On the heels of a blowout of Carolina, Minnesota United traveled down to Indianapolis, looking to give Indy Eleven their first loss at home during the 2016 season. After a few chances in the first half, including a missed PK by Christian Ramirez, a mistake in the defensive third gave Indy the lead and eventually the game.
Juliano Vicentini was the lone change in the Loon’s starting line-up from last week’s starting XI, filling in for the suspended Jeb Brovsky in the center of the midfield next to Aaron Pitchkolan.
A setting sun gave Minnesota an immediate advantage as Indy Eleven goalie Jon Busch was forced to wear a hat while looking directly into the light during the entirety of the first half.
Minnesota nearly found themselves a goal down within the first minute of play when Éamon Zayed collected a lofted ball at the top of the box, turned, and sent a shot past Sammy Ndjock, but the goal was called back because he was in an offside position.
Later in the first half, Minnesota also had a goal called back when Kevin Venegas sent a ball to the back post from a free kick on the right side of the field. The service found Christian Ramirez at the far post. Ramirez volleyed the ball back across the face of goal where Pitchkolan headed it into the goal, but the assistant referee’s flag was up for offside.
In the 34th minute Stéfano Pinho sent a cross into the box from the left side where J.C. Banks connected with a diving header, but saw his effort go wide of the far post. Three minutes later Pinho created another scoring opportunity when he dribbled into the box with a series of crossovers before ending up on the turf while trying to split a pair of Indy defenders to earn a PK.
Ramirez stepped up to the spot to take the PK and went for placement, sending his shot towards the bottom corner to the keeper’s left. However, a hat-less Busch was up to the task and got down to push the ball beyond the post.
Minnesota’s first substitution of the night came in the 69th minute when Lance Laing entered the game for Danny Cruz after the trainer was called on to check on him. Laing took his usual place on the left side while Pinho switched over to the right.
In the 78th minute a poor pass from Laing was intercepted by Dylan Mares 25 yards from Minnesota’s goal. Mares took a touch before sending a shot over Sammy Ndjock, who was caught off his line, and into the goal for the lead.
Shortly after going down a goal, Minnesota brought on Damion Lowe for Banks as another target for long balls and crosses up field and Daniel Mendes entered the game for Pitchkolan.
In the dying minutes of the game a flurry of activity nearly led to the Loons pulling level. In
the 88th minute Mendes pounced on a rebound only to see his shot end up just wide of the near post for a corner. After a brief scuffle and delay that led to a yellow card for Greg Janicki for pushing Mendes to the ground, Venegas sent the corner to the far post where Ramirez sent it towards goal only to have the shot cleared off the goal line by Mares.
An altercation after the final whistle resulted a red card being shown to Indy’s Lovel Palmer and Minnesota’s Tiago Calvano further set the stage for a contested game next week when the two sides meet again at the National Sports Center.
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