Analysis: Minnesota United’s Eric Ramsay strikes managerial gold with a single decision

Soccer kids across Minnesota might pretend to be Kelvin Yeboah or Robin Lod or Tani Oluwaseyi, scoring game-winning goals in the dying moments of important games.

Young aspiring managers, though, might be pretending to be like Eric Ramsay in the second half of Saturday’s 4-1 victory over St. Louis: making a triple substitution, then having all three players almost immediately combine to score a goal.

“I don’t think that will happen often,” Ramsay said after the game, with a slight smile on his face.

Minnesota United, which was the better team in the first half, struggled to open the second half — to the point that the Loons were having trouble just getting out of their own end, never mind in the confident one-and-two-touch way they were doing so in the first half.

“We did look like we were pretty content to defend the one-nil lead,” Ramsay said. “It’s a symptom of us knowing that we can do that, knowing that we over the last 10 games have shown ourselves to be one of, if not the, best defensive teams [in the league]. We’re very comfortable defending for long periods of time, and it’s certainly not something we want to do by design, but I just felt in the second half the players had almost resigned themselves to that being the case.”

Ramsay waited until the 68th minute to make a change, but when he did, it was the entire attacking line — Yeboah, Lod and Joaquín Pereyra off; Oluwaseyi, Franco Fragapane and Sang Bin Jeong on.

It took three minutes for the trio to combine on the first goal, Oluwaseyi to Fragapane to Jeong; six minutes from the end of the game, Oluwaseyi found Jeong for another goal. Not bad for one substitution window.

“We were getting pinned down a little bit,” Oluwaseyi said. “So at that point, you just need someone to try and hold the ball up, or stretch it even. And then it works out that all three of us touched the ball on the second goal, so it’s cool.”

Oluwaseyi ended the regular season with eight goals and six assists — especially impressive numbers given that the Canadian striker played less than 1,100 minutes this year, the approximate equivalent of 12 full games. He finished the year in the top 10 in MLS for both goals per 90 minutes and goals plus assists per 90 minutes, up there with the much bigger names that made up everyone’s MVP shortlists this year.

“We have, over the last couple of months, really recaptured that sense of us having a very strong squad, and almost that guarantee that players that are coming on are going to be able to give us what we need,” said Ramsay, who was clearly thrilled, but more about the depth in his team than his own managerial genius.

Pereyra, not Yeboah or Jefferson Díaz, might have been the summer signing the Loons were most excited about — and after seven games, it feels like Minnesota fans are starting to see why. Pereyra, who looked restricted in his first few games for the Loons, has started to grow into his role as a creator on the left side of the Minnesota attack — which, for him, means that the Loons see him popping up across the front of the attack.

In the first half, Pereyra spent as much time in the center of the pitch as he did combining with Joseph Rosales down the left side — and it led to more space as well for Rosales, who was very near to getting his first goal of the year.

“He was very good today — I would say that was his best game for sure,” Ramsay said. “He gave us what we wanted from him, which is security on the ball. He gives us a sense of calmness. He gives us a sense of the ball’s not going to turn over cheaply on that side — and he struck the balance well between offering us that but also making sure that he was threatening the last line, and he was looking forward. Because that’s the player that that we signed; that’s the player that I watched a lot of when he was in Argentina.”

The Loons held pregame ceremonies to thank three players for their contributions to the team. Zarek Valentin, who is retiring, addressed the crowd after a tribute video from the team. Goalkeeper Clint Irwin, who’s become the third-choice goalkeeper and hasn’t been in the matchday squad since midsummer, was presented with a framed jersey from the team, to thank him for his two seasons in Minnesota.

Semi-oddly, Fragapane — whose contract is up — was also thanked for his services to the club, despite still being an important player off the bench, one who will have at least two more chances to play for the Loons. If he was to score a couple of late, important playoff goals, maybe Minnesota would need to start rethinking that particular goodbye ceremony.