Minnesota United gained a much needed point in the NASL standings on the road in Saturday’s “heated” matinée.
There are many different kinds of football, and I’m not talking about the difference between “American” (NFL) and “European” (soccer). There’s good, high quality, entertaining, attacking football with excellent ball possession and precision passing, then there’s ugly football – pretty much the exact opposite. Saturday’s match between Minnesota United and the Jacksonville Armada wasn’t either. It was more of a sluggish, sweltering stalemate.
With temperatures reaching a game-time record 97° Fahrenheit, both teams had cursing their luck that the city’s NFL team, the Jaguars, were able to influence the match’s start time. The Jags were reluctant to have their sister club take away any viewership of their preseason game that will play later Saturday night.
Neither team had clearly defined moments of real control throughout the game, exchanging the occasional lone-man rush, the odd shot or two and a few corners. Minnesota had the slight advantage going into break, controlling possession 52% of the time, while adding seven shots to Jacksonville’s five. However, the intense heat made for some careless play and flared tempers, resulting in a pair of yellow cards for United players Jamie Watson and Ibson.
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Ibson, had the two best chances of the game in the first half, drew United’s second red card of the week – the other being Jack Blake against Tampa Bay on Wednesday – late in the game. Ibson lost control of the ball in the Armada’s zone, firing a brutally hard bounce off an opposing player, then catching him in the midsection with cleat. The official determined that it was an automatic red card, and the Loons suddenly found themselves having to defend an important road point, down a man with 13 minutes to go in regulation time.
Fortunately, players off the bench like Danny Cruz, Ismalia Jome and Brent Kallman provided enough of an energy boost to prevent Jacksonville from capitalizing on their man advantage. Cruz nearly capped off the game with a win in the 89th minute, pouncing on a cross from Kallman in the box which was then blocked by the defender and out of play. Minnesota finished the game leading in shots (11, one on goal), interceptions (16), corners (6) and tackles (20), while Jacksonville posted a very impressive 91.6% passing percentage and a 55% possession time.
Minnesota United has an extended stay in the Sunshine State (the poor lads) with visits to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale Saturday, August 27th, and Wednesday, August 31st, respectively. Miami FC sits just four points back of United in the Fall Standings, not including their Saturday night showdown with Rayo OKC, making next Saturday’s match another six-point battle for playoff positioning.
The Loons will be headed to MLS, but there’s still a NASL championship to play for in the time being.