Soccer Recap 24: Loons Out Of Leagues Cup & U.S. Soccer Olympic Update
Minnesota Soccer Spot
Tuesday, August 6th
Loons Out Of Leagues Cup & U.S. Soccer Olympic Update
*Disclaimer: My takes are not thoughtful, and they are NOT based in knowledge.*
Loons OUT Of Leagues Cup
This blog will be short and sweet this week, so don't worry. You won't have to read paragraph upon paragraph of complaints. (Unless you enjoy the negativity, which, in that case, I'm sorry you'll miss out on it this week).
Minnesota's run in Leagues Cup 2024 has officially come to an end. The Loons played their final round-robin-style match this past Tuesday against Liga MX's Necaxa. In the 1-0 victory for Minnesota, Dayne St. Clair carried the team on his shoulders to victory. The Canadian international made a record-breaking SIXTEEN saves in one match, a few being world-class.
Here's how Minnesota lined up ahead of this match:
Eric Ramsay opted to go with a 5-4-1 formation. Dayne St. Clair gets the start in goal. The five-man backline features the likes of Mickey Tapias and Devin Padelford, all familiar faces to Minnesota United fans. MNUFC 2 players Loïc Mesanvi and Morris Duggan (on loan to MNUFC 2 from the first team) get the start alongside MLS SuperDraft Hugo Bacharach. Robin Lod and Carlos Harvey get the start in the midfield with Bongi Hlongwane and Rosales on the wings. (Sang Bin Jeong is still out for personal family matters). Tani Oluwaseyi starts as the lone striker up top, moving Teemu Pukki to the bench.
The match started brightly for the Loons: In the sixth minute, Rosales sends a ball to Mesanvi whose making a run up Minnesota's left-hand side. He then finds Hlongwane, who is making a run just in front of him. He provides a clever back-heel to Mesanvi who continued his run. As Mesanvi is making his way around the inside of Necaxa's box, it looks as though he is tripped up. Initially, the referee ignores Minnesota's protest but is eventually sent to the monitor. Upon further review, despite Necaxa players surrounding the official (super classy), the referee points to the spot. Robin Lod is able to shrug off the trash talk from the Mexican side, and he puts it away in the bottom right corner. The match is 1-0.
From then on, it looks as though the match will go south for the Loons. In the twentieth minute, a midfielder for Necaxa provides a split ball, catching Bacharach sleeping a bit. He slides in for the challenge, taking the player out. Because Bacharach is the last defender, he is sent off. The free kick that results from the challenge doesn't amount to anything, but St. Clair is forced to make a couple of saves before the end of the first half.
The second half would be the half of St. Clair. In the sixty-third minute, Necaxa serves in an out-swinging ball from the corner flag. The header is helped along inside the box, finding an attacking player for the Mexican side. His point-blank header forces Dayne into a world-class save, keeping the match at 1-0. Just a couple of minutes after this, Dayne is forced to make two saves in a row from long distance strikes.
Dayne would continue to work overtime: In the sixty-seventh minute, a ball is served into Minnesota's box, and Dayne St. Clair saves another point-blank header. Just a minute later, Necaxa has another corner kick, which forces St. Clair to make a save on a THIRD point-blank header from Necaxa. He makes two or three more saves from easier shots, but his best save was yet to come: In the seventy-fifth minute, Necaxa serves a ball into Minnesota's box from their left side. An attacking player gets a head to the ball, forcing Dayne into another save. This has to be the craziest save he had made up to that point because he found a way to hang in the air to get a finger on it. The Canadian would make a couple more saves, and Teemu Pukki would put the one chance Minnesota had in the second half just wide of the far post.
The match would end 1-0 in favor of the home side. Dayne St. Clair is obviously named man of the match, and I am still waiting for a statue of him to be made outside of Allianz Field. In this match, St. Clair broke the Leagues Cup (and MLS) save record in a single match. It was a stellar performance from the Candian, and that result kept them alive. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Seattle Sounders would not help them out. With the Loons' 1-0 win over Necaxa, they just needed Seattle to tie at home for them to move on. In the end, Seattle put forward a poor performance, which resulted in a 3-1 victory for Necaxa, knocking Minnesota United out of the tournament.
Loons OUT Of Leagues Cup
This blog will be short and sweet this week, so don't worry. You won't have to read paragraph upon paragraph of complaints. (Unless you enjoy the negativity, which, in that case, I'm sorry you'll miss out on it this week).
Minnesota's run in Leagues Cup 2024 has officially come to an end. The Loons played their final round-robin-style match this past Tuesday against Liga MX's Necaxa. In the 1-0 victory for Minnesota, Dayne St. Clair carried the team on his shoulders to victory. The Canadian international made a record-breaking SIXTEEN saves in one match, a few being world-class.
