Tag: Minnesota United

MLS Daily: Columbus win again, Minnesota grab first ever MLS victory and Galaxy thrashed in Vancouver.

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29 goals have been scored in the MLS this weekend. 

Columbus Crew continue their impressive start to the season with a 2-0 victory against Orlando City at the Mapfre stadium.

Justin Meram scored twice for Gregg Berhalter’s men, as they stretched their winning run to three successive matches.

The Iraqi international netted his first with a low shot into the bottom right corner inside the opening 15 minutes. He then doubled his and his team’s lead in a similar fashion on 76 minutes.

“He’s flying,” Crew SC captain Wil Trapp told mlssoccer.com.

“He’s on another level when he’s confident. He’s been contributing in every single game this year. I think him signing that new deal and getting his footing underneath him and being able to move forward without anything hanging over his head has really been good.”

Minnesota United finally had something to cheer about after a tough start in their debut season in MLS.

A brace from Christian Ramirez, along with goals from Kevin Molino and Johan Venegas helped the Loons to a 4-2 victory over free-falling Real Salt Lake.

RSL, who will now be managed by Mike Petke following the result in Minnesota, have not won a match all season.

“It’s tough when you’re away and don’t finish your chances,” Yura Movsisyan told the Desert News. “It comes back to bite you, and that’s what happened. The last few weeks have been difficult. A new season starts next week with a new coach.

“It won’t matter who you are, whether you’re a designated player or not. If you train well and impress the coach, you’ll play. If not, you shouldn’t.”

Another team struggling for consistency is LA Galaxy, after they were beaten 4-2 in Vancouver.

Despite Romain Alessandrini’s brace which gave the visitors a 2-1 lead at half-time, the Whitecaps scored three second half goals to grab their maiden win this season.

Galaxy sit tenth in the Western Conference, and captain Jelle Van Damme admitted that losing from a winning position was not good enough.

“There were too many mistakes today. We weren’t playing well but we were leading and this cannot happen. You cannot lose a game 4-2 when your leading 2-1 with 20 minutes to go.

“We have to react next week. We have to relax, regroup, start over and do better.”

Elsewhere, Bastian Schweinsteiger scored on his MLS debut as Chicago Fire drew 2-2 with Montreal Impact, and New York City returned to winning ways after they beat San Jose 2-1 at Yankee Stadium.

Erick Torres grabbed a hattrick as Houston Dynamo thrashed New York Red Bulls 4-1. In the capital, DC United won for the first time this season, beating Philadelphia Union 2-1.

Toronto were held to a 0-0 draw in their home opener against Sporting KC, whilst Seattle’s match against Atlanta also finished goalless.

 

MLS Daily: Minnesota United thrashed yet again on the road.

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Adrian Heath’s side have conceded 18 goals in just four MLS games this season. 

Minnesota United are quickly becoming the whipping boys of the MLS.

Following on from their 5-1 defeat to Portland on the opening weekend and their 1-6 home loss to Atlanta United, the Loons went down 5-2 to New England Revolution yesterday.

Adrian Heath’s side again conceded early as Juan Agudelo met Chris Tierney’s cross with a free header inside four minutes.

Collen Warner equalised for the away side, but New England were soon ahead once again through Kei Kamara.

Lee Nguyen made it 3-1 from the penalty spot, with Agudelo netting his second just before half-time with a low shot.

Brent Kallman halved the deficit when he struck home a half volley three minutes into the second half, but another penalty was converted this time by Tierney to make it 5-2 to the hosts.

Twice Minnesota conceded just minutes after getting themselves back into the game. No team can expect to win games when they give away cheap goals so soon after scoring.

Offensively the Loons aren’t so bad. They have scored in each of their four matches so far. However, it is their fragile defence that is causing a lot of the problems.

They have conceded an average of 4.5 goals a game so far, and only have the single point so far this season from a possible 12.

Does Heath need to invest in some quality defenders? They are certainly missing a leader on the pitch. Someone that will keep the line, someone that will make sure that the defence is solid and will keep clean sheets. Whether that means signing a DP then so be it. They need to change something otherwise they will not survive in the MLS.

