MNUFC Lose 1(5)-1(4) in Penalty Kicks to FC Dallas During Round One of 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs
October 18, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Minnesota United FC News Release
FRISCO, Texas — Minnesota United on Monday night battled FC Dallas for 120 minutes during the Round One matchup of the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs, but fell just short in a penalty-kick shootout after regulation ended in a 1-1 draw. Midfielder Wil Trapp’s penalty kick attempt was the lone save for Dallas and the Texas team advanced 5-4 in the shootout over the Loons.
It was a high-energy contest between the two sides who split the regular-season series this year. That theme of being even-keeled remained throughout the majority of the match. Through the first 45 minutes, the match held even at 0-0 apiece, with both squads falling just short on scoring opportunities. Less than 10 minutes after the start of the second half, forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane held the ball long enough at the top of Dallas’ box to pass to an open midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, who scored the opening goal in the 53rd minute. Reynoso’s tally to give Minnesota the 1-0 lead was his second MLS Cup Playoffs goal of his career. The assist was Hlongwane’s first in MLS postseason action. But the Texas side took advantage of a corner kick attempt in the 64th minute, scoring the equalizer off a Facudo Quignon header. The second half ended at 1-1, sending the Round One fixture into extra time.
In extra time, the first 15 minutes ended without a goal from either side. Dallas nearly scored in the 110th minute when Jesus Ferreira muffed his shot inside the Minnesota box and Sebastian Lletget’s back-heel attempt was saved on the goal line by Dayne St. Clair with inches to spare. Extra time ended with the match still even, leading to a penalty-kick shootout. FC Dallas converted all five of their penalty kick attempts and saved Wil Trapp’s attempt to advance 5-4 on penalty kicks. Notably, through both regulation and extra time, St. Clair made a career-tying eight saves during Monday night’s contest.
LINEUPS:
Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D DJ Taylor Brent Kallman, Michael Boxall, Kemar Lawrence; M Franco Fragapane, Emanuel Reynoso, Robin Lod, Wil Trapp (c); F Luis Amarilla, Bongokuhle Hlongwane
Bench: GK Tyler Miller; D Alan Benitez, Oniel Fisher; M Kervin Arriaga, Jonathan Gonzalez, Niko Hansen, Joseph Rosales; F Abu Danladi, Mender Garcia
FC Dallas XI: GK Maarten Paes; D Jose Martinez, Marco Farfan, Ema Twumasi, Matt Hedges (c); M Facudo Quignon, Sebastian Lletget, Paxton Pomykal; F Paul Arriola, Jesus Ferreira, Alan Velasco
Bench: GK Jimmy Maurer; D Eulanio Gomes, Nkosi Tafari, Joshue Quinonez; M Edwin Cerrillo, Katlego Ntsabeleng, Brandon Servania; F Franco Jara, Jader Obrian
MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET
MNUFC HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On the disappointment following the result…
“I thought the players, massive shift tonight. I couldn’t fault them with an aspect of what we asked of them. They were unbelievable. The shape, the discipline and football’s a cruel game at times. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve. Considering the work that the players have put in, I look across the group, I couldn’t ask much more from any of them this evening. Disappointed for them, disappointed for our supporters who were here. Incredible that they made the journey. It’s always a cruel way of going out. We’ve all been on the good side, we’ve all been on the bad side. It’s still never easy to take.”
On the bitterness of ending in penalty kicks…
“You know what is coming. When you get into extra time it’s around the corner. Both teams were really tentative in the extra time because obviously you’ve worked so hard you want to protect what you’ve got. They were a bit similar. We looked dangerous on the break. You know as I say I can’t fault the players. Once it comes down to penalties, there’s going to be a winner, there’s going to be a loser, there’s going to be a hero, there’s going to be somebody who thinks it’s the worst at they’ve ever had. It’s never easy trust me, these moments.”
On struggling to gain consistency…
“It’s certainly been the most challenging. With what we’ve been through this year. Over the next sort of few days and next weeks or so we’ll have a good chance to sit down and assess and see what was good, see what was not so good and try to make some alterations in the offseason to come back and make the playoffs and hopefully go further than we’ve done tonight.”