Here's how Minnesota lined up ahead of this match:
Eric Ramsay opted to go with a 5-4-1 formation. Dayne St. Clair gets the start in goal. The five-man backline features the likes of Mickey Tapias and Devin Padelford, all familiar faces to Minnesota United fans. MNUFC 2 players Loïc Mesanvi and Morris Duggan (on loan to MNUFC 2 from the first team) get the start alongside MLS SuperDraft Hugo Bacharach. Robin Lod and Carlos Harvey get the start in the midfield with Bongi Hlongwane and Rosales on the wings. (Sang Bin Jeong is still out for personal family matters). Tani Oluwaseyi starts as the lone striker up top, moving Teemu Pukki to the bench.
The match started brightly for the Loons: In the sixth minute, Rosales sends a ball to Mesanvi whose making a run up Minnesota's left-hand side. He then finds Hlongwane, who is making a run just in front of him. He provides a clever back-heel to Mesanvi who continued his run. As Mesanvi is making his way around the inside of Necaxa's box, it looks as though he is tripped up. Initially, the referee ignores Minnesota's protest but is eventually sent to the monitor. Upon further review, despite Necaxa players surrounding the official (super classy), the referee points to the spot. Robin Lod is able to shrug off the trash talk from the Mexican side, and he puts it away in the bottom right corner. The match is 1-0.
From then on, it looks as though the match will go south for the Loons. In the twentieth minute, a midfielder for Necaxa provides a split ball, catching Bacharach sleeping a bit. He slides in for the challenge, taking the player out. Because Bacharach is the last defender, he is sent off. The free kick that results from the challenge doesn't amount to anything, but St. Clair is forced to make a couple of saves before the end of the first half.
The second half would be the half of St. Clair. In the sixty-third minute, Necaxa serves in an out-swinging ball from the corner flag. The header is helped along inside the box, finding an attacking player for the Mexican side. His point-blank header forces Dayne into a world-class save, keeping the match at 1-0. Just a couple of minutes after this, Dayne is forced to make two saves in a row from long distance strikes.
Dayne would continue to work overtime: In the sixty-seventh minute, a ball is served into Minnesota's box, and Dayne St. Clair saves another point-blank header. Just a minute later, Necaxa has another corner kick, which forces St. Clair to make a save on a THIRD point-blank header from Necaxa. He makes two or three more saves from easier shots, but his best save was yet to come: In the seventy-fifth minute, Necaxa serves a ball into Minnesota's box from their left side. An attacking player gets a head to the ball, forcing Dayne into another save. This has to be the craziest save he had made up to that point because he found a way to hang in the air to get a finger on it. The Canadian would make a couple more saves, and Teemu Pukki would put the one chance Minnesota had in the second half just wide of the far post.
The match would end 1-0 in favor of the home side. Dayne St. Clair is obviously named man of the match, and I am still waiting for a statue of him to be made outside of Allianz Field. In this match, St. Clair broke the Leagues Cup (and MLS) save record in a single match. It was a stellar performance from the Candian, and that result kept them alive. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Seattle Sounders would not help them out. With the Loons' 1-0 win over Necaxa, they just needed Seattle to tie at home for them to move on. In the end, Seattle put forward a poor performance, which resulted in a 3-1 victory for Necaxa, knocking Minnesota United out of the tournament.
U.S. Soccer Olympic Update
This past week, both the U23s and the USWNT played their matches for the 2024 Summer Olympics. As for the U23s, there isn't much to say. Their 4-0 defeat against Morocco sent the United States home packing, knocking them out in the quarter-final. It was a disappointing result for the youngsters, but in the end, it was a victory that was well-deserved from the Morrocan side.
As for the U.S. Women, they have been dominant in their matches. Their first match was their final group stage match against Australia. In their 2-1 victory, the Americans sealed their first-place position in their group. This match saw goals from Trinity Rodman and a banger from your local homophobe, Korbin Albert.
This past Saturday, the USWNT took on the women of Japan in their quarterfinal matchup. Most of the match was ugly. Japan sat in a low block defensively, and it worked for the majority of the match. The four-time olympic champions had a difficult time breaking the lines of the Japanese defense, who played their game tactically well. The United States Women wouldn't find the breakthrough until LATE into extra time. A banger from Trinity Rodman would slam the door on Japan, and they would be moving on to the semi-finals to compete for a medal.
Today, the United States faced Germany. After the American's 4-1 victory over Germany in the group stage just last week, the Germans definitely had a chip on their shoulders. Both teams had their chances, but the scoreless draw held, and once again, the USWNT would be forced into extra time. It wouldn't be until the first half of extra time where the U.S. would find the breakthrough: a beautiful ball from Swanson would find the run of Sophia Smith. She gets around the German defender, and slots it home for the 1-0 lead. This scoreline would hold, and the USWNT would book themselves a spot in the final.
The United States Women's National Team will face Brazil in the final this Saturday, August 10th at 10 AM central time.
That's all for this week!
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