Minnesota United’s final game of a busy month of May was an opportunity to cement themselves as an early-season playoff contender.
After last Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Sporting Kansas City, Adrian Heath said, “This time next week, after we play Montreal [Impact FC] and look at the league table, that will probably give us an idea, a fair reflection of where we are.”
Montreal had the best of the first half, but moments of solid defending from Minnesota and moments of lackluster skill from Montreal led to a scoreless opening. When United’s attack woke up in the early second half, the goals and chances came quickly, and the 2-0 final score was a comfortable three points.
The first half-hour of the game was another uncomfortable opening for Minnesota. The Impact had better sequences of possession through their talisman, Ignacio Piatti, and Minnesota again struggled to string two passes together.
Montreal continued to struggle to find a killer final ball, and while Piatti hit the crossbar with a lovely shot just before the half-hour mark, Minnesota’s defense continued to weather the storm well, with standout moments from both Francisco Calvo and Michael Boxall.
The hot weather-mandated water break at the half-hour mark came at the right time for the Loons. “The first 25 minutes were about as bad as we’ve played all season,” Heath said.
“Lackluster, lack of energy, lack of desire, whatever adjective you care to use, I thought we were probably that in the first 25-30 minutes.”
Heath went on about his water break comments: “I’m not sure it was words of wisdom. There were a few words you probably wouldn’t wish to repeat.”
Striker Christian Ramirez had a similar opinion. “I think we were killing ourselves whenever we won it in a good spot, we rushed that first pass.”
Five minutes before halftime, Montreal got a couple of warnings of what would come in the second half. First, Darwin Quintero, who had struggled with turnovers in the early part of the game, created a breakaway and shot just wide of the post.
Just a minute later, Alexi Gomez, whose passing had been remarkably lackluster in the opening sequence, smashed a volley off the crossbar off a pass from Miguel Ibarra. Just like that, United had the two best chances of the first half and the 0-0 score of halftime looked very friendly.
It only took seven minutes of the second half for the deadlock to be broken, and Ramirez and Ibarra’s long-time connection came in handy yet again.
“You can look back, I think this is our third or fourth that’s happened just like that,” Ramirez said of the goal. “Similar plays where he picks off a pass and I’m already in behind their center backs and he just fires it in to me as hard as he can.”
Six minutes later, the lead was doubled, and Minnesota’s most dominant period of the game was rewarded with two quality goals. It was Ibarra’s turn to finish the job in a very Ibarra way, beating a defender to a loose ball and curving a beautiful shot into the corner of the goal.
“Once I saw that it hit the defender and came back, I reversed my run and all I had in mind was get it in front of me and strike it,” Ibarra said.
“We got them out of their comfort zone and put them on the back foot,” Heath said of the second half improvement. “We looked like we could play, we started to get some combination play, we started to get them on the back foot, we got the crowd back involved in the game, but it’s not good for my health.”
Just as the back four get another shutout under their belts and get the return of Tyrone Mears from injury after a long absence, Calvo leaves for the World Cup, but he leaves after a standout performance.
“I thought the back four was probably the best they’ve been, because they had to be for the first 30 minutes,” Heath said. “There was not a lot of protection in front of them. There were bodies, but to say they were passive would probably be an understatement.”
This was a game Minnesota was supposed to win. Montreal came into this game second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, with the worst defense in MLS. However, Minnesota was also supposed to beat San Jose, still near the bottom of the West, but failed to do so twice.
The result moves them to 16 points, which puts them in a three-way tie for seventh in the West, and just one point behind fifth and two behind fourth. If this was the season’s first benchmark in the standings, the Loons are right where they want to be — in contention for a playoff place.
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