape of the team was very good. I thought the back four were excellent.”
On what he can say about Brent Kallman’s ball in the box …
“It’s about time. Obviously, it was a good ball in. We’ve got to do better, because we’ve got good size in the box. He didn’t let it go, he didn’t let it die. He made something out of it. And to be fair the Ethan [Finlay], he followed the second phase in. Which is something that we have not been too good at this year.”
On the amount of high respect he has for Caleb Porter, and what the win meant to him …
“Well, it does. And they’re going through one of those little moments after seven and eight, what, they’ve lost. I know Caleb [Porter] and I know his personality. They’ve got a good group and they’ve got good players. So, they’ll be thereabouts [playoffs] at the end of the season.”
On if Columbus’ form changes the need to win tonight …
“Well you would think so on the outside. When you see a team coming in. How many of our people, our supporters have watched their games? We’ve watched probably the last four. We know what they’re capable of. They’ve got good attacking pieces. How many people have got the speed of [David] Accam and Robinho and the guile and creativity of [Federico] Higuain? Gyasi Zardes has come alive this last year. And I have no doubt they’ll start winning games.”
On his confidence during the week that Ike Opara would play in the game, but deciding last minute he wouldn’t …
“He just didn’t feel 100 percent. So, there’s no point in rushing it. And the good thing is, the performance of [Michael] Boxy as well. I thought he was outstanding. I thought the two center backs were terrific.”
On how far along he thinks Kevin Molino is, based on tonight’s performance …
“He’s nearly there. He’s not what we would like, and not what he would like, but I think he’s getting close. Because you can see – even tonight – when he starts to combine with people, he gives us a different dimension.”
On where he thinks the team is on the table in the Western Conference, versus the place the media talks about the team …
“Well, I said, when we – in a few weeks’ time – will have played seven and seven, let’s have a look where we are, then. Chances are we’re going to be above the red line. Will we settle for that a third of the way through the season? Probably. Although, listening to some people, maybe not.”
MINNESOTA UNITED DEFENDER BRENT KALLMAN
On what he saw leading up to his assist…
“So, we had the corner kick, the ball got recycled out to Romain [Métanire] at a really nice angle. I just pulled off to the back post and I know he saw me, we kind of made eye contact as the ball was coming to him so I made a break for it, the ball came in, I had to sell out to kind of get there and I was just trying to put it back where it came from. I can’t honestly say I was trying to pass it; I was trying to probably put it in the back post. I was just trying to contort my body, put it back where it came from and I was able to and Ethan [Finlay] was there and put it away.”
On playing and scoring goals at home…
“I think we’ve been playing with more discipline at home. Obviously, the crowd support helps a lot. I think we have a little bit better gas tank and a little bit more energy at home as well. I think we’re doing a good job as a team of everybody getting behind the ball. We’re getting 11 players behind the ball, making it tough for teams to break us down and it showed. I think they ended with 4 or 5 shots so that’s great. We’re going to have a chance to win every single game if we hold our opponents to 4 or 5 shots.”
On shutting down a forward like [Gyasi] Zardes…
“You’ve got to stay switched on at all times because he’s just pulling off back shoulders constantly and they have good guys to get in pockets in the front. Just try not to fall asleep because all it takes is one. He’s pulling off your back shoulder, they get the timing right and then they score. Just trying to have good positions, talk and pass them on to each other as he moves.”
On Ethan’s goal…
”I don’t know. I’m sure he’s really happy man. I couldn’t have written it any better. Former team, coming off an ACL, first goal. He works crazy hard too, so he got the reward for it, yeah really happy for him.”
MINNESOTA UNITED MIDFIELDER MIGUEL IBARRA
On the performance of the entire backline, as well as himself…
“I definitely think that we put in the work. We picked up a clean sheet, which is exactly what we wanted to do. We had the opportunity to get three points. The goal came, I think we were really compact in the back, making sure nothing got behind us.”
On if they had a game plan [David] Accam…
“Oh definitely. I knew that he was going to be a fast guy that was running behind, so they told me that I just make sure to give him a little bit of space and he’s just going to want to push the ball forward. First half, I had Robinho, which was a little bit different, he was good with his feet. But the second half I had Accam, and it definitely was a challenge for me, but I think I did well with it.”
On how he celebrated Ethan [Finlay]’s goal…
“Oh, I was exhausted so I was just back there and I said ‘Thank God’ for it because I think we put in the work to get that goal.”
On if there was more leadership on the field with Finlay on the field…
“Oh definitely. You can tell right away that even with the injuries that happened, he deserved that. He put in the work the whole last year to get back where he’s at now. And now, scoring against the Crew just shows how much work he’s put in.”
