In the words of Minnesota United’s Twitter account, well now.
After tallying three blowout losses and one entirely unexpected draw in the club’s first four weeks in MLS, United returned home with a lot to prove against one of the league’s worst opponents in Real Salt Lake. Despite lingering questions about the Loons defense, the team pulled off a solid 90 minutes of soccer and a heartening 4-2 victory over RSL.
As the squad looks ahead to the weekend and a two-game road trip to Texas to face FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo, there are certainly questions left begging for answers. While the win at home was a welcome one for coaches, players and fans alike, it only showed what the team could do against a very, very weak opponent.
FC Dallas currently sits atop the MLSsoccer.com power rankings, a pole position they earned with a 2-0-1 record. Many teams have already played four or five matches, so the sample size is admittedly a bit small. That said, Dallas finished atop the Western Conference last season. Expect a fierce and experienced squad on Saturday night’s away match.
“It’s a big week for Dallas,” said head coach Adrian Heath following practice on Tuesday afternoon. “I think like everybody in America who’s working here, we wish them well tonight against Pachuca. And hopefully it will go to extra time and it will be a long, long evening and then they’ll have a long trip back on an airplane because we’ve got a really tough game against them at the weekend.”
There are obviously many questions a coach has to answer for himself, his staff and his players before they’re able to trot out and compete each week. These are three at the top of my mind as we inch closer to this weekend in MLS.
Defense is clearly key
Here’s the good news: United has two exciting additions to its defensive efforts in defender Marc Burch and midfielder Sam Cronin, both fresh off the plane from Colorado where they played integral parts in a stout defensive machine. Look for these two to challenge for starting spots immediately as Coach Heath looks to find anyone able to help staunch the bleeding and slow down early concessions to give his high-octane offense a chance to build momentum and a first half lead.
Additionally, it has been encouraging to see Brent Kallman and Justin Davis earn minutes on the starting XI, particularly after being largely glossed over during the offseason as the conversation shifted to finding “established starters” to “build the team around.” That didn’t really work out, as evidenced by Vadim Demidov – an expensive signing and originally the team captain – riding the bench as others stepped up to cover defensive duties in his place.
On the flip side, defender and Week 5 captain Francisco Calvo continues to raise question marks with his on-again-off-again performances. While he is adept at seeing counter attacks unfold and has generally good positioning, he has made at least one head-scratching error in each of his past two appearances for the Loons.
I’m a fan of almost any Costa Rican soccer product, so I have a bit of a blind spot for Calvo and default to a ‘he’s doing fine’ mentality if I’m not careful. On last week’s podcast, Andy Lorei rightfully called Calvo for a boneheaded header (pun intended) gone wrong that would have cost the team a precious goal had keeper Bobby Shuttleworth not eaten his Wheaties that morning and reacted like some kind of cheetah-goalkeeper hybrid.
Much ado about Ibson
Coach Heath is like many coaches in that he puts a lot of faith in his individual players to rise to the occasion, learn from their mistakes and take responsibility to avoid repeat mistakes. He is on the record expressing trust in players that perform well, going so far as to say that a player’s position is theirs to lose once they are given it, a bold statement from a head coach whose defense just set a record for most goals conceded.
This coaching philosophy cuts both ways. On one hand, you avoid the day-in-day-out drama of wondering who is going to start – particularly as you add new recruits in Burch and Cronin – and instead stay focused on putting together a winning formation with strong instructions to individual players that have already earned a spot. On the other hand, too much trust is a recipe for a slow and painful death. Just ask Jermaine Taylor what it feels like to play out of position when you’re in over your head. It’s not fun for anyone, especially the guys on the pitch.
That said, I think Ibson is a guy that has earned his chance to start again. Sure, he has had moments that just make you facepalm, like this little gem captured by FiftyFive.One’s Jeff Reuter.
But cringe-worthy mistakes aside, he’s shown an adept hand with possessing the ball and acting as a catalyst to drive play from the back line to the wingers or forwards up top. That’s a critical piece and one that United will need as they look to keep a coherent shape against a fearsome Dallas offense. Will it be as ruthless of a front six as we saw in week one against Portland? Probably not. But Dallas has the bite to back up their sizeable bark. A link between whatever back four United fields and their promising attacking corps is a winning strategy.
Ibson proved last week he can handle a full 90 minutes on the field. Let him have at it again and make a decision based on that performance.
Who is #1 in goal?
Bobby Shuttleworth has had quite the season. Just five games in and already he has subbed in when his starting keeper took a nasty cleat to the leg, suffered lacerations and needed stitches, then watched his third-string keeper suffer a concussion in training that would sideline him for weeks and force the club to pick up an emergency keeper in Bill Heavner from the league pool (no, not that kind of pool).
Shuttleworth has done an admirable job in a sitaution with many factors tilted against him. The defense has been a seive and always seems to feature a new face or two come game time. Center back duties have been a nightmare to nail down, Kallman excepted. And despite the encouraging win last Saturday, Minnesota still looks ready to give up a goal each and every time the opposing team gets a half-decent counter attack going.
Shuttleworth still carries some baggage from early blowout losses, parts of which are obviously not his fault. Last weekend’s 4-2 win could have easily been a slim 4-3 win or a 4-4 draw had he not had intuition and a small slice of good fortune on his side.
Heath said before last week’s game that Alvbage was still his number one guy, but it’s pretty obvious that has since changed. He wasted no time clearing the air after the win when he said that the starting role was Shuttleworth’s to lose. Alvbage suited up last weekend but ended up on the bench as his replacement took the pitch again. Such is life in professional sports.
Those are my top three questions heading into the match this weekend. What are yours? Sounds off in the comments below!
