San Diego FC faced off against Minnesota United on Monday night. The match was played on a Monday because the San Diego State University Football Team had played on Saturday night. Sunday was used to help recover what was left of the pitch for Monday’s match. The matchup against the Loons pitted San Diego FC against a team that was their complete opposite. Minnesota United is a low-possession team that waits for counters and set pieces to score. There were moments when San Diego looked like the better defensive team, needing only a quick strike to take the lead for good.
A Defensive Match Early On
As the match kicked off, there were fairly obvious signs that an American Football game had been played just a couple of days prior. Yard lines were faded but still visible from San Diego State’s home match against San Jose on Saturday. There were also signs of wear and tear on the field. This created a pretty even playing field, as both teams had to contend with the used-up pitch.
Minnesota, with possession first, decided to kick the ball out of play, and the game was underway at Snapdragon Stadium. It was again noted that Minnesota clearly did not want the ball. San Diego had to find ways to penetrate Minnesota’s five-man backline. In the first half, San Diego FC focused on finding the best way to attack. San Diego mostly kept possession on the right side, but they would move the ball back to the left to check for open lanes. Minnesota had their pockets covered. For the Loons, if they received a free kick on their side of the field, their goalkeeper, Dayne St. Clair, would often take the kick as a set-piece opportunity. Minnesota had other set-piece opportunities in San Diego’s half of the pitch, but the defense thwarted them away.
Neither side posed much of a scoring threat. In the 45th minute, Joaquín Pereyra had a shot on goal that skipped straight into the arms and chest of Pablo Sisniega. As the half closed, San Diego dominated possession at 79%, with six total shots but zero shots on target. While San Diego completed 91% of their passes, Minnesota struggled with a 65% completion rate in the first half. San Diego’s home-field advantage might have been the poor field conditions.
Second Half Strike
Being tied 0-0 at the half was not an entirely bad thing for San Diego. As noted in the Minnesota Preview, the Loons are susceptible to late goals, having conceded 12 times in the final 15 minutes of matches. Conversely, San Diego had outscored their opponents by 20 goals in the second half of matches. San Diego was still confident about winning the match.
As the second half began, Minnesota started as the aggressor. Head Coach Eric Ramsey received a yellow card for some sort of physical contact with San Diego’s head coach, Mikey Varas. A minute later, Minnesota was on the attack. A pass from midfield found Robin Lod, who carried it into the penalty area, cut back in front of Manu Duah, and got a shot off that went behind goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega. Ian Pilcher slid towards the goal line to block the shot, and Manu Duah kicked the ball away. The last-minute save was astonishing to watch. The 22-year-old rookie, Ian Pilcher, came in to save the day.
A couple of minutes later, Pilcher was again involved in a one-on-one battle with Pereyra on the far side. Pereyra took a hard touch, allowing Pilcher to box him out and send the ball out of play for a goal kick. This was an incredible effort by the rookie in a big match.
There was one more threat when Kelvin Yeboah ran behind San Diego’s back line in the 64th minute. Yeboah received a pass from Lod from midfield. As Yeboah tried to gain control and run behind the defense, he was met by Pablo Sisniega in the penalty area. Sisniega executed a very clean tackle, going for the ball.
As time approached the 70th minute, only 20 minutes were left in regulation. With Minnesota not pressing and meeting San Diego only halfway, San Diego was easily able to bring the ball over to Minnesota’s side of the pitch in the 72nd minute. With no pressure, Jeppe Tverskov was able to go through his progressions in the midfield. Passes were exchanged with Aníbal Godoy and Ian Pilcher on the right side, until Tverskov finally yelled for someone to make a run toward the penalty area. When Tverskov received the ball back, he sent a pass over the heads of every defender near the penalty area to Corey Baird. Baird caught up to the ball as it was heading out of play and delivered a great back-heel pass that put the ball back in play. Anders Dreyer came in from behind and unleashed a rocket of a shot. The shot went right to the hands of Dayne St. Clair but had enough velocity to send the ball into the back of the net for a goal. That was Dreyer’s fourth postseason goal and 23rd goal in Major League Soccer. For Corey Baird, this marked his third straight match with an assist.
