Minnesota United’s defense-first philosophy comes with a catch: It keeps games close enough to lose

If only MLS matches were 70 minutes long, Minnesota United would be the favorite to win the MLS Supporters’ Shield.

Jokes aside, Minnesota has 37 points from 21 games, but that includes two games in which they’ve turned a 70th-minute tie into a loss and two more in which they led at the 70-minute mark but only earned a draw. Add in those six dropped points, and the Loons would have 43 and be on top of the overall MLS standings.

The Loons have trailed less than any other team in the league this year, but they also have rarely cruised. It’s not really how the team is set up. Minnesota’s game plan is to keep things tight defensively, get goals from small margins — such as set pieces — and use that defensive identity to see things out.

“I think you can get drawn into maybe a false narrative around that, in the sense that the goals we have conceded late on live long in the memory, but we’ve also seen out countless games defending in that way,” coach Eric Ramsay said Tuesday, after his team held on late to defeat Chicago in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals.

On Friday at training, Ramsay echoed what he said postgame: Whatever his team might need to improve in endgame defense, he loves his team’s intensity. “The players are very, very good at defending the box, and defending at the top of the box,” he said. “I don’t want to start to pick holes in that in any way. [I showed the players] the clip in the meeting room this morning of us at 116 minutes against Chicago, with every player fully engaged in the defensive phase — and it leads to Kelvin’s [Kelvin Yeboah’s 120th-minute penalty kick that turned a 2-1 lead into a 3-1 win].

“I think if we get that as a bare minimum, more often than not, we’ll be in a good place.”

It comes down to needing to find the same balance the Loons often need to strike in the first 70 minutes, as well. When the team is defending a lot, it can be too easy for the defenders to sit back and launch a low-percentage long ball, in the hope that one of the forwards can latch onto it and score a spectacular counterattacking goal.

But putting together that build-out structure can be even harder when the Loons are defending a lead. It’s hard to laud midfielders and wingbacks for their defensive attention at the top of the penalty area but also ask them to take the risks of moving the ball down the field carefully instead of just booting it long.

“I think we are taking some real steps forward in the last couple of weeks in terms of that final phase of the puzzle for us, which is being in organized possession but not losing the purpose that we want to play with,” Ramsay said. “I think in the last couple of games in the first half, we’ve done that really well, made good decisions as to when to counter-attack quickly, when to take an extra pass, when to move more slowly up the pitch with five or six passes as opposed to two or three — and that’s the difference in getting your wingbacks on the last line.

“In the latter stages of games, that has been more difficult.”

In some ways, it truly is step three of three for Minnesota. The Loons have already figured out the first two steps: how not to fall behind and how to get a lead. Now all they need to do is figure out how to hold on.

Midfielder Hoyeon Jung has struggled to make his mark in his first MLS season, and the South Korean might not have many more chances to do so this season.

“We’re not exactly sure of the time scale, but he won’t be back any time soon, unfortunately,” said Ramsay, who noted it was even more of an unfortunate injury given that it came in a friendly.