On needing to see more offense tonight…
“I couldn’t single the players out this evening. We’ll have to assess the body of work that we’ve done from the beginning of the year. Not over 90 minutes and the playoffs. Against a difficult team who had best atmosphere I’ve seen here. Never seen this many people here. It was a big evening and I can’t fault any of the players for their effort. I’ll have another look at the game, assess it and dissect it and see what we could have done better or worse. I don’t particularly want to go into individuals at this moment.”
On Robin Lod being subbed off…
“He’s not done an awful lot of work. He’s been playing games and then he’s been recuperating. He just felt his calf had been really sore and at that stage you can’t carry anybody, you can’t the way their piling men forward. We couldn’t afford people in wide areas because both their fullbacks were getting high and wide. We needed some energy out there. Obviously you’d like his experience on the field and you’d like his experience when it came to the penalties. At the end of the day when people can’t go, you have to make a change.”
On subbing Luis Amarilla and Bongokuhle Hlongwane at the same time…
“We wanted to get a fresh pair of legs on for Luis. He put an awful lot into the game because the job we asked either the forwards or Reynoso tonight to take away their deep line midfield and they did it really well. Very diligent in the work that they did and I just thought some fresh legs Mender [Garcia] being through the middle might help us. And Bongi probably lasted longer than we thought we were going to get. He’s done virtually nothing over the last four or five weeks with his medial ligament injury. To get what he’s done tonight is terrific.”
On Dayne St. Clair’s performance tonight…
“He made a couple of really big saves when we needed him. But I’m always very honest with the keepers, the saves that he made, there was one free kick I thought was a really big save. Come from behind it, it was going top corner. The rest I thought he should have saved. When we go to PKs I fancy this because he’s generally very good at penalty kick situations and it wasn’t to be this evening.”
On supporting Wil Trapp…
“We win together, we lose together and we all have to take a share of the responsibility. Not one player has won us the game. Generally it takes a team to win matches. But for the grace of god go get four of five, we’ve all been there, we’ve all scored them, we’ve all missed them. It’s not a nice feeling, you feel as though it’s the end of the world. It’s not and tomorrow you’ll feel a little bit better. But you can’t hide the disappointment that he feels because you do take that responsibility on yourself.”
On the physicality in the first half…
“It’s obviously been a directive, I certainly thought the last two or three games I’ve watched had been a bit more open and the referees have let a little bit more physicality go which I thinks been good. I think it makes for a better game, rather than referees blowing every ten seconds for petty fouls. After a few minutes the players know ‘okay’ we can get away with a little bit more but I thought it’s helped the game.”
On the disappointment of losing in the playoffs…
“As I said, we all dream of, can we win three or four games to get us there. I know this team is capable of that. It’s been a difficult year as I said it’s been very inconsistent. With the selection at times because of the players availability and with the injuries that we’ve had. When I think of the performance from the players and everything we asked of them. I couldn’t have asked anymore from the guys this evening. I really couldn’t. We’ll have to assess it all over the next weeks and the coming weeks. See what’s been good. See what changes we think we need to make. That’s the way the game is. People will stay, people will go, new people will come in because that’s the nature of the game and that’s the nature of MLS with the salary cap. We’ve got some really big and tough decisions to make over a lot of players in the next few weeks.”
MIDFIELDER WIL TRAPP
On his emotions following the match at FC Dallas…
“It’s disappointing. Any time you lose in penalties, it’s just tough to swallow because we had a lot of good moments in the game. I thought we played well, we worked so hard in the game and the guys deserved more. But, that’s what it boils down to; that’s just the way the penalty shootouts can go. So, unfortunately, I was the one that didn’t convert. The guys have been amazing. The team spirit today was incredible. The way in which guys encouraged one another, picked each other up and kept going for 120 minutes was just something great to see. If we’re thinking about where we were a year ago, and how we rolled over, this is the complete opposite. Maybe the result is the same and you do get judged on the result, but there’s certainly something to look at and take from this as we’re a group of players that didn’t bend and break and we came together as a group for sure.”
