MNUFC Narrowly Loses 1-0 to the Portland Timbers
September 11, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Minnesota United FC News Release
PORTLAND, Ore. — A high-energy Western Conference contest at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon on Saturday night saw Minnesota United create multiple threatening scoring opportunities, but eventually fall just short of scoring a goal in a narrow 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers.
The first 45 minutes of the match in Portland were scoreless, but were certainly not without dangerous chances from the Loons. Forwards Mender Garcia and Luis Amarilla along with midfielder Kervin Arriaga took a combined eight shots out of the 13 in the first half, many of those attempts coming in the first 20 minutes. But the two tries on target were saved and the score remained at 0-0 entering the second half. In the 61st minute, the Timbers took the 1-0 lead via a Dairon Asprilla header into the far post that came from a corner kick. In an effort to equalize just a few minutes later, Loons captain Wil Trapp took a powerful strike from just outside the Timbers’ box, but the on-target shot was saved. In all, MNUFC’s night came up empty with 21 shots taken (five on target) in total against the Portland side, and Asprilla’s second-half goal was the eventual game-winner.
Minnesota United faces a tight turnaround when it returns to Saint Paul this Tuesday, September 13 to host LAFC at Allianz Field. Kick for Saturday night’s contest is set for 7:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on Bally Sports North EXTRA and The CW – Twin Cities, with local radio broadcast on 1500 ESPN.
BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Robin Lod
LINEUPS:
Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Kemar Lawrence, Michael Boxall, Brent Kallman, DJ Taylor, Alan Benitez; M Robin Lod, Wil Trapp (c), Kervin Arriaga; F Luis Amarilla, Mender Garcia
Bench: GK Tyler Miller, Eric Dick, Fred Emmings; D Oniel Fisher, Nabilai Kibunguchy; M Jonathan Gonzalez, Niko Hansen, Joseph Rosales; F Abu Danladi
Portland Timbers XI: GK Aljaz Ivavic; D Claudio Bravo, Dario Zuparic, Zacharey McGraw, Bill Tuiloma; M Sebastian Blanco, Eryk Williamson, Diego Chara (c), Yimmi Chara, Dairon Asprilla; F Santiago Moreno
Bench: GK David Bingham; D Larrys Mabiala, Juan Mosquera, Josecarlos Van Rankin; M David Ayala, Marvin Loria, Cristhian Paredes, F Nathan Fogaca, Jaroslaw Niezgoda
UP NEXT:
MINNESOTA UNITED FC vs. LAFC
Allianz Field | Saint Paul, Minnesota
09.13.2022 | MLS 2022 Regular Season | Week 31
7:00 pm CT (BSN EXTRA/CW Twin Cities/1500 ESPN)
MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET
HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
On if he believes the team deserved better after a 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers…
“Yeah, I do. I thought we were the better team most of the evening. Our ball circulation, our decision making… when to play, when to play forward, when to play long, was excellent. We just didn’t have that finishing touch. I don’t know how many real clear-cut chances we’ve had except probably what, four maybe? So it’s a tough one at the minute to take that one, Jerry [Zgoda], because I don’t try and spin games that we’ve lost. When we play poorly, I think I’m honest enough to say. Tonight, we haven’t deserved that. We played better than them. I thought for the players to come away with nothing is very disappointing.”
On how the team played in the new formation…
“Excellent. As I say, I thought we defended very well playing against a really confident team on the back of three wins. We knew they [Portland] were going to try and put us under pressure but I thought we broke the pressure really well. About passing, it’s then people running on from there was everything that we asked of the players. The only disappointment from the night for me, has been the goal that they scored. They didn’t have to do enough for it. We turned it over cheaply to give the corner away and then the guy had a free header seven yards out, six yards out, whatever it was. That’s disappointing. In terms of the shape of the team, the way we moved the ball, the opportunities that we created, I thought everything worked really, really well.”
On Minnesota United’s set-piece defending…
“No. You know that [Dairon] Asprilla is really good in the air. We know that. He [Dairon Asprilla] had a header in the first half that went over. It’s just gone across our defenders. You’ve got to be first to the ball in both boxes otherwise, you concede goals. We speak about it all the time. It doesn’t matter whether you go zonal, it doesn’t matter if you go man-to-man, if you don’t beat the guy who you’re marking to the ball, invariably, it ends up in the back of the net. That’s what we paid for this evening.”
On the quick turnaround for the upcoming game on Tuesday…
“It is what it is. I would have liked to maybe have been on a Wednesday but it is a Tuesday and we’ve got to get on with it. It’s a quick turnaround. We’ll get home, we’ll see who’s fit, we’ll see how Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] is and then we’ll go from there. That will probably dictate how we play and what shape we’ll play in when we find out who’s fit and healthy and available.”
On not being clinical on the scoring chances Minnesota United had…
“Yeah. On a normal night, I think that Mender [Garcia] and Luis [Amarilla], Robin [Lod] late on, for us to not score a goal with the clear-cut chances that we created this evening is disappointing. But hey, players don’t mean to miss. There’s nothing more the strikers want to do is to finish opportunities off. We weren’t clinical enough tonight. On the road, I say it all the time, when them opportunities come, you have to take your opportunities. Because you know on the road, you’re going to have large periods of the game where you’re defending. Them little moments, them little details, are so important. Goals change games. Had we scored in the first half – when we were pretty dominant, I thought after the first five, six minutes – the game would’ve been difficult for them because they struggled to break us down this evening and we always look dangerous on the break. Had they [Portland Timbers] had to come out of their shape a little bit more and take more chances…that’s why the first goal is always very vital, especially on the road.”
