Minnesota FC 5 LAFC 1
Minnesota FC ended LAFC’s nine match unbeaten run in all competitions with a 5-1 victory over their Western Conference rival.
LAFC head coach Bob Bradley made five changes to squad that eliminated the Portland Timbers from the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals Wednesday night. Tristan Blackmon came in for Steven Beitashour, Dejan Jaković partnered with Laurent Ciman in the center of defense. João Moutinho replaced Jordan Harvey at left back, Aaron Kovar took over for Carlos Vela who didn’t travel with the squad, and Benny Feilhaber made his 200th MLS career start in place of the suspended Lee Nguyen.
LAFC had a great chance in the 7th minute as Benny Feilhaber blasted a shot on target forcing keeper Bobby Shuttleworth to make a great save.
The Black and Gold had another attempt on goal just five minutes later when Mark-Anthony Kaye took a chance just outside the box, but once again LAFC were denied by Shuttleworth.
Minnesota went close to taking the lead in the 17th minute, Charles Darwin Quintero was able to beat Laurent Ciman, but goalkeeper Tyler Miller was able to come out and smother the chance to concede a corner.
Minnesota once again had the chance to take the lead in the 21st minute, Christian Ramirez put in a low cross into the box, but Ibson who was wide open blasted his shot wide. They broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when Quintero cut back inside the box and passed it to a wide open Rasmus Schüller who only took one touch to put the ball in the back of the net.
Their lead didn’t last long as LAFC equalized just two minutes later. Latif Blessing manuvered inside the box, eventually finding Feilhaber who cut the ball back onto his left foot and fired it pass Shuttleworth.
Minnesota regained their lead just before halftime off a Quintero corner which saw the ball bounce around the box eventually landing to Christian Ramirez who scored at the near post.
They doubled their lead in first half extra time when Quintero sped pass Jaković and placed his shot at the far post leaving Tyler Miller no chance at saving it.
Down by two goals, Bradley decided to make two changes at halftime, João Moutinho was replaced by Jordan Harvey, and Adama Diomande came on to help the attack in place of Aaron Kovar.
But Minnesota picked up right where they left off in the first half making it 4-1 in the 57th minute when Miguel Ibarra made a run inside the box to give his team a three goal lead.
Ramirez scored his second of the night just a minute later as Ibarra played provider and put in a low cross for Ramirez to tap in.
It was just a bad night for LAFC. It’s not easy for a team to play three matches in the span of seven days, so rotation is understandable. But having three rookie defenders in your starting eleven probably wasn’t the best idea. But it’s a lesson learned for the team and a result they need to put behind them.
We were terrible in all ways. We had a bad mentality about the game. We had two 90 second meltdowns. We were bad, the mentality was bad, in all ways we deserved to get smacked. – Bob Bradley
LAFC remain second in the Western Conference on 35 points, four points behind leader FC Dallas.
The Black and Gold return to the Banc of California Stadium on Thursday, July 26 to host local rival Los Angeles Galaxy.
