Minnesota United FC welcomes the Tampa Bay Rowdies to the National Sports Center in the penultimate match home match for the Spring Season. Both teams look to improve after disappointing losses, and Minnesota looks to keep pace for the Spring Championship.
The Loons are undefeated at home and not having conceded in the NSC in 2016. They will hope for that to continue as they welcome last year’s heart-breaker Tommy Heinemann back to the North. Heinemann and company search for their third win on the season. With the Spring Season likely out of hand the Rowdies will have to settle for playing for combined table points at this point, looking to find a spot in the postseason.
Previous Meetings
The Loons lead the all-time series against the Rowdies 11-7-7, with an average of 1.52 goals per match. The Loons have been nearly invincible at home, winning each match in Blaine this season. The Rowdies have won once on the road (in Fort Lauderdale), drawn once, and lost once.
Officials
Nima Saghafi holds the whistle this weekend, assisted by Justin Mack and John Krill. Amber O’Connor serves as the fourth official. Mr. Saghafi has officiated thrice this season, averaging 23 fouls per match, 2.3 yellow cards, and has only issued one red card this season. Neither Mr. Mack nor Mr. Krill had statistics available on PRO’s website.
Roster Report
Carl will be missing Justin Davis due to his red card in Indianapolis. Greg Jordan continues to recover from his knee surgery. Ben Speas is also unavailable due to injury.
Statistical Notes
Minnesota and Tampa Bay are similar in many ways. Minnesota has conceded 8 goals to Tampa’s 7, but the Loons have 4 clean sheets to the Rowdies’ 3. Minnesota has faced 22 shots on target to the Rowdies’ 19.
The Rowdies, however, are scrappy; they’ve won 51% of their duels this season to the Loons’ 48%. This stat seems closer than it really is – Tampa has won more duels and lost fewer than Minnesota.
Both teams complete roughly 75% of their passes. Tampa Bay is more efficient with its crossing, completely nearly 22% to Minnesota’s 16%. Neither team has found immense success directly off of crosses.
The biggest difference between the two clubs is in goals scored; Minnesota has netted more than twice as many goals as the Rowdies. Again, though, the separation is not as vast as that might indicate; the two teams have created an almost identical number of shots on target, and their shooting accuracy is very similar. The conversion rates are perhaps due to regress: Minnesota is converting 18.8% of its shots at current, while Tampa merely converts 9.4%.
Tampa Bay: Last Time Out
Stuart Campbell deployed his men in a standard 4-2-3-1 in New York, with new signing Joe Cole in the midfield behind former Loon Kalif Alhassan.
As Alex pointed out in the week’s power rankings: the Rowdies are creating chances, but only Heinemann seems able to put them away. Could we see a motivated Kalif Alhassan punish his former side and get on the score sheet?
Defensively, the Rowdies have been very solid with Pickens between the sticks. The Loons will have their work cut out for them if they are going to send the Rowdies home with another loss.
The Matchup
Heinemann ended Minnesota’s season last year, and there’s little doubt he’d love to spoil their Spring Championship hopes this season. Kalif Alhassan can be very dangerous, and the two will be running at a defensive line hat has played well, but is short their left flank. Look for the Rowdies to exploit Davis’ replacement.
Also look for Minnesota to hold most of the ball; in their rather impressive outing against the Cosmos, Tampa was content to defend deeper. The only place they were willing to push past the center line to defend was on the right flank, where Justin Davis normally plays.
This could spell trouble for United; with a deputy in at left back, Avila and Alhassan should look to push further in that region, which will free up the rest of the field for Heinemann and Nanchoff.
This is not quite a do-or-die match for United, but a loss takes all the momentum they’d built and throws it away. The Loons control their own destiny at the moment, and they need a win if that is to continue. Despite Davis’ absence, Carl Craig and company need to defeat the visitors and hold serve.
Leave a Reply