Minnesota United last played a game at TCF Bank Stadium on the final day of March. It was 23 degrees at kickoff, and the final whistle marked the second of United’s four straight losses.
Saturday was a much nicer evening both on the pitch and in the forecast as United marked their third win of the season in a comeback 2-1 win over Houston Dynamo.
Houston got on the scoreboard just 10 minutes into the game and the fear of yet another game of defensive miscues dooming Minnesota before they ever got started was widespread, as Alberth Elis’ opener looked far too easy.
Minnesota struggled for fluency with the ball, but avoided allowing an immediate second goal as it did in both of its previous two games in the Pacific Northwest.
“We talked about it before the game, if we concede one goal, let’s not put our heads down. It’s just one goal, and everybody can come back from a goal,” midfielder Miguel Ibarra said after the game.
Houston had much of the play and threatening possession both before and after the goal, and the loss of Christian Ramirez in the 30th minute to a hamstring injury further reduced United’s options going forward.
Whatever Minnesota was going to get would likely have to come from Darwin Quintero, and a perfect ball from Ibarra set Quintero up to force a Houston mistake.
The handball in the box by Dynamo defender Alejandro Fuenmayor was clear on replay, and Darwin’s penalty kick was a beauty.
The teams went to halftime even, and while Minnesota continued to be hampered by its injured stars, the attack still had its most important player and an immaculate game by Ibarra to help him through.
United’s defense continued to be the question as the second half began, and while the mistakes were there from every member of the Minnesota backline, none were punished with a goal, thanks to multiple outstanding efforts by Bobby Shuttleworth, who started his second straight game.
Shuttleworth’s save in the 67th minute proved to be one of the pivotal moments in the match, as United took the lead on nearly their next attack through an Ibarra cross and a ridiculous touch from Ibson for his second goal of the season.
Ibson had his flaws in this game, as he so often does, but he was in the right place at the right time and made the perfect touch to give United the most crucial stat of any soccer game, a goal.
Dynamo manager Wilmer Cabrera bemoaned his team’s inability to finish their chances after the game. “We created too many options, too many possibilities, and we have to finish the games,” Cabrera said.
The closing minutes of the game featured a few more defensive miscues from Minnesota players and season debuts for both Collin Martin and new signing Alexi Gomez, who nearly created a goal in his first touches of the ball in MLS.
Houston could not create the key opportunities, and thanks to Shuttleworth’s heroics and opportunistic goals from Quintero and Ibson, United had their third win of the season and second from three games at home.
Cabrera was not impressed with the result. “It’s disappointing because we were the better team on the field, that’s for sure, no doubt. You can feel the respect, you can feel that we were going after them, we were creating options, but in soccer, in this sport football, you score goals. It’s how you make the difference.”
After Minnesota had arguably been the better team in two of the games in its losing streak, winning a game in which it had not been the better team might have been just the bit of luck it needed.
“Sometimes you get your rewards at different times, and obviously I thought we got a little bit of a reward for our some of our play in the last few weeks,” Minnesota coach Adrian Heath said after the game.
“Today wasn’t as pretty as I would have liked, especially with the start they got. I thought it showed great character, teamwork and belief from the guys to get themselves out of the hole,” Heath said. “Obviously pleased with it, but we have to keep building.”
Ibarra gave some credit to the home environment as well. “At home, we’re hard to beat, so we knew that if we put a performance in, we were going to be able to get three points.”
The home environment is key for Minnesota moving forward now that the losing streak is broken. This was the first of five straight weekends with games at TCF Bank Stadium, a streak broken only by a midweek trip to Los Angeles FC on May 9.
If Minnesota can survive the continued injury blows to their squad and continue to get points at home, they have a chance to climb up the Western Conference standings in May.
As Heath said, Saturday’s result was a little platform to build from.
