Minnesota United FC couldn’t keep pace with Tampa Bay as Joe Cole scored a first half goal that proved to be enough to earn the three points for the visiting Rowdies.
It was only Cole’s third header goal of his career. “It was nice to get on the score sheet and get my first one for the new club,” Cole shared after the game.
He was assisted by former Loon Kalif Alhassan who was still fired up after the game. “I got Viva [Kevin Venegas] one on one and I knew I was going to beat him. Joe Cole was wide open so I put in a good cross and it was a good finish by Cole.”
Minnesota United FC and the 7,915 fans in attendance were not nearly as happy about the result. Neither was head coach Carl Craig. “We take the plaudits when we do well. You better be willing to take the lumps when you don’t,” said Craig.
With a Justin Davis out with a red card suspension and Speas, Laing and Cruz nursing injuries, it was bound to be a new look for Minnesota. Frequent sub Bernardo Añor again got the start, this time on the left side, while veteran Jamie Watson took up Cruz’s spot on the right. Pinho played as the attacking midfielder/second forward.
In the 25th minute Jeb Brovsky went down with a shoulder injury and was replaced by Ibson.
After a stern halftime talk from Carl Craig, Minnesota still came out flat in the second half.
Early in the second half, Minnesota lost their own throw in Tampa’s defensive third. The ball was quickly fed upfield to a sprinting Joe cole who beat three Minnesota players up the left side of the field.
Cole then passed a perfectly weighted diagonally ball to Eric Avila. The Rowdies forward received the ball just to the right of the penalty arc. Alone with only the late-arriving Kallman and goalkeeper Ndjock to beat, Avila first timed the ball hard and low toward the far post. The shot seemed to have caught Ndjock on the wrong foot and the most he could offer was a quick flick of his right foot which was too little too late.
Soon after that, Brent Kallman would come off with another injury for the Loons. “The kid injured his groin,” Craig said. “We can’t even get a full compliment of players on the training pitch.”
The new look Loons didn’t start to gel until Minnesota was already down two goals, but for Coach Carl Craig it shouldn’t matter. “Certain players weren’t doing their jobs as instructed. It’s not a lack of ability. It’s not a lack of quality. Injuries will play a part, but each of these lads were signed by the club to do a job.”
Late in the second half, Minnesota fans thought they had a goal back, but even though Anor had put the ball in the back of the net, he was five yards offside.
Down two-nil and unable to create any real chances on goals, Minnesota’s frustrations boiled over. First, Ibson was given a yellow card for kicking the ball at the ref and various team members exchanged words after passes were missed.
Tempers flared for both teams five minutes before full time. Zac Portillos went down with in Minnesota’s half, but United played on unaware of the severity of his injury. After JC Banks was fouled near the box, pushing and shoving followed for over a minute while the referee Luis Guardia tried to regain control of the match.
Ramirez had a shot early in stoppage time, but Rowdies goalkeeper Matt Pickens was there to make the save. Moments later Banks had a shot on goal, but Pickens was there again to make the stop.
After that initial press in stoppage time, Tampa was able to run out the clock without any more chances for Minnesota.
One bright spot for Minnesota was the return of fan favorite Jamie Watson. “It was good to be back,” Watson said. “It’s been over a year being out with this ACL. I still have a lot of work to do. Hopefully this starts a run where I can continue trying to break in and contribute in whatever ways I’m called upon.”
Minnesota travels to St. Louis to face St. Louis FC in US Open Cup action on Wednesday and then heads further south to visit expansion side Rayo OKC next Saturday in league play.
Highlights
Press Conferences and Post Game Interviews
Photo Gallery of game by Jeremy Olson.
Brian Quarstad and Jeff Rueter contributed to this report.
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