As followers of the team through their tenure in MLS will know, defensive consistency has not been a hallmark of Minnesota United.
In their first two seasons, the club had two of the three worst defensive records in MLS history, and recent games against Toronto and New York City caused the rumblings of another year of more than 70 goals conceded.
Instead, Minnesota got a scoreless draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday, and Sunday’s game against D.C. United provided a scenario that Minnesota’s MLS tenure has never seen before: a second consecutive clean sheet, and this one with all three points as the Loons achieved their first win at Allianz Field, 1-0.
All eyes before kickoff were on the announcement of Adrian Heath’s starting lineup. With both Francisco Calvo and Jan Greguš freshly available after their red card suspensions from the catastrophic Toronto affair, would both return to the starting XI after the marked improvement in defense in their absence?
Heath gave the respect that Wednesday’s performance deserved, and while Greguš made his return in a 4-3-3 formation between Ozzie Alonso and Rasmus Schüller, Calvo was not even listed on the bench. The captain had been dropped, and Alonso would wear the captain’s armband for a second consecutive game.
Heath spoke after the game about the decision to leave Calvo out of the team. “I just felt obviously his disappointment at not playing, and I just didn’t want any negativity about the group today,” he said. “He’s obviously disappointed, and I thought it would be better if we left him out altogether today.”
Both Eric Miller and Brent Kallman appear to have won their starting jobs, at least for the moment, and as Sunday’s game began, the realigned back four had to deal with a second legendary striker in two games, with Wayne Rooney to manage as D.C. looked to find a gap in the suddenly stalwart defense.
As the game began to play out, it seemed clear that something didn’t line up quite right about Minnesota’s attacking formation. Abu Danladi, Ángelo Rodriguez and Darwin Quintero were above the midfield three as expected, but any attacking opportunity for the Loons seemed toothless and indirect without a wide attacker, of which there were four on the bench in Miguel Ibarra, Romario Ibarra, Ethan Finlay and Kevin Molino.
For D.C.’s part, they seemed largely content to sniff around for opportunities and take advantage of foolish Minnesotan fouls around the box from which Rooney could aim a free kick, with Romain Métanire and Greguš both guilty of in the game’s early period. It was from a setpiece that D.C. appeared to take the lead.
A Rooney corner bounced out to Lucas Rodríguez at the top of the box, and his volleyed shot forced an excellent diving save from Vito Mannone. Rooney sent another cross in, and Donovan Pines’ looping header hit the back of the net. Minnesota immediately appealed that Mannone had been fouled as the goal was scored, and VAR was duly invoked.
The replay revealed that Frédéric Brillant had pulled down on Mannone’s shoulder as Pines’ header was hit, preventing Mannone from making a full jump and defining the foul that would reset the score to even.
“I couldn’t jump basically,” Mannone said after the game. “I jumped, and one guy completely focused on me and the other one was free to make the header, so it’s not even, I don’t think it’s the guy who made the header, but it’s somebody else who was going to stop me.”
Minnesota gave up a couple more free kick opportunities, but Rooney failed to get any of them past the wall as the defense neutralized the twin threats of Rooney and Luciano Acosta. The Loons’ main problem was that their offense did not look like a goal was coming, particularly after an injury to Darwin Quintero late in the half.
Quintero was hit in the opposing penalty box and went down hard, but there was no foul called. After a couple of minutes and some attention from the trainer, he returned to the game but was clearly not moving at full efficiency, and the television broadcast reported that he received a cortisone injection at halftime to manage the pain.
As the half hit with solid defense and anemic offense, it seemed that Heath would be forced to make a change earlier than his usual habits simply to get his offense clicking, but the change was forced more by Quintero’s injury. Miguel Ibarra came on after just five minutes of second half play in his place, and the game was changed.
After a first half in which Minnesota failed to register a single shot on goal, Ibarra’s first contribution was to take a shot that failed to trouble Bill Hamid’s goal much, but the energy he provided seemed to awaken the players in white on the field, as the Loons began to grow more and more dominant.
Ibarra’s second effort was much better, forcing a fingertip save from Hamid as the pressure on D.C. ratcheted higher and higher. The Loons failed to replicate their threatening setpiece delivery of Wednesday’s game, but the crosses rained into the box and Rodríguez continued to provide threat, although he was largely neutralized by an excellent performance by Pines.
As the clock ticked towards 80 minutes, it seemed that a second scoreless draw might be in order. Rooney had been invisible for the second half, and Minnesota’s dominance on the defensive end had been nearly complete. It just needed a breakthrough, and one of those crosses had to hit the spot.
In the end, the game-winning cross may not have even needed redirection. A Métanire cross skimmed across the run of Rodríguez, who had sprinted in front of Hamid, and ended up perfectly placed in the back of the net. Did Rodríguez actually touch it? Possibly, but the goal would have been impossible without his presence.
The Wonderwall erupted with joy. Finally, in the 82nd minute, it appeared that they would get the chance to perform the song that is their namesake. Rodríguez was given credit for the goal, and as the clock ticked down, the atmosphere turned more and more into the celebration that the first game in this stadium had been.
As stoppage time arrived, it was Minnesota still creating chances and threatening. Ethan Finlay, on as a sub for Rodríguez, had a breakaway chance at a goal. Ibarra and Schüller both had chances to complete the victory. And D.C. were forced to watch as Finlay took the ball to the corner while the final seconds elapsed. The sounds of victory, elation, and Oasis filled Allianz Field. The first win was complete.
“Fantastic,” Mannone said of the singing. “We waited for a long, long, long time. We worked hard during the week for it. Our mentality has to be the same every time we step out here because we need to grind wins as we did today.”
“Being short rest, I think the effort was there,” Opara said of the defensive performance. “It was always going to be a little leggy with the quick turnaround and the guys really concentrated through that 90 minutes to really not concede anything, or give them any really good opportunities.
“That starts with everyone on the field. The dedication to that side of the ball has been great for us the last two games, and like I said this past Wednesday, it’s gotta be continued, it’s gotta be the standard, and we need to expect that each and every game.”
Heath’s satisfaction with the win was obvious. “I thought we deserved it with our second half performance,” he said. “I thought we were outstanding in the second half. We spoke about it at halftime, can we get further up the pitch, can we start being a little more positive, can we get people closer to people, can we get them out of their comfort zone? And we did, and we got our rewards for it.”
He was also quick to praise Ibarra’s influence on that. “I thought Miggy was great when he came on. I thought he gave us energy and he gave us some enthusiasm. Obviously, it’s never easy leaving somebody like him out, but he actually gave us something different than we’d had on the field beforehand.”
“He just told me to make sure I go out there, he has all the confidence in me so make sure I go out there in confidence and go out there with energy, because that’s what the team needed,” Ibarra said of Heath’s advice before he came on. “I made sure I went out there and put in a shift so I can help the team.
“The players and coaches told me once I went in, I changed the game. That was my goal, to make sure I was able to go in and put in what Darwin was doing and even better, so I’m glad I was able to do that.”
With yet another vaunted opponent coming to town in the form of Seattle for their next game, Heath’s selection will be interesting. This defense has earned his trust, but now the offense is in question. For Sunday, the Loons did their job, and the revelry of Wonderwall arrived in Midway at last.
