Madness in Midway: Loons, Timbers tie 4-4

Goals, goals and more goals was the theme Saturday afternoon at Allianz Field as Minnesota United FC and the Portland Timbers played to a physically contested, high-scoring 4-4 draw.

Anyone who blinked their eyes in the first seconds of the match most likely missed the opening goal scored by Portland midfielder Sebastian Blanco. The next eight minutes were fast and physical, and a Loons offensive attack resulted in a corner kick in the ninth minute. Midfielder Emanuel Reynoso took the corner kick, sending it inside the six-yard box where forward Luis Amarilla’s header attempt landed at the right spot for a diving header from midfielder Franco Fragapane, who scored the equalizer. In the 21st minute, Minnesota’s transition attack struck again when Fragapane’s backfooted shot hit the near post and forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane scored off the rebound, giving the Loons the 2-1 lead. Amarilla notched the third goal of the first half for the Loons when he connected on a Fragapane pass, dribbled past a Portland defender and scored in the 41st minute.

Just as they did to start the game, Portland pounced on the Loons early, and fired back at the beginning of the second half, adding quick goals from Blanco in the 50th minute and forward Jaroslaw Niezgoda in the 53rd to even the match at 3-3. The Timbers then took the lead in the 65th minute when a Blanco shot deflected off Minnesota defender Kemar Lawrence and into the net, resulting in an own-goal and giving the visiting side the 4-3 advantage. MNUFC’s Amarilla scored his second goal of the afternoon off a header in the 69th minute, leveling the contest yet again at 4-4. The match ended in a draw, leaving the Loons in third place in the Western Conference with 35 points. Notably, the result extended Minnesota’s unbeaten run to seven straight matches. Unfortunately as the Loons head west to face the Colorado Rapids next weekend they will be without the services of three key players – Emanuel Reynoso, Michael Boxall and Robin Lod – due to yellow card accumulation.

Minnesota United next heads to the Rocky Mountains to face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, August 6 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Kick for Saturday afternoon’s contest is set for 8:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on Bally Sports North EXTRA and The CW – Twin Cities, with radio broadcast on 1500 ESPN.

ATTENDANCE: 19,792

BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH: Forward Bongokuhle Hlongwane

LINEUPS:
Minnesota United XI: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Kemar Lawrence, Bakaye Dibassy, Michael Boxall (c), DJ Taylor; M Kervin Arriaga, Robin Lod, Franco Fragapane, Emanuel Reynoso, Bongokuhle Hlongwane; F Luis Amarilla

Bench: GK Tyler Miller; D Alan Benitez, Callum Montgomery, Brent Kallman, Oniel Fisher; M Joseph Rosales, Niko Hansen, Nabi Kibunguchy; F Abu Danladi

Portland Timbers XI: GK Aljaz Ivacic; D Josecarlos Van Rankin, Claudio Bravo, Dario Zuparic, Larrys Mabiala; M Sebastian Blanco, Diego Chara (c), Yimmi Chara, David Ayala; F Jarslaw Niezgoda, Santiago Moreno

Bench: GK David Bingham; D Justin Rasmussen, Zachery McGraw, Pablo Benilla; M Dairon Asprilla, Marvin Loria; F Felipe Mora, Nathan Fogaca

UP NEXT:
MINNESOTA UNITED FC @ COLORADO RAPIDS
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park | Commerce City, Colorado
08.06.2022 | MLS 2022 Regular Season | Week 24
8:00 pm CT (BSN/CW Twin Cities/1500 ESPN)

MINNESOTA UNITED POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

MNUFC HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH

On the game overall and how he views the result of the match…
“It’s a disappointment because we put ourselves in a great spot to win the game. Seven games ago, I would have said, ‘we’ll take five wins and two draws.’ Yes, I would have and I would have been delighted with it. I thought we started both halves really poor. We got a goal down, after what was it, 30 seconds because everybody is on the backfoot and expected somebody else to do something. The last thing I said before they went out in the second half, ‘do not start the second half the way you did the first. Do not give them something to believe in.’ And then for fifteen minutes in the second half, I don’t think we won the first ball that went into our half of the field. Late to every challenge. Like dominoes, one goes and then the next one goes… Poor goals from our point of view. We’ll have a look at them and we’ll try to do something about it because some of the goals were difficult to accept. Maybe I’ll have a different opinion when I get a closer look at them but they didn’t look particularly good from where we were.”