On the reason behind Emanuel Reynosos’s absence…
“No. His ankle has been really sore for the last three or four weeks. We’ve been patching him up. He tweaked it again last week, that’s why he came off. It’s been really swollen this week. We’ve got the swelling down. Still a bit of pain. We’ll have to see where he is when we get home.”
On Mender Garcia’s performance…
“We’re still getting to know him and he’s getting to know us. There was little flashes of stuff. He works really, really hard, the kid. We’ve got to do some work with him about where we want his runs to be. He’s going to be fine. The best of Mender Garcia is in the future, for sure.”
On how the goal was conceded…
“It’s an accumulation, isn’t it? We’ve took a chance and we end up giving a corner away. We could have turned out, Wil [Trapp] could have turned out and played forward. BK [Brent Kallman] should have… the decision was a poor decision. Once it goes wide, you look at their [Portland Timbers] three big center-backs and you look at [Dairon] Asprilla, they’ve got size in there. We defended the box really well from set pieces apart from the one that was the most important one.”
On Alan Benitez and his performance out wide…
“Yeah. It suits him, it suits him. He likes to run forward. He likes to join in the attack. He wants to be in the final third. I thought his decision making at times was a lot better today. The role suited him tonight, for sure.”
On getting mentally prepared with a quick turnaround and Western Conference playoffs contention…
“Yeah. Watching the games today, one or two went for us, one or two didn’t. We’re playing all the way through. We’ve got LAFC on Tuesday, then we’ve got Kansas [Sporting Kansas City], then we’ve got San Jose [Earthquakes] and Vancouver [Whitecaps]. We’ve got to win a couple of games. Win a couple of games, we’re going to be fine. But we said that six games ago and now we’re down to four. We’ve got to win a couple of games. If we do, we give ourselves what we set out to do back in February of last year… the beginning of this year. That was the aim to make the playoffs, get home field advantage. We have two more games and I still think we’ve got a really good chance at that as well.”
On the one substitution made and if it was due to lack of availability on the bench…
“A little bit. I know Americans have a fascination with substitutes. We were playing so well. Why would I want to disrupt what we were doing? We tweaked the shape a little bit as the game wore on. The players on the field were doing everything that we asked of them and I didn’t want to disrupt that.”
DEFENDER MICHAEL BOXALL
On how he summarizes the match against Portland that could have gone Minnesota’s way…
“I felt like the work we put in on our part certainly deserved to get something out of the game. But again we just get punished by small margins, a corner that probably we should have prevented and should have never came to be. Just have to be in the space that their guys shouldn’t be allowed to have that close to the goal. On the flip side with the ball, I think we in the first 45, first 60 minutes I felt like we were in charge of the game. There were a couple times
[that we were] a few inches away from putting one in the back of the net, but were just a little bit unlucky. Overall, yeah, the guys work their butts off and just the small things on both ends, really, that cost us points tonight.”
On describing what happened during Portland’s goal…
“It was a ball delivered to the near post. I think Luis [Amarilla] is supposed to be in that front area in front of, right on the near post. So, maybe he was too high, maybe I was too deep. There’s no way there should be that much space between us. I’m not too sure who was kind of dragged out of position there. He started to be with him [Dairon Asprilla], but he shouldn’t have had that much space between myself and Luis.”
On if he can pinpoint why the team hasn’t scored in three matches…
“Bringing in new players and then when we do miss Rey [Emanuel Reynoso], we do notice that. But I think tonight we created enough opportunities to score, but we just weren’t lucky or just didn’t quite have that finishing touch tonight. It was a more promising performance tonight than probably last week, so even though we’ve lost, it’s kind of felt like we’re better defending as a team and we’ve been a lot more dangerous with the ball, even without one of our best players. We’ve kind of dug ourselves into a hole. It’s a pretty quick turnaround before playing at home Tuesday night, so we’re going to have to talk through things, make sure we’re in the right position to give ourselves the chances to finish off.”
On what worked with tonight’s formation shape…
“I think we played a three-back or a five-back earlier in the season and I think we just had two in the midfield, so we had that extra man in midfield and at some point, someone’s going to be available. And if they’re not, we were just able to lob it up to Mender [Garcia] and Luis. I think they were causing them [Portland] a lot of troubles like getting in behind early on. I think we really came to play tonight and we fought well and everyone wanted to get involved. When we can get our wing-backs higher, I think that helps us possess the ball and it’s more difficult to play when we flatten out to a back five and you kind of get pinned in. But, we did a good job going forward there.”
On the turnaround ahead of Tuesday’s match against LAFC…
“It’s the same turnaround as a Wednesday-Saturday [schedule], so, it’s not something we haven’t done before. We’ve just got to get some rest, get everyone as fit as we can and hopefully see more healthy bodies back in Minnesota for us to help us on Tuesday.”
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