October was ushered into the land of 10,000 lakes with a day handcrafted for the local tourism bureau. Warm, clear skies illuminated trees slowly building up the motivation to display autumn’s colors. And on this ideal day, it is only fitting that international athletes competing on Minnesota grass lead to the home side retiring for the night with the scoring advantage.
Unfortunately, that applies to the American Ryder Cup team at Hazeltine. Minnesota United was not as fortunate.
Minnesota had much to gain from its match against Jacksonville; the only NASL team to earn less than a point per match all season. Minnesota was playing at home, with a playoff spot on the line. Jacksonville… had less to play for. Leading up to the Minnesota game, the Armada earned only three wins in twenty-six tries. If anything was gifted to the Loons to help them find their mojo, a visit from the Armada should have done the trick. However, it was Jacksonville who showed the determination to hang in against the press, and score a clutch goal at the end to seal the victory.
The Loons had their chances. Watson was active throughout the night, pinging the crossbar at one point and getting bowled over in the box for a controversial non-call. Later, Justin Davis and Watson worked a sublime one-two only to get called offside. Ramirez was inches away from heading the ball into the net in the 81st minute.
And Minnesota was visibly committed to its defensive responsibilities, with an active press and tackles across the field. In fact, Minnesota had eight of its 11 players with an average position in Jacksonville’s half (for comparison, only two Armada players had an average position in Minnesota’s half). The game was played largely in the visitor’s side. And it was a common sight to see Minnesota players hit the turf in an effort to make a defensive play.
But this aggressive strategy didn’t yield the results needed to win. In spite of playing more in its own half, Jacksonville had just as many defensive actions in the attacking half as Minnesota. And Jacksonville had more shots than the Loons, as well.
After the match, coach Carl Craig praised the team’s effort; “We looked like we cared about it, from start to finish.” And when faced with the recent run of four losses, he put it in his characteristic blunt fashion: “Tonight [was] not good enough, again, but there is a lot to build on.”
Minnesota will seek to build on the energy they brought to the match against Jacksonville, and seek a better result when they return to the field against Tampa Bay in a critical match on Wednesday.
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