On what didn’t go right on his penalty kick attempt…
“It’s one of those where half the time it’s a crap shoot maybe you try to change the last second if he [goalkeeper] dives the right way. But I found that if you’re trying to change things, it gets messed up even more so. So, you just kind of have to try and trust what you’re doing and pick a spot and go for it and the goalkeeper guesses right and makes a good save.”
On the frustration of the loss having believed the team was better this year…
“Like I said, [there is] disappointment, frustration. It’s a part of what happens in these playoffs runs when you lose. Especially the way in which we played tonight, I thought we deserved more. Again, it’s unfortunate. We’ve got to take the positives from it. Ultimately, it’s a step in the right direction in the sense of some of the results we had this season, some of the form we found this season and continuing to build that chemistry and the quality we have on the field to generate consistent winning patterns. We can go away and win games, but ultimately I think had we not limped into the playoffs here, maybe we’re hosting a game and it’s a different story. But, that’s the way it goes. For us, we’re really understanding that our goal next season should be not only making the playoffs, but hosting a playoff game. We know in front of our crowd, in front of our fans, we’re a team that is different. Not that we didn’t do enough to win tonight, but that’s the reality. It’s a part of the game, and I think for us, we’re just going to take the positives from it.”
On if he will take Danye St. Clair on five penalty kicks any other day of the week…
“Yeah. I think he almost got the first one, the [Franco] Jara one, the little Panenka. Again, you guys watch enough soccer to understand that these things can go either way at any time. You saw yesterday with Salt Lake and Austin. With Dayne, we trust him to make a save. He didn’t make one tonight; that’s the reality, that’s what it is. No one’s specifically to blame. We weren’t expecting him to make a save and we were expecting ourselves to score all of our penalties. It is what it is.”
On what he was able to find in the midfield during the match…
“Once we got the ball down and created a little bit of composure and possession, our guys did a really good job of running behind. Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] did a great job in the first half as well. I think I found him on one [pass] as well in the first half and a couple in the second half. Then, it’s not exactly how we drew it up but we scored off of it. Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] is opportunistic and finds a good spot and hits it home. The Mender [Garcia] chance was another one in which the center-backs are planted and he’s looking to run behind and you just try to give the guy a chance. It’s something he does well, one of his strengths. You just try to provide to them.”
On if the team created enough attacking chances in the final third…
“The second half was a little bit more back and forth, a lot more space opening up. We had a couple moments in which we were dangerous. I think about a few where we slipped a guy in to get in a good crossing position, they run out to the front post – those sorts of things where there’s danger in the area – but I don’t know how clear-cut the chances [were]. It’s hard to reflect on it right now. I do think we did enough to get in dangerous spots and to move them [FC Dallas] around. Then it becomes, ‘what’s the secondary or tertiary movement after that’. Like I said with Reynoso’s goal, it was a little opportunistic, but we put our guys in good spots picking up second balls and driving forward. We just needed to continue to think about doing that.”
On knowing that this is now the end of the 2022 season…
“I don’t know if it’s sunk in at all. It’s disappointing, I’ll say it again. We wanted more, we didn’t get more. Now we have to wait for next year. It’s crazy: You play for eight, nine months and you have one game, 120 minutes in this case and penalties, and it doesn’t go your way and that’s football. I think for us, there were some good moments and some inconsistent moments and I think for us it’s understanding – like I talked to you guys about this week – what did we do in those good moments, what should we draw back on and try to sustain to take into next year, which will allow us to be a team that’s challenging for the trophies and the things we want. We have the quality, it’s just about consistency of energy. You saw tonight, the defensive shape and how we were able to limit what they [FC Dallas] could do. Truly, it was very impressive from that side of the ball. Then, we win the ball and put our guys in good positions to run on the defense. That’s something that comes from commitment from the guys every single moment. It’s easy to do that in the playoffs and in the moments where it’s ride or die. Can we start doing that every game, can we start having a belief that this group can go win games consistently home or away. That’s something we’re going to have to meditate on, reflect on this offseason.”
