Loons advance on penalties in Leagues Cup victory over Toluca
Before this inaugural Leagues Cup tournament began, Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath predicted each round would grow more contentious and competitive.
Tuesday's victory over Liga MX's Deportivo Toluca on penalty kicks proved him prescient.
The teams played to a 2-2 draw with the Loons advancing 4-2 on penalty kicks at Allianz Field after they scored two first-half goals and allowed two in the second half.
The Loons played the final 23 minutes down a man after midfielder Hassani Dotson received his second yellow card of the game. Heath and his players considered it a sequence and consequence that never should have occurred.
But they persevered and advanced to the League Cup's quarterfinal round at Nashville SC on Friday after Nashville beat famed Liga MX's Club America on reviewed PKs.
Afterward, Heath was asked if Tuesday's game against an unbeaten opponent that had scored four times in each of its first three tournament games qualified as competitive and contentious.
"Yeah, it does," Heath said. "It's a great Cup night. I don't think I'd like to go through it every week, to be honest. It's Cup football. You have to win. It's one of them where you leave it all out there and we've done it again.
"I'm so pleased we're through and we're into the next round because we've beaten a very good team."
What is the Leagues Cup? Here's a guide
The Loons' penalty-kick triumph came four days after they won a round of 32 game at Columbus the same way.
"We were just in that situation a few days ago and I told the boys, `We were just here and we came out of it and we're going to do it again,' " Loons goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair said.
This time, St. Clair stopped Valber Huerta with a diving save in the second round of kicks after Huerta already had scored once, in the 66th minute. It came after the Loons had three chances to clear the ball away.
Robert Morales hit the goal post in the fourth round and Loons newcomer Sang Bin Jeong won the whole thing by making the Loons 4-for-4 on PKs Tuesday.
"We trust Dayne immensely," Loons defensive midfielder Wil Trapp said. "He continues to do great things in shootouts. That's what you ask for."
Trapp, Emanuel Reynoso, center back Michael Boxall and Sang Bin all made penalty kicks without a miss.
On Monday, Heath called Boxall a frustrated striker in disguise.
"I wouldn't say frustrated, " Boxall said. "I enjoy the finishing aspects of the game. Defending gets dull and boring sometimes. Sometimes during the week when I need to keep my mood up, I join in the finishing [drills]."
Heath disagreed with a 73rd-minute corner kick awarded to Toluca that Heath argued should have been Loons' possession and a goal kick. On the ensuing corner, Dotson was hit with a second yellow card and a penalty committed in the 6-yard box for colliding hard with Toluca's Marcel Ruiz while he attempted to defend that kick.
Two yellows make a red and the Loons played on to the finish with Dotson the rest of the night. That foul called also granted the visitors a penalty kick, which Deportivo Toluca keeper Tiago Volpi traveled from one end of the field to successfully take.
BOXSCORE: Loons 2, Toluca 2 (Loons win on PKs)
That tied the game in the 75th minute, nine minutes after Huerta brought Toluca within 2-1.
"That red card was supposed to be a goal kick, that changed the game for everybody," St. Clair said. "It awards them the penalty. We get a guy sent off and it changes our game plan for everybody. That call changed the game. It's a big mistake."
The Loons led 2-0 at halftime after Joseph Rosales clipped another of Reynoso's perfect passes just off the grass and past Volpi in the 13th minute.
Reynoso did it again in the 32nd minute, starting with a nifty back-heel pass a sequence that went to Franca Fragapane and then to Bongkuhle Hlongwane for his tournament-leading seventh goal.
Reynoso leads the League Cup in assists by two, with six. Hlongwane had scored two goals in each of the first three games.
"He was supposed to score two today," St. Clair said.
Hlongwane's seven goals tying him with a guy from Miami named Lionel Messi for the Leagues Cup's golden-boot lead for top goal-scorer.
"No, I wasn't paying attention," Hlongwane said when asked if he knew he was among such company. "For me, it means a lot, but I don't play for that. I just want to help my team win."
