Minnesota United FC coach Adrian Heath (photo credit: Kari Heistad)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Adrian Heath would’ve been forgiven if he entered Saturday’s match with a better feeling about his defense following last week’s 2-2 draw. But any optimism the Minnesota United coach may have harbored was gone by halftime.
After keeping the Rapids in check last week, Minnesota reverted to the same form that saw them concede 11 goals in their first two as the New England Revolution collected quartet of goals before the break en route to a 5-2 romp of the Loons.
Just how dire did matters become for Minnesota, who were shorthanded as it was due to injuries and international commitments? Well, at halftime, Heath employed an extra defender at just to slow the bleeding, as center back Jermaine Taylor was called upon to replace midfielder Bashkim Kadrii.
“The first half was really, really poor defensively,” Heath told the media after the match. “Every time they attacked it looked like they were going to score and that’s why we made the change. We had to put an extra body in there just to shore it up a little bit and it seemed to have the desired effect.”
Indeed, the Loons were clearly out of their depth against a determined Revolution attack that were not only biting at the chomp to put their early scoring woes in the rearview, but also had the home crowd behind them.
Within a 37-minute span, the hosts lit up the Loons defense for four goals, including a 32nd minute penalty that came after Juan Agudelo was fouled inside the area by Vadim Demidov.
Whether it was botched clearances here, or a poor positioning there, the simple fact was that Minnesota’s defense was in complete disarray during the first 45.
“We were just chasing shots, shouldn’t matter who is playing, you know?,” Minnesota defender Kevin Venegas told the media after the match. “We’ve built a squad and the level shouldn’t drop, doesn’t matter who’s in there, you know? Me included, I’ve got to do better with my shape and stuff like that.”
While the message at halftime was to never quit – a sentiment that was channeled by a 49th minute Brent Kallman goal to make it a 4-2 match – any hopes of a comeback were effectively snuffed out by Chris Tierney’s 53rd minute penalty score.
In a match in which Minnesota was squeezed into making 33 clearances, and conceded two penalties, Heath could only look back at Saturday’s performance as a wakeup call for a team that appeared to be making progress only seven days earlier.
“I thought we were a lot better [in the]second half, but it was a little bit too little, too late,” Heath said. “As I’ve just said to the guys, we’ve got to take a serious look at what we’re doing because we can’t keep conceding goals the way we are at this moment in time, it’s too easy for the opposition to score.”
Minnesota United FC
