Minnesota United FC vs. New England Revolution | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Minnesota United FC vs. New England Revolution
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 21
TCF Bank Stadium — Minneapolis
July 18 — 8 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Two teams coming off disappointing performances in the final moments of their Week 20 matches meet on Wednesday night when Minnesota United FC host the New England Revolution.

The Loons defeated Real Salt Lake at home on Saturday, but Adrian Heath was anything but happy with the way they played, while the Revs surrendered a pair of stoppage-time goals in a 3-2 loss to the LA Galaxy at Gillette Stadium.

This will be just the second meeting in MLS play between Minnesota and New England. The first game between the two ended in a 5-2 home win for the Revolution last March.

Minnesota United

Darwin Quintero scored a goal and set up two others as the Loons won for the second time in the last three games.

The Colombian Designated Player set up Ibson’s opening goal in the 51st minute, scored his seventh goal of the season in the 62nd minute and had the assist on Miguel Ibarra’s goal that put Minnesota (7-11-1) up 3-0 in the 68th minute. Instead of a cakewalk, the Loons had to sweat out the three points after Joao Plata struck for a late brace.

“Three points, we did our best to throw it away, tried to throw away 75 minutes of good work by people deciding that they know best, they’ll do what they want rather than doing what we know is right,” Adrian Heath said “It doesn’t matter who they are. We win together, we lose together. It’s the group. The group scored the goals, the group conceded the goals.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Rasmus Schuller
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Sam Cronin (cervicogenic dysfunction), M - Kevin Molino (torn left ACL), M - Ethan Finlay (torn ACL), D - Jerome Thiesson (right leg injury); QUESTIONABLE: D - Marc Burch (left knee injury), F - Abu Danladi (left leg injury), D - Eric Miller (left hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI
(3-5-2, right to left)
GK: Bobby Shuttleworth — Michael Boxall, Brent Kallman, Francisco Calvo — Miguel Ibarra, Ibson, Collen Warner, Rasmus Schuller, Alexi Gomez — Christian Ramirez, Darwin Quintero

Notes: Quintero has scored three goals from outside the box since June 1. Only two players have scored more from outside the box in all of 2018. … The Loons have won five of their last eight MLS home games (2L-1D), keeping as many clean sheets during this stretch as they had in their previous 17 games at home (two).

New England Revolution

Like Heath, Brad Friedel was left to rue conceding late chances and it cost the Revs three points as Dave Romney and Chris Pontius scored one minute apart in stoppage time to lift the Galaxy to a 3-2 win Saturday night.

Five minutes after Cristian Penilla was sent off violent conduct, Diego Fagundez opened the scoring in the 28th minute and, after Pontius leveled in the 38th minute, Luis Caicedo sent New England (7-5-7) into halftime with a 2-1 lead.

Teal Bunbury’s toe-poke hit the post and had an attempt headed off the line, opening the door for the dramatic late Galaxy rally after Ashley Cole was sent off for his second bookable offense.

“Three individual errors on the goals and it cost us dearly, but there are so many good things to take out of the match, so many things we have been working on and some really good individual performances,” Friedel said. “We’ll have to take all the positives into our next two games and there were many.”

Suspended: M - Cristian Penilla, M - Luis Caicedo, D - Antonio Delamea
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Chris Tierney (torn right ACL), F - Femi Hollinger-Janzen (dislocated elbow)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Turner — Andrew Farrell, Claude Dielna, Jalil Anibaba, Gabriel Somi — Scott Caldwell, Wilfried Zahibo — Brandon Bye, Diego Fagundez, Kelyn Rowe — Krisztian Nemeth

Notes: Fagundez is averaging 0.73 goals+assists per 90 this season. Only six Revs players have averaged more in a single season ( min. 1,000 minutes played). … New England has lost just one of their last six road games in league play (1W-4D). They are averaging 1.0 points per away game, which would be tied for their third highest in a season since 2010.