On the performance of Dayne St. Clair…
“No, it’s taken the deflection. The one that goes in near post? The speed of the ball is taking a deflection. That was not an issue or a problem for us today. There was a lot of other things tha, to me, were very very disappointing. Our back four has been very very good as of late, today they weren’t.”

On the comeback…
“Yeah, I thought on the counter attack, at times, we were outstanding. I thought Bongi [Bongokuhle Hlongwane] was maybe our man of the match tonight. Incredible energy levels, gets himself another goal. Gets a header on the backstick to get the equalizer at four-four. He’s been terrific. But overall, I’ve said it a million times, I will never, ever be disappointed with a point. It keeps the room going and it takes us one point closer to what we ought to achieve.”

On the message at halftime…
“No, no, no. I just said I wanted more of the same. We just didn’t defend well enough. As I say, the back four and the goalkeeper have had a lot of praise this year and quite rightfully so. Today, it wasn’t good enough and they know that.”

On the expectations/anticipations of Bongokuhle Hlongwane…
“Yeah, you hope so. I mean, obviously, but he’s playing well. He’s playing well and is putting himself in the right spot so if he continues to do that, he’ll score goals.”

On Alan Benítez and his performance tonight…
“He did alright. Yeah, he’s really good going forward. He’ll be better for a few more minutes and I feel as though now he is getting closer to be able to be available to start from the beginning.”

On the mood before kickoff…
“We had a really good dressing room before the game. Sometimes you can never take that for granted. But we started on the back foot and then you give the game away but then the response was magnificent. Some our attacking play in the first half. Conceivably we could have had a couple more other goals. It feels like a defeat now, but it isn’t. In the cold light of day, as I said seven games ago, would we have take five wins and two draws, you bet we would have done. Now it doesn’t feel to good, to be honest.”

Thoughts on Luis Amarilla stringing together good performances…
“He’s coming back isn’t he. Looking more like the Luis [Amarilla] we know we’ve got. His ball retention has been so much better in the last few weeks and he’s now looking like a goal threat. The chance he had with the header late on that’s Luis [Amarilla] at his best. Getting across people, attacking the ball in the box. That’s a good sign for us. I feel as though he’s just coming back towards his best.”

On capitalizing from a corner kick…
“It has, when we got the first one which is so important. You have to win the first one. And then it’s not all about the first one it’s about what happens after that. Fraga [Franco Fragapane] got himself in a real good spot, it was a good header. Set pieces always nice to score.”

On the challenge in Colorado without three regulars…
“it is what it is. We’ll move on to that after. We have a squad for the same reason everybody has a squad. The one sort of caveat I’ll give to everything I said this evening to both teams; it was incredibly hot out there and the last thing I said to them at halftime ‘I don’t want this to become like a basketball game’ and at times it was for both teams. We were attacking six on four, they were doing the same at the other end. That’s never easy to watch as a coach.”

On playing in the afternoon…
“I don’t know one player, I don’t know one coach who enjoys playing at 2 o’clock. It changes completely your day and your routine. It is what it is. Fantastic effort for TV for sure.”

On the challenges defending Sebastian Blanco…
“He’s a quality player. Give him time, give him space, he picks a pass, makes something happen, gets in the box. Times when they broke and you see him in a big hole you think please don’t give it to him. A couple times they did and then he creates something or he makes something happen. It’s like Rey [Emanuel Reynoso]. You give him time and space and they’ll show you what good players they are.”

On struggling to defend crosses…
“The way that they play they like to get fullbacks high and wide so they get their wide guys back and then run the fullbacks in. They have a lot of bodies in there. It’s difficult to play against, but they do leave themselves vulnerable to the counter attack as we proved. So it swings around about you win some you lose some. But on the break today, we prepared to take that chance because I thought we would create chances.”

DEFENDER MICHAEL BOXALL

On his views of the result…
“Considering the position we got ourselves back into at halftime, I think it’s massively disappointing that we come out in the second half and play the game into their hands. That’s the kind of game they like to play. We weren’t as compact as we would like to be. The game was too open and I think with that lead, we need to be a lot more disciplined and we just weren’t.”

