Analysis: One goal in particular bothers Minnesota United following loss to San Diego FC

Minnesota United had one of the strongest defenses in MLS during the first half of the season, so it was a surprise to see the Loons begin the second half by giving up four goals.

Talking to coaches and players after Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to San Diego FC, though, it was one goal in particular that they kept zeroing in on: the third goal.

 “A big thing we talk about with our group is blocking crosses,” midfielder Wil Trapp said, “and I think if you look at that, especially the third goal, can we get out and maybe affect it a little bit more?”

Looking at the replay, San Diego’s Anders Dreyer has plenty of time and space on the Loons’ left to collect himself and send in an in-swinging cross, and Milan Iloski splits center backs Michael Boxall and Jefferson Díaz to get on the end of it.

It’s the type of opportunity the Loons feel they are usually able to prevent.

“For sure, the third goal where Dreyer cuts in onto his left foot, it’s a disappointing one for us to concede,” coach Eric Ramsay said. “If you watch San Diego over the course of 17 games, you know full well that’s a chance they’re inevitably going to create, through the quality of player that he is. We’ve not defended that moment well enough in any way.”

It wasn’t the only time Saturday that Minnesota United struggled with runners into the box. A big part of San Diego’s game plan seemed to be that, when the Loons were allowing the visitors to have space on the halfway line, SDFC would send forward runners from unlikely places — perhaps a fullback, darting in behind, or a central midfielder making a deep run instead of staying in the midfield.

Ramsay said his three center backs, Boxall and Díaz and Nicolás Romero, struggled in terms of deciding when to step up and when to fall back.

“Certainly the third goal would be one that we’d look at as entirely avoidable, and not very us, in that sense,” he said. “I think typically we defend the box really well with real discipline, and we’ve missed a runner, we’ve not dropped quick enough, and I know [Díaz and Boxall] will be very disappointed for that one.”

Ultimately, though, Ramsay said he felt like while it wasn’t a good night for his team, it wasn’t a referendum on the season as a whole.

“We’re able to lose games,” he said, meaning it in the sense of it being part of the nature of the game. “It hasn’t happened often this year, but the world certainly won’t be caving in because we’ve lost a game — and we’ve lost a game to a good team.”

Minnesota United is very high on second-team goalkeeper Wessel Speel. The 23-year-old from the Netherlands was an All-America at Duke last season, and the team seems to consider it a relative coup that they convinced him to stay in the United States and sign for MNUFC2.

The Loons already have put Speel in goal twice for the first team this year, both times in the U.S. Open Cup, and he won both games. Minnesota might have played him previously in MLS this season, too, except that all of their international roster spots were filled — a consideration that isn’t applicable for U.S. Open Cup rosters.

This week, though, South Korea’s Sang Bin Jeong was able to get his green card, clearing the way for the team to call up Speel for a short-term agreement. Speel was pleased to make his MLS debut Saturday, but he was rueful about two of the goals that he gave up.

Not many would fault Speel on the third and fourth goals, but the first and second felt avoidable. Dreyer’s first goal, shot from the halfway line, took the goalkeeper by surprise, and it immediately erased any momentum the team had after San Diego had scored a disastrous own goal.

The second was a penalty kick. Normally, it’s impossible to find any fault with the goalkeeper; teams expect to score on penalties. But after Speel guessed the correct way and Dreyer hit his penalty with a lack of authority, Speel was disappointed to see the ball sneak beneath him and into the side netting.

“I knew he was going left, or at least most of his penalties were either going middle or left, so I set to go earlier and when I went early it sort of slipped under me,” he said. “So it was a bit unfortunate.”

Said Ramsay: “This was always going to be a baptism of fire, and I think we’ve prepared Wessel as well as we possibly could have done. He had some good moments today, no question. He showed what he can be at his best. But of course, I don’t think anyone would say that he was without fault, and I’m sure he’ll be really disappointed in a couple of the moments.”

Speel can play in one more MLS game this season, under league rules. If the Loons want to play him in more beyond that, they would have to sign him to a first-team contract.

“I think he knows the level of confidence that the staff have in him,” Ramsay said. “It’s very obvious, the raw ingredients that he has as a goalkeeper that can stand him in a good stead as he moves forward. We have to hold the mirror up, for sure, because that’s the nature of coaching, but you also have to really support the player.”