On if him playing at left back helped stretch the field more…
“Yeah definitely. I think it gives us more of an option. We can either go right or we can go to the left side. I knew they were going to try to expose me because they probably saw that I hadn’t played left back, but I knew deep inside that I could play that position, so I was ready for it.”
On what came to mind when coach asked him to start in a position he’s never played before…
“I actually played it in Mexico, so I played it for a year and a half there. I was actually familiar with it, so it was nothing new to me.”
On if him playing defense had any contribution to there being no shots on goal tonight…
“Honestly, yes. But I think it’s the whole team that really contributed. That’s actually really good for us. We made sure that last game, we put it away. It was one of our worst performances. We wanted to come back out of that game and make sure we put up a performance here at home.”
On if they felt like tonight needed to be three points with how the Crew have been struggling lately…
“Definitely. We knew they were struggling, we knew they were conceding goals, so it was a good opportunity for us to make sure we get three points. We knew Dallas lost as well, so we wanted to get three points to keep going up.”
On what he thought of playing on the same side of Kevin Molino…
“I think that’s kind of what the purpose was. He’s kind of a guy that gets the ball and likes to cut in, so it gives me the full outside to run in behind. I think me and him understand each other well, we’ve talked the whole week about it, and actually in the game we talked about it so we knew exactly what we were going to do.”
On what it will take for Darwin Quintero to get back on the scoring sheet…
“You can tell he’s hungry for that goal. He had two that were disallowed from being offside, but you can tell once he gets the first one I think the goals are going to come for him. He showed a little bit of spark today, and he helped us a lot. It’ll come."
MINNESOTA UNITED MIDFIELDER ETHAN FINLAY
On his goal in tonight’s match…
“Yeah it feels good. Obviously, that was the approach and that has to be the mindset from the first whistle but yeah, it was special obviously individually for me. It’s another great team win. It’s another shutout here at home. Obviously after everything that I’ve been through over the last 12 months it was a big relief for me, and I think another check mark for me in this comeback that I’ve been able to make. So yeah, pretty happy.”
On scoring the winning goal…
“Yeah, because we win the game. But first and foremost, getting the win. If I score in a game like this and we lose or we draw, it feels very different, it really does. To be able to score and be able to take the three points away as a team is what is most important and what means honestly the most so for it to kind of be a storybook ending for the night, I’m pretty fortunate.”
On if Minnesota is starting to feel the same as his connection with Columbus…
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you could feel it tonight. I think there’s been plenty of stories in the last 48 hours about my former team obviously coming in here and I think people probably read some of those and were in a way cheering and hoping that I do well tonight. My wife and my family were definitely supporting me really hard. So yeah, I think 19,000 people recognized that tonight. Ozzie [Osvaldo Alonso] asked if I’d speak before the game to the guys and I said there’s been a lot of stories about my old team and what not, but this is about us, this group and we’re a family and that was the whole thing. My whole message was that we are a family. We had two new members of our family join us in the last 48 hours and we have to fight together like a family and give everything we got. We were able to do that, and I think that message resonated with all the guys and I think we saw a Herculean effort from multiple guys. I mean, Romain [Métanire] at some point ran past me and honestly in that second, I was thinking ‘This is a guy who had a baby 24 hours ago and probably got limited rest and he’s running past me’. So just a real special night for everybody.”
On him speaking in the huddle…
”Yeah, just Ozzie asked me to speak before in the huddle on the field there. Usually somebody says something, and he asked me tonight to just kind of speak to the guys and say a couple words and that was my message.”
On pressure to get a result tonight given Columbus’s recent form…
“No, I think our form here has been really good. Maybe the result hasn’t quite reflected that in wins but we’ve played really well. Obviously, the shut-out minutes have been really important here. The pressure becomes a little bit on the offense, you know, the stories this week. I read them and I know plenty of us heard about them. We take ownership of being able to score goals and win games. It’s something that maybe in a way we’ve taken for granted at other parts in the season, maybe last year and early this year because we were score so many goals and getting in to track meets but now that I think the defense has already shorted up in the back we take responsibly of being able to score goals and created plenty of chances tonight. I want to say we ended up with like 16 shots, plenty of corners so that’s the kind of performance and I think we could’ve had plenty more goals tonight.”
On if he’s had to adjust his game at all since returning from injury…
“I think I’ve had to be patient. I’ve had to be patient with myself, with the players around me. I think there were some moments tonight where I was still just getting used to my movements. I think we’re starting to come together. I thought the left side tonight, I thought Kevin [Molino] did a great job, in hold up play, Angelo just continues to be dominant. Those are two really strong center backs, I’ve played against them for years, and I thought he held his own and more tonight. For me, I felt like there were plenty of top performances.”
