A rash of absences forced Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath to switch-up his starting 11 and formation for the Columbus Crew SC match Tuesday. Here's how the Loons will line up:
Bobby Shuttleworth
Jerome Thiesson, Joe Greenspan, Justin Davis
Kevin Venegas, Ibson, Sam Cronin, Ish Jome
Kevin Molino
Christian Ramirez, Abu Danladi
Bench: Patrick McLain, Collen Warner, Rasmus Schuller, Collin Martin, Bashkim Kadrii, Miguel Ibarra
This formation is a 3-5-2, or more specifically, a 3-4-1-2. Quite the change from Heath's usual 4-2-3-1. The Loons are also a man short on the bench because there's literally no one else available.
Defender Francisco Calvo, midfielder Johan Venegas and defender Jermaine Taylor are all on national team duty. Midfielder Bernardo Anor (leg), defender Thomas de Villardi (Achilles), defender Marc Burch (groin), defender Vadim Demidov (knee), defender Brent Kallman (knee) and goalkeeper John Alvbage (thumb) are all injured.
Greenspan and Danladi both recovered from injuries in time to start this match, a concussion and hamstring tweak, respectively. This is Greenspan's first MLS match and start as a United player.
Here is how Columbus will start, a different lineup than usual. Two of the team's top scorers are not playing, with Justin Meram on the bench and Federico Higuain not in the squad. Ethan Finlay was also born in Duluth, btw:
