Minnesota United Vs San Jose Earthquakes: 3 things we learned – ‘Underdog’ Loons advance
1. Adrian Heath gameplan perfect
Adrian Heath had a gameplan. And while his Minnesota United team have rarely changed their style, sitting deep to compact the space, they did change their system a little on this occasion. Hassani Dotson started at central attacking midfield before slotting in at right-back, while Jacori Hayes swapped positions, moving into central midfield alongside Jan Gregus and Ozzie Alonso.
This midfield was inverted in a traditional 4-3-3 manner, not the 4-2-3-1 shape that Heath usually implements. Gregus and Hayes pushed high onto Jackson Yueill and Judson to prevent San Jose from playing out, while the wingers worked hard to double up on Cristian Espinoza and Valeri Qazaishvili.
Minnesota’s gameplan was perfectly conjured up to break on the chaos-inducing San Jose team, and then brilliantly executed by the players on the pitch. The central midfield trio were all excellent, with Gregus and Alonso continuing their cohesive partnership, while they could have scored plenty more on the counter-attack had they been more clinical.
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When they perform like this, Minnesota United are difficult to break down and explosive on the break. They might just ride the underdog tag all the way to the MLS is Back title.