On starting the second half similarly to the first half…
“I thought the first few minutes we started with good intent to put them under pressure because you know that they’ve probably just had an ears-full from their manager at halftime, so they’re going to come out firing and I thought we had a good chance early on right off the kickoff just to really stay on the front foot and then we just lacked the discipline to get in our defensive shape. The way they play, they have pretty much a front four then their midfielders flying forward too, so it’s not just on the back four, five to defend that. We really need a full team effort. In moments we didn’t have that tonight.”

On the effect of Portland scoring in the opening 13 seconds…
“We’ve got a lot of time. We’re not too worried. Obviously, it’s less than ideal but it’s not the end of the world because you’ve got 89 minutes to get it back. You see the response from the guys was incredible. The crowd was behind us the whole 100 minutes, whatever it was tonight. I think the response was good and that’s the kind of attacking football we want to play. I think we were just a little bit sloppy in the second half. Little bit more careless with it and that kind of led to the transition opportunities where we were a little bit slow to get back.”

On conceding the goal shortly after the opening kickoff…
“Obviously it’s an earlier game. It’s national TV. Everyone is kind of fired up so you… maybe you’re a little bit too excited to do things you don’t necessarily do so you take a half step too early and that just gives them space and then I think from their kickoff it was just like a miskick and then they’ve got three or four guys kind of running at you and you’re just kind of caught in two minds. Yeah, not the best start, but our front guys were fantastic that first half and they really got us back in the game.”

On Luis Amarilla and his position in the counter attack…
“He seems to be enjoying it a little bit more. Obviously his confidence is there. His ability to run with the ball and, it’s similar to the game against Vancouver [Whitecaps] where he kind of gets the defenders on their heels. He is a great finisher. He’s probably one of the best I’ve seen with us here as well. I think there’s probably one or two others he’d like to put away, but he’ll be happy with his two goals tonight. He’s really finding his feet at the moment. Hoping he can continue to contribute and as a team we just need to work more together to keep them out of our net.”

On approaching the game differently when close to a yellow card suspension…
“You kind of play a little bit cautiously but you’re not going to not go into a challenge because of that. It’s kind of in the back of your mind, but then in games like this where it’s a little bit end to end, it’s a little bit hard. You kind of lose it a little bit. The way that officials have been told to call games, you can’t do anything near that you were able to a couple of seasons ago. Still having to adjust to that, but that’s around the whole league this year.”

On himself, Emauneul Reynoso, and Robin Lod out for Saturday…
“It gives some other guys an opportunity. We’ve dealt with getting a few healthy bodies back so it gives the guys other opportunities to step up. It’s similar to the Houstin [Dyanmo] game. These are the times in the middle of the season that everyone in the squad has to be ready for. We’ve seen Nabi [Kibunguchy] step up in a big way, so we’re going to need him and a couple of others to really step up again.”

On the heat having any effect on the game…
“It was hot out there, but I think it does affect your concentration. As a team we need to prepare for that and just be a bit more careful with the ball. Have more patient build-ups so that we’re not expending energy without a good outcome on the end of it. I think we, particularly that second half, we kind of had turned it to a pretty big transition game that suits Portland. Especially at home we need to take the pace of play a bit better than they did.”

On the feelings of the match as a win or a loss…
“It’s two points dropped I think. We were up three to one at halftime and we just need to manage the game better. Their goals didn’t really come from a whole lot of them having to work for it. It’s just us leaving them with so much space where they can explode and they’ve got good players in those positions that did that.”

On what Alan Benitez brings to the team…
“The games before today, we’ve seen him he’s a quality one on one defender. He’s got a good read of the game, he knows what pace to play at. When to keep it, when to go forward. Some of the balls he whipped in the Everton game were pretty tasty. Once he gets really up to speed… Portland have some tough wingers and I think he handled them well tonight. He likes the ball at his feet, he likes to assist the ball and get involved going forward. I’m excited to see more of him.”

On scoring on a set piece…
“We’ve spent a little bit of time on those during the week and that’s Luis [Amarilla]…that’s his job for that. It’s a little bit under-hit Fraga [Franco Fragapane] to clean up at the backstick. That is kind of textbook and then the delivery from Rey [Emanuel Reynoso] is usually pretty good. When they do attack the net with more space, then it’s obviously, the goal is getting defended by some of the biggest guys on the field so it’s a little bit tough to get half a yard of space there. Fraga and Luis did their jobs to a T there.”