They may have been missing nine players through internationals and injuries, but the Head Coach was not impressed with his side in the opening 45.

“The first half was really, really poor defensively,” Heath told MNUFC.com after the game.

“Every time they attacked it looked like they were going to score.

“I thought we were a lot better in the second half, but it was a little bit too little, too late.”

As for the Revs, it is a first win of 2017 and another home opening victory.

Jay Heaps’ side are now unbeaten in 11 home openers, and after two tough away defeats at Colorado and Dallas, this could be the platform on which New England build upon this season.

New England’s Diego Fagundez praised teammate Agudelo after the game. He told press after the game that “If he makes good runs we will reward him and thats what we did. We can beat anybody in the league if we play like we did again.”

Agudelo added: “The mind set was really strong from the team. The coaches told us to come out flying at home. We wanted to win it inside the first 15 minutes and that’s exactly what we did.”

Elsewhere, Portland Timbers’ 100 percent start to the 2017 season is over after they lost 3-2 away at Columbus Crew.

Crew now overtake New York Red Bulls at the top of the Eastern Conference, after Jesse Marsch’s side drew 0-0 at home to Real Salt Lake.

MLS Daily: LA Galaxy finally get their first points of the season at Real Salt Lake.

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The five-time MLS Champions lost their first two matches of the 2017 campaign. 

Perhaps it’s best if LA Galaxy stayed away from the StubHub Centre.

Curt Onalfo’s side lost both their home matches to Dallas and Portland Timbers respectively in weeks 1 and 2 of the 2017 season.

It’s the first time since 2012 that the Galaxy have lost consecutive home matches in the regular season, making this weekend’s game even in Utah even more important.

Things started badly for the visitors as RSL’s Yura Movsisya headed in their first goal of the campaign at the Rio Tinto Stadium.

Kyle Beckermann was shown a second yellow card just before half-time in what was a game-changing moment, as the Galaxy made their one man advantage count.

Dave Romney cannoned in a thunderbolt of a volley into the top corner to equalise, before Emmanuel Boateng fired home a low cross with just over 15 minutes to go.

Real Salt Lake’s Chad Barrett will be kicking himself with what has to go down as miss of the season so far.

The unmarked substitute somehow managed to shoot wide with an open goal in front of him. But the Galaxy held on to claim all three points.

After the 2-1 victory, match-winner Boateng told LA Galaxy the side were relieved to finally win a game.

“This is a great win for us,” he said.

“I felt we were confident enough to beat RSL. The red card helped us a lot as we could then add some pressure on their defence.

“It was important to get this win before the international break.”

Head Coach Onalfo was delighted to get get his first win as boss.

“This win means a lot. I’ve worked my whole life for this job,” Onalfo said after the game.

“I want to win and be successful, and we’re going to be. It’s good to get the first win under my belt and the first of many, many more.

It was a busy Saturday in MLS, with 10 of the 11 matches this weekend now completed.

Portland Timbers came back from 2-1 down to win 4-2 at home to Houston Dynamo and keep their 100% start to the 2017 season in tact.

Columbus Crew won 2-0 in the capital to pile further misery on DC United, whilst Atlanta United continued to make huge strides with another emphatic win over Chicago Fire (4-0).

There were also wins for FC Dallas, Sporting KC, Orlando City and Toronto FC, with New York City FC and Montreal drawing their match 1-1 at Yankee Stadium.

Minnesota United also grabbed their first ever MLS point away at Colorado Rapids in an entertaining 2-2 draw.

 

MLS Daily: Big wins for New York City FC and Atlanta United.

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The two sides scored a whopping ten goals between them!

It was goals, goals, goals on Sunday in the MLS, with both New York City FC and Atlanta United recording huge wins after their opening round defeats.

NYCFC, who were beaten 1-0 in Orlando last week, thumped DC United 4-0 at Yankee Stadium.

Captain David Villa netted a brace, with Rodney Wallace and Maxi Moralez both scoring their first goals for New York respectively.

