Minnesota returns to Oklahoma City in an effort to avenge its Spring Season loss. The Loons have only one win on turf this year, beating the Eddies 2-0 in their second match of the season. The team will be without a few regular starters, including Kevin Venegas (knee surgery), Sammy Ndjock (hamstring strain), Stefano Pinho (hamstring), Greg Jordan (knee surgery), and Bernardo Anor (knee).
Form
| Rayo OKC | W | D | W | L | W | +4 GD | 2.0 PPG |
| MNUFC | — | W | L | W | W | +7 GD | 2.3 PPG |
Previous Meetings
Minnesota has only faced Rayo once previously, losing 1-0 away on June 4th. Carl Craig opted for a front three of Lance Laing, Stefano Pinho, and Danny Cruz, with Christian Ramirez coming off the bench as a 68th-minute substitution. Rayo winger Tyler Gibson scored the contest’s lone goal two minutes later on a deft volley, after being left alone at the far post inside the penalty area. The victory was Rayo’s first at home in the young club’s history.
Officials
| Referee | Alex Chilowicz |
| Assistant | Tom Felice |
| Assistant | Maggie Short |
| Fourth | Michael Cap |
Roster Report
Per FiftyFive.One’s Jeff Rueter, Sammy Ndjock remains out with a knee injury, and Kristian Nicht is sidelined with a sprained Achilles tendon. Expect Steward Ceus to make his second-straight start in goal.
Kevin Venegas also remains absent from training due to a knee injury. Last weekend, Craig opted to move Damion Lowe out to right back, pairing Brent Kallman and Tiago Calvano in the center of defense.
Minnesota’s 2012 “Mr. Soccer” Ismaila Jome made his Loons league debut last weekend against the Strikers. Coming on as a winger in the 63rd minute, Jome scored a goal seven minutes later to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead and put the game on ice. As Stefano Pinho left the same contest in the 65th minute after tweaking his hamstring, Jome has at least earned consideration for his first professional start.
Jamie Watson could also be used on the wing, as could J.C.Banks if Craig opts to include both Banks and Ben Speas in the same eleven. The seemingly-exiled Lance Laing could also be used in Pinho’s stead.
Statistical Notes
Setting aside Minnesota’s 131-128 edge in shots taken in spite of playing 14 games versus Oklahoma City’s 16, the Loons also hold a notable edge in converting their attempts into goals.
| Shots | On Target | Goals | Accuracy | Conversion | |
| Rayo OKC | 128 | 54 | 19 | 42.2% | 14.8% |
| MNUFC | 131 | 59 | 26 | 45.0% | 19.8% |
One cause of that superior conversion rate may be team play. The Loons have tallied assists on 73.1 percent of their goals (19-of-26), versus just 42.1 percent (8-of-19) for Rayo.
Rayo OKC: Last Time Out
In Oklahoma City’s midweek home victory over Tampa Bay, former Minnesota Thunder player Alen Marcina lined up his charges in the same 4-4-2 he used in last weekend’s road loss to Puerto Rico, with Derek Boateng swapped in for Pecka the lone change.
Particularly noticeable was how narrow Oklahoma City’s wingers played.
The average positions provided by OPTA give the appearance that Rayo used a diamond midfield, but it was Forbes that played on the right as opposed to centrally, while Michel—who has scored a team-leading eight goals, with four coming from the penalty spot—was the more attacking of Oklahoma City’s central midfield partnership.
Rayo escaped with a win when Rowdies goalkeeper Matt Pickens misplayed the ball in an attempt to clear it from just outside the penalty area, allowing Forbes to head the ball into an empty net. This, even though Oklahoma City was outshot 18-10 and put only two attempts on target to Tampa Bay’s five. The Rowdies also held 61.7% possession in the match, and won 13 corners to Rayo’s four. Additionally, Oklahoma City made 29 clearances to Tampa Bay’s eight.
Regarding the turf, which may have played a hand in Pickens’ blunder, Carl Craig told FiftyFive.One earlier this week, “With how soft it is, it’s a bit like running on sand. It’s not like most turf fields where it’s five rolls north-to-south and it runs the length of the pitch. There are seams all across the field as they’re velcroed together. The ball takes hops and rolls in different ways.”
Daniel Fernandes did turn in a solid performance in goal, and the Rayo keeper is now tied for league leads with 49 saves and six clean sheets.
Matchup
It will be interesting to see how well Minnesota is able to stretch the width of play against Oklahoma City. Lowe is an athletic center back who can put in a shift at fullback when needed, but does not trouble opposing teams the way a healthy Venegas does when getting forward. Additionally, there is the matter of who starts opposite Danny Cruz out wide.
The 30 year-old Watson brings guile and combination play, but prefers tucking in over pulling out wide. If that creates room for Justin Davis to overlap on attack, it could work. Jome is a somewhat unique player, having spent time at both fullback and striker. In his debut last weekend, most of Jome’s touches came along the channel between midfield and the flank, as opposed to along the touchline. Laing would be the obvious choice to provide width, but seems to be on the outside looking in at present.
With two games in hand on first-place Rayo, Minnesota controls its own destiny in the Fall Season. Nearing the half-way point in the combined regular season, there is still plenty of soccer to be played, so tomorrow’s match isn’t a must-win contest. But three points are certainly obtainable for the Loons, and Oklahoma City is not as good as the Indy team that handed Minnesota its first loss of the fall.
The worst outcome, would be conceding multiple goals, at which point fans across Twitter would again be subjected to Rayo’s MS Paint offerings:
— RayoOKC (@RayoOKC) July 28, 2016
Leave a Reply