On how he’ll approach a longer offseason…
“How I’ve always approached them is you try to take a couple of weeks and decompress and let the body rest. If you have little lingering injuries, which most guys do at the end of the season, try to get those under control. Then, you start ramping up not too much longer after that. We’re competitors. Our bodies want and crave to work. Going into November and December, it’s gearing up for a quick start in preseason in the beginning of January. I think guys will go home and enjoy the holidays, but within that, you do start trying to build for next year, trying to assess the things in your game or in the team that you want to improve and you want to see grow. That’s a big part of being a professional and staying at the professional level for a long time.”
GOALKEEPER DAYNE ST. CLAIR
On what worked in regulation and extra time for him against FC Dallas…
“We had a really good shape going into the game. We knew that they play a lot in the back and we kind of just let our center-backs have it and kept a good shape behind the ball. I think that was key to us really not giving up many chances today.”
On the first ball he pushed over the ball…
“When the ball is right on the crossbar It’s definitely difficult and you have to assess the risk of if I want to take it and give up a rebound with the ball hitting off the bar and spilling in front of the six yard box. I really didn’t have an option but to push it over. I know it looks like an easier play but when you’re in that situation and you see the ball right on top of the crossbar I think that’s the only option that seems feasible at the moment.”
On the scouting and instinct that goes into penalties…
“It’s a little bit of both. I don’t think Dallas took a penalty this year. Maybe had one. Definitely wasn’t much information on them, which is always difficult. In our sport you want to thrive off the most information that you can to be able to do things. Also in the moment you never know what a guy is going to do. So at the end of the day you got to go with your gut and kind of just take the chance. It’s unfortunate today but on a different day I fancy myself in penalties and I think I always will moving forward.”
On almost stopping the Panenka…
“I was able to get my foot on it. I think maybe on a different day it’s able to stay out. Anytime someone decides to go for a Panenka it’s a ballsy move on their part and it’s a ballsy move to stay down the middle too. It’s just a little cat and mouse game and unfortunately today I lost that battle.”
On multiple defenders in and out of the lineup this season…
“First and foremost it shows our depth in the back. When guys had an opportunity to step up they knew they had to take full opportunity of it. Similar to my situation when I started playing at the beginning of the year. Guys knew that if they weren’t performing that there was someone on their heels and that someone was always ready for the opportunity. At times it can be difficult when there’s new guys coming in, but once we’re able to establish those relationships closer towards the end of the season, it makes it much easier when we know what we want to do.”
On his own season…
“It definitely started with one of the best games of my life and I knew I had to have that type of game to give myself an opportunity to be playing and to give myself a opportunity to be selected for the World Cup Team and to be starting week in and week out. To be able to go from that game and be able to push on and be in the AllStar Game. There was also some rough patches in there as well. Moving forward I’ll need to be a little bit more consistent in that mid-season area. I’ve shown how I can play at the beginning of the season and I think I had a good end to the season as well. To be able to cleanup that middle stage and bring it back to how I was playing early on will give ourselves an opportunity moving forward and give myself the best opportunity moving forward.”
On finding more team consistency…
“First and foremost looking back at it, it’s frustrating. You can probably pick out moments in a lot of the games where we dropped points of maybe a lack of concentration or a lapse or a mistake including myself. Just being able to limit mistakes gives you the best opportunity to win. Just trying to limit mistakes and not letting one lead to another. Part of it is being mentally tough too. When we went on some of our bad spells we lost some of that mental strength and you can see it when we would concede a goal. But then on the other hand when we made that run of being undefeated for ten or how many games it was we showed that we had that mindset and it’s within us. That’s definitely the positive to know that it’s within us. it’s just about bringing it everyday.”
On moving forward to the World Cup…
“My role at the World Cup will definitely be in a support role but if my name is called i’ll be ready to go. I showed it this year with the game at Red Bulls. I wasn’t supposed to play that game. I was in a support role and my number was called and I showed up on that day. It’s no similar in my position. You always have to be ready. You never know when your time will come but it’s just about staying ready. On the other hand too it’s just about supporting the guys in front of you and to make sure that I’m doing my best to help the team.”
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