Minnesota United’s unbeaten season start despite all obstacles ended on Saturday with a 2-0 loss at Philadelphia.
Minnesota United falls 2-0 at Philadelphia for first loss of the season
The Loons dropped to 3-1-1. They appeared to score an equalizer against the Union in the 82nd minute, but forward Tani Oluwaseyi was called offside.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 31, 2024 at 5:44AM
After scoring result-changing goals in the 88th minute or later in three of their first four games, the Loons went goalless in their first loss to follow three victories and a draw.
This time, the Loons appeared to score the equalizer in the 82nd minute after trailing 1-0 from the 16th minute. But Loons forward Tani Oluwaseyi was ruled offside a stride ahead on a long-ball counterattack just before Bongokuhle Hlongwane put the ball in the net from short range.
Two minutes later, Union forward Julian Carranza scored with a deft right-footed shot from the box’s right side for a two-goal margin his team didn’t need.
Midfielder Quinn Sullivan banged the Union’s big drum afterward, Philadelphia’s post-victory version of the Loons’ Wonderwall.
“That’s the nature of the game,” new Loons head coach Eric Ramsey said of such a turnabout.
Both teams entered Saturday as two of five teams still undefeated in MLS play. Philadelphia came in with a 1-0-3 record that started with three consecutive draws before a victory at Portland last Saturday.
Ramsay lamented his team’s inability to prepare fully after a bye week in which six players were away on international duty and star midfielder Emanuel Reynoso was absent while pursuing his U.S. immigration green card.
Ramsay also regretted elementary errors made on the two goals conceded by a Loons team that reconfigured its back line.
The six international players were not all available until Friday’s training because of jet-lag, travel and illness.
“We looked like a group that came together late in the week,” Ramsay said in a postgame video call with reporters. “We looked a little bit flat and lifeless, I would say. I do feel we still had enough chances to have won or least taken something from it. It wasn’t without its moments, but I would say maybe we were lacking the same level of energy we had until this point.”
Ramsay moved left back Devin Padelford to left center-back for Micky Tapias, who didn’t play because of what Ramsay called “a bit of a hamstring irritation.” Veteran Michael Boxall started at his usual right center-back position one day after he returned from international play with New Zealand in Egypt.
“It’s tough with guys just getting back,” Padelford said. “But we’ve all been doing this long enough, that really shouldn’t be an excuse for us. It definitely hurt us a little bit, but I don’t think that was the big key for what was the problem.”
The problem was a Philadelphia team that delivered long ball after long ball from the wing into the six-yard penalty box, including eight corner kicks.
“You know they’re going to test you in terms of direct play,” Ramsay said. “They are going to make life difficult for you around the box.”
One of the problems was a corner-kick that Loons defender DJ Taylor couldn’t prevent from skipping through the six-yard penalty box to Daniel Gazdag’s foot for a tap-in first goal. The other was Carranza getting behind defender Victor Erikkson for a perfectly placed shot just moments after Erikkson made his MLS debut.
“The goals we conceded weren’t classic goals in any way,” Ramsay said. “That’s frustrating. If we had tightened up on pretty basic things, we wouldn’t find ourselves in the position we were in.”
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
