Minnesota United manager Adrian Heath expressed this week what it feels like to play against Real Salt Lake.
“It’s like having a toothache,” he said Thursday. “They never go away. They hang about.”
RSL remained annoying and painful to play against in a 1-1 draw on Saturday night at Allianz Field. But the real near-constant pain has been United’s home form this season.
The Loons (5-5-4, 19 points) have managed one win in six home games this season. Only two other MLS teams have less than two home victories.
“We have to be better,” Loons captain Michael Boxall said. “I don’t think that is good enough at home. We must have the worst points per game record at home. These are games we should be winning. I think they, maybe, had two shots on goal, and for us in the final third, we have to be creating more.”
The Loons had trouble breaking down Salt Lake’s 4-4-2 defensive shape, and Minnesota relied on getting the ball wide, sending in 13 crosses in the first half and 20 in the match.
The Loons had a few brief moment in the second half going through RSL’s defense, with Franco Fragapane finding Bongi Hlongwane and Sang Bin Jeong. But in a season-long theme, the final product wasn’t good enough.
Boxall acknowledged feeling the need for the defense to play near-perfect on a nightly basis. They weren’t on Saturday.
Minnesota’s defensive lock was deftly picked open in the 29th minute. Danny Musovski’s flick beat both Wil Trapp and Micky Tapias and sprang Jefferson Savarino’s into the box. Savarino wasn’t challenged soon enough by Michael Boxall, who said he was making Savarino decide to cross or go at goal, and Savarino’s shot skipped underneath Dayne St. Clair.
Heath said the issues went back further in that sequence with Kemar Lawrence and became a “domino effect.”
But less than three minutes later, Hlongwane’s tight-angle shot deflected off Salt Lake’s Justen Glad for an own goal.
Struggling striker Luis Amarilla kept a starting spot amid the Loons exploring options from Ecuador and Mexico to move on from the Paraguayan before his contract expires at the end of the 2023 season. Amarilla had scored the game-winning goal against RSL last July, but he remains without an open-play goal in more than 700 minutes this season. He had two shots, neither on target, on Saturday night.
Briefly
Emanuel Reynoso was not following a fitness program when he decided to remain in Argentina in January and not report to preseason camp. He came back to Minnesota on May 6, had his MLS suspension lifted last week and participated in his first training session Thursday. The two-time MLS All-Star’s physique is thin but in need of strength. “That’s the stuff we have to build up,” Heath acknowledged. “… He’s very lean. I’m not sure there is a lot of base there.” A full week’s training will give the Loons a better idea how close Reynoso might be to making his season debut. The next time the Loons have a full week to prepare for a match will be leading up to CF Montreal away on June 10. … MNUFC announced an attendance of 19,912, the largest home crowd of the season and third-biggest since opening the stadium in 2019. … MNUFC pursued 20-year-old Colombian winger Carlos Andres Gomez in the offseason, but Salt Lake’s club record $4 million transfer fee to Millionaros FC in Bogota was too expensive for the Loons. “The issue when you buy somebody that young, it’s a lot of money for a young player, but if he hits and he makes it, it’s cheap,” Heath said. “That is the gamble sometimes. Do you buy the player when he’s available for what might be an inflated number, but if you do and he hits, then the $4 million is going to be cheap.” Gomez had one shot in seven substitute minutes. … Salt Lake (4-6-4, 16 points) is 5-3-6 against MNUFC all-time in MLS, and with the draw, stayed within a win of the Loons in the current Western Conference standings. … Lawrence left the game in the second half; he was dealing with a leg injury suffered in the first half.