Why was Minnesota United upset about their weekend draw?
Minnesota United earn a 2-2 result at the Vancouver Whitecaps
Minnesota United had to settle for a road draw this past weekend, a result that certainly seems a bit unfair in light of a controversial penalty decision late in the match.
A 75th minute goal by Minnesota United’s Robin Lod gave the visitors a 2-1 lead and what appeared to be a seemingly firm grasp on three points. It was a lead that was negated by a questionable call from referee Lukasz Szpala in the final moments of the match.
Two minutes into second half stoppage time, Szpala whistled Minnesota United midfielder Ethan Finley for a foul in the penalty area on Cristian Dájome. There was no look to the Video Assistant Referee from Szapala, a puzzling decision given that is appeared in both real time and replay that Finley may have been the one who was fouled on the play and not Dájome.
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Instead, Dájome converted from the spot to see Minnesota United share the points with the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“Surprised would be an understatement. We have a job to do on the field as players, the responsibility of a ref is to be very sure of it,” Finley said after the game when asked his thoughts on no call to VAR for the foul.
“For a guy who, I think, has maybe five games to his name as a referee, I don’t care if he thinks he was almost 100 percent, he needs to go look at that. It’s too big of a moment for him to not go look at it and make sure that what he saw live is the same thing that he saw. And if he still sees the same thing, so be it. But to not look at it, and that has to go on the VAR.
“If the VAR doesn’t call him to do it, then that should go on him. There needs to be transparency. This is an easy thing that we had in the bubble where there’s transparency in these rooms. I don’t understand why we can’t do it. It would be great for fan entertainment. Players and coaching staff would enjoy transparency. [Media] will like it. Who is objecting to it? Is it the refs? Okay, we’ll solve that problem but these are moments where we’re not going to know what happened between these five or six people but I think everyone should want to know and we should. We should be asking these questions. Too big of moments.
“We’ll look back at three months time right now and these two points could be the difference between hosting a playoff game or not. That’s the reality. And we’ll have to face that going forward.”
The draw puts Minnesota United on 23 points and in sixth place in the Western Conference with a 6-5-5 record, having drawn their last two matches (both on the road). The tie also means that Minnesota United has only lost once in their last 12 games.
They have taken an impressive 23 points from those 12 matches.