After the goal, the match was essentially over. Minnesota is not a major scoring threat when down by a goal. They would have had to try different tactics, which is not in their DNA. San Diego, up by a goal, looked like a team that wanted a second goal to seal the match. San Diego prevailed with a 1-0 victory in front of a sold-out crowd. San Diego had only one shot on target the entire match, and it was the only one that mattered in the end. San Diego advances to the Western Conference Final on Saturday night against the Vancouver Whitecaps. The winner of that match will advance to the MLS Cup Final.
Vancouver Whitecaps Preview
The Vancouver Whitecaps have never been in this position. Since entering the league in 2011, the Whitecaps have made the playoffs eight times. Their best finish was the conference semifinals, which they hadn’t achieved since 2017.
How did Vancouver get to this position? First, Vancouver had to get past FC Dallas in Round 1. Vancouver beat Dallas 3-0 in the first match and tied the second, ultimately winning in penalties. Their next matchup was against LAFC. The Whitecaps managed to secure a 2-0 first-half lead. In the second half, Heung-min Son scored a goal in the 60th minute and scored on a free-kick goal for a brace in stoppage time. This match went into extra time. Vancouver had to play with only 10 men due to Triston Blackmon’s second yellow card, resulting in a red card. Thomas Müller came out of the match at the start of extra time, possibly due to fatigue or an injury. Another player came off the field due to injury, forcing the Whitecaps to play with another man down since they had no substitutions left. The odds were against Vancouver, but they somehow managed to survive extra time unscathed. The match headed into penalties, which Vancouver won 4-3 to advance to the Western Conference Final.
Vancouver is a team very similar to San Diego. This season, Vancouver ranked sixth in possession with 53.4%, was tied for third in goals with 65, and was third in expected goals (xG) with 63.1. San Diego, by comparison, was ranked first with 60.8% of possession, was fourth in goals with 64, and was 11th in xG with 54.4. On the other side of the ball, Vancouver is second in fewest goals allowed with 38, while San Diego is fifth with 41. Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka had the fourth-lowest Goals Allowed per 90 minutes (GA90) with 1.12. San Diego just played against one of the best in this category, Dayne St. Clair, who had a GA90 of 1.00. In the passing game, Vancouver is quite accurate with their long passes, completing 62.3%, making them second best. San Diego is third on that list at 60.7%. The difference between these two teams is the way they score goals. Vancouver relies more on set pieces, where they were tied for third with 15 goals scored. San Diego, however, scores more on a counterattack, stretching the field in transition.
The key piece for Vancouver’s recent success has been the addition of Thomas Müller. Müller is a Bundesliga legend who played his entire career with Bayern Munich, where he scored over 230 goals. Müller also earned 130 caps with Germany. The 36 year-old has won the Bundesliga 13 times with Bayern Munich, is a two-time Champions League winner, and won the World Cup in 2014 with Germany. Müller is an attacking midfielder with a great ability to score goals like a striker. Since being acquired in the summer transfer window, Müller has appeared in 10 matches and has scored 8 goals with 3 assists. Vancouver has a record of 6-5-1 since acquiring Müller.
San Diego has played Vancouver twice this season with mixed results. The first match was a 5-3 San Diego win, mostly due to Milan Iloski’s four goals in that match. The Whitecaps were missing some key players like Brian White and Sebastian Berhalter due to the Gold Cup. The second match was a 1-1 draw at home. San Diego was missing a key piece in their backline, as Chris McVey was out for that match. Manu Duah scored an unfortunate own goal for Vancouver. San Diego managed to get one back with a late goal, Ian Pilcher’s first-ever goal. Vancouver had open chances to make it 2-1 but failed to successfully score a second goal. San Diego did not see Thomas Müller in either match, as the second match happened before the transfer window. This will be the first time the German national plays in San Diego.
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