Minnesota Migration: A weekly recap of Minnesota soccer players in the pros.
It was a mixed weekend for our players in New England as Teal Bunbury kept himself in the fight for playing time and Kassey Kallman’s Breakers fell back to the bottom of the table.
Teal Bunbury returned to the field for the New England Revolution for the first time in two weeks in a 2-1 win over the Seattle Sounders. After falling behind early, the Revolution equalized with a 24th minute PK after center ref, and MN native, Fotis Bazakos whistled for a controversial handball. The Revolution took the lead in the 80th minute and held on for just their third win of the season.
Bunbury entered the game on the right side in the 54th minute for Juan Agudelo. Revolution fans were soon shown hints of what could develop this season now that Bunbury was reunited with former Sporting Kansas City teammate Kei Kamara when the duo nearly connected twice in dangerous positions. In the 86th minute Bunbury was denied his second goal of the season when he sent a curling left-footed shot off of the crossbar.
The familiarity between the him and Kamara should aid in Bunbury’s return to the starting eleven if the pair can begin to capitalize on future connections on the field. They will have two weeks to regain their chemistry before the Revolution’s next game on June 18th against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
A week after the Boston Breakers earned their first points of the season the team suffered their biggest loss since the NWSL’s inaugural season in 2013. With captain Whitney Engan training with the USWNT, the Breakers returned to the familiar center defensive pairing of Kassey Kallman and Julie King against the Western New York Flash. Boston fell behind early, but held on to enter halftime only down 1-0.
The Breakers used all three of their substitutions during halftime to try and start the second half with a spark, but it was the Flash that continued their run, scoring in the 64th minute after Kallman was nutmegged outside of the box and, as she tried to recover, kept New York’s Lynn Willams onside for an easy tap-in at the back post. Less than a minute later Williams scored again, this time running onto a lead pass and dribbling into the box before slipping the ball past the keeper. New York scored the last of their four goals from a PK in the 78th minute.
The Breakers also have a bye this weekend and will need to use this much needed time off to refocus their defense and work to solve their unproductive offense before they host the Washington Spirit in a rematch of their 1-0 loss in the season opener.
Tyler David earned his first start of the USL season in St. Louis FC’s 1-1 draw with Rio Grand Valley FC Toros. David was in the center of the midfield, but played more of a box-to-box role and found himself in dangerous positions in the Toros’ penalty area. Unfortunately he was unable to get a shot off during his forays into the attack. David also made a number of winning tackles before being subbed out in the 70th minute.
The Toros took the lead seconds before David left the game, but six minutes later St. Louis’s leading scorer Irvin Herrera tied it up with his sixth goal of the season.
The draw keeps St. Louis undefeated at home and they will look to continue that streak against Minnesota United FC on Wednesday in the 3rd round of the U.S. Open Cup. After facing Minnesota, St. Louis will travel to take on the Colorado Spring Switchbacks Saturday.
Eric Miller was an unused substitute in the Colorado Rapids 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union. The Rapids’ next game is June 18th against the Chicago Fire
Calum Mallace has yet to return from injury for the Montreal Impact. The Impact will play a home-away series against Toronto FC in the next two weeks before they travel to take on Columbus Crew SC on June 18th.
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