On if he knew he would have the ball get headed to him on his goal…
“You know, you always have to gamble, that’s just what goal scorers do if you find yourself in front of the net. Adrian preaches that these are where the goals are scored, in that little 6-yard box. I’m not the only one there. I think because of the angle of the ball, Kevin’s there, so I love that we had multiple guys recognizing that moment. What a play by Brent [Kallman]. I don’t know if anybody saw it, but he actually celebrated afterwards himself. It was a great assist, it was a great ball in, Brent reads it. We say head it back across the goal, and he did it perfectly.”
On if that goal and assist showed the beginning of a Creighton connection between him and Kallman…
“Yeah, I don’t know. It was a nice Creighton connection, I think that might be our first connection since I’ve been with the team. Hopefully it’ll be the first of many, Who knows, we’ll see.”
On what went through his head playing against his old team…
“This is gonna be fun. This is gonna be fun. I was able to play against one of my best friends tonight in Hector Jimenez, and I just wanted to eat his lunch. There was plenty of trash talk between the two of us, but at the end of the day once we got going, you gotta perform. You start to settle down, you start to focus on what you have to do, and that’s how I was able to make a really strong impact on that right side tonight. That was my goal, not to get too caught up in the faces and the colors that I was playing against. I just wanted to really settle in and play my game, and I think after about ten or fifteen minutes I was able to do that.”
On Miguel Ibarra playing left back…
“It continues to show his versatility. Miguel is one of the more versatile guys we have on our team, and that’s a really, really great tool to have as we get into the long stretch of getting into the summer season. It was great that he came in for Eric [Miller], and I thought that he performed really well. Like I said, I thought the left side came in, gives us a totally different look on that side, but his ability to come inside and connect gives Miguel the opportunity to go up and down that left side. I thought we created plenty around that side, which makes him work.”
On how he would describe the process he’s gone through to get back to where he is now…
“That’s all I know. There’s two things that I can control every day, this is even before I got injured, but that’s my attitude and my work ethic. That’ll be a motto that I live by for the rest of my life. It’s no different going through the injury, during this comeback. You always have to put the work in, and I’m glad that it’s been able to work out for me, but there’s plenty of work to do still. This is hopefully the first of many for me. It feels good obviously to get the first one, and like I said earlier this week, once you get the first one they come in droves."
MINNESOTA UNITED DEFENDER MICHAEL BOXALL
On defending a forward like [Gyasi] Zardes…
“Those are usually the tricky ones because when you’re paying attention to the ball, he obviously makes good runs off of it so it’s just a lot of communication and always keeping your head on a swivel just to always see where he is. In the 18-yeard box he’s dangerous.”
On celebrating with Ethan [Finlay]…
“I first ran to Brent [Kallman] because I don’t know how he got his head on that at the first cross and hit it back across, so I first ran to him. But then yeah, I think any time you score against your old team, especially when they trade you it’s a pretty special feeling. Obviously one that I don’t think I’ll get to experience but I’m so happy for him and yeah so happy for the crowd tonight that’s something special to play in front of.”
On he and Brent’s plan to shut down Zardes…
“I mean we watched a little bit of video on him and he’s obviously great at threading balls in behind the knees and he’s always active, making great runs. I think we always communicated where he was and Brent was shouting nonstop and it made it so much easier just to always know where he was. I thought the whole back line and Ozzie [Osvaldo Alonso] and Jan [Gregus] did a great job.”
On establishing routine clean sheets at home…
”Home or away I think it is, I think we need to get a bit more clicking in the final third. We lost a couple of set pieces and with the out goal of set pieces I think we have to be tighter in the back and we have been that at home the last few weeks.”
On Miguel [Ibarra] playing left-back…
“I think he was great. I think he won’t be too happy because if he does such a great job at left-back he might find himself stuck there.”
On if that change stretched the field the way they had hoped it would…
“I think at home we can play a little bit more expansive than we do on the road. I thought everyone was on it tonight and when you get moved all around the pitch like we did tonight it just makes everything open up and there are gaps in the middle for Darwin [Quintero] or out wide for Miggy [Miguel Ibarra].”
On if there was any redemption after Toronto…
“Yeah just like I said before, I didn’t want to poop the bed tonight after my last outing so yeah delighted for Vito [Mannone] and the boys that we could get a clean sheet.”
On settling into the game and shaking the nerves…
“Not really, I think once you step out there you kind of turn this switch on that you have a job to do. In the Toronto game, I probably didn’t do that well enough. But yeah, playing alongside with all those guys around you it just makes it easier. The crowd was so good for us and it just makes you stay focused for 90 minutes.”
On the last few minutes on the outside looking in…
“I mean, you want to be playing every game. I think the next three games they didn’t see the goal. I’m delighted for the boys to get three clean sheets after all the work they’ve put in for the year.”