It was a commanding performance from Patrick Vieira’s men, who are looking to once again challenge in the end of season Play-Offs.

The former-Arsenal skipper has been in the New York job for just over a year, and the Frenchman insists his team will only get better.

“It was a great team performance,” he told the press after the match.

“It was important to win our first home match and we did that really well.

“After the Orlando game, I told the players to play the same way because we did create chances but didn’t take them. Today we did take our changes, and we will go and celebrate what was a very good win.”

Moralez, who also got two assists as well as the goal, echoed his manager’s thoughts. He told @NYCFC after the game: “We must carry on playing like this throughout the season.

“I am very happy to have scored the goal but also to have played my debut in front of the supporters and get the win.”

It was also a day to remember for Atlanta, who recorded their first ever MLS win with a 6-1 demolition of fellow new boys Minnesota United.

Despite the freezing cold weather, Atlanta were in red hot form. Josef Martinez racked up the first MLS hat-trick of the season, with Miguel Almiron scoring twice and Jacob Peterson also finding the net for Tito Martino’s team.

After their heartbreaking 2-1 home defeat to New York Red Bulls last week, Atlanta showed the world their true potential as they aim to claim a stake for one of the Eastern Conference’s play-off spots.

Martinez told the Atlanta Journal Constitution after the game: “It’s always nice to score, even more so when it’s three, but the most important thing is that the team got the win tonight and it feels really good to get the first in in team history.”

Head coach Martino admitted he had never managed a game in the snow before, and said after the match:  “Above all, we played a simple game and avoided problems overall.

“I think if it wasn’t so snowy, we would’ve been able to play more like we did in the first 15 minutes.

“We would’ve liked to have had our first win in the first game, but we’re happy with the first win as a team.”

Elsewhere, Portland kept up their 100% start to the new season with a 1-0 win at LA Galaxy, who themselves are yet to register a single point this campaign.

MLS Daily: Minnesota United taught harsh lesson in Portland after 2017 MLS curtain-raiser.

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No one said it was going to be easy. 

Minnesota United and Atlanta United are both in their maiden MLS campaigns this year, with the former taking centre stage last night against 2015 MLS Champions Portland Timbers.

However it was to be a tough first night for Adrian Heath’s side, who for all their possession, crashed to a 5-1 defeat at Providence Park.

Lawrence Olum scored the first goal of the 2017 MLS season before braces from midfielder Diego Valeri and striker Fanendo Adi made the scoreline convincing. Christian Ramirez netted Minnesota’s first ever goal in America’s top division, but it would turn out to be just a consolation.

Minnesota were very much in the game for 80 minutes, until three quick-fire goals sunk the hearts of the travelling fans.

Adi, whose two goals came in stoppage time at the end of the second half to kill off any Minnesota fightback, told Portland after the game: “I knew I was always going to score.

“I have been working hard in training and I feel confident in front of goal.

“It’s an amazing result. They are an excellent new team and we are very happy to come out with the victory.”

Defender Olum added: “To win the way we won in front of the home crowd is an incredible feeling.

Timbers head coach Caleb Porter believed the score did not justify the performance of Minnesota.

“They are a good side (Minnesota). They will beat teams this year,” he admitted.

“The way we managed to control those last 10 minutes after conceding shows that this group can be scary going forward when they want to be.

“The back four did well to manage their counter-attacking style so overall it was a good game from us.”

 

Heath, who used to play for Everton, told Minnesota after the game: “When I look at our long periods of possession, that gives me a little bit of optimism as well, that we can actually keep the ball with the players we’ve got on the team.

“Their goals were at really crucial times, every time we felt we were just creeping back into the game then, we had another one against us.

“I thought we started a little apprehensive but we grew into the game in the first half. Second half, I thought we started to impose ourselves a little bit. Somebody just said we had the most possession this evening, which surprised me, but I thought we were in the game.

“We played against a really good team, but at the 82nd minute, it’s still 2-1 and we’re looking more likely at that stage. To finish the game with 5 goals against is a little bit of a poor reflection of the evening.”