The Captain America warmup tops released as part of a collaboration between MLS, Adidas and Marvel were seen at Allianz Field for the first time Saturday night.
Minnesota United erupt for 4-1 victory over Portland
Emanuel Reynoso scored twice and Bongokuhle Hlongwane had a goal and an assist in the second half.
July 2, 2023 at 5:43AM
Minnesota United did justice by the debut's theme, even without the entire cast of starters assembled for a rematch against the Portland Timbers — goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and midfielder Joseph Rosales were still away on international duty.
The Loons did not seem at all lost in their absence, as they navigated past the Timbers for a dominant 4-1 victory.
"They can carry on with that," coach Adrian Heath said when asked about his social media critics. "That's [part] of this job. And I work hard at my job. I think we've done really, really well, when I look at what we've spent comparable with other teams within MLS and what we've done."
Heath's yellow card in the 73rd minute served as one of the night's few blemishes, given that he will have to miss his team's next match against Austin FC, along with impact defender Michael Boxall, due to card accumulation.
"To be fair, he did apologize and say that was his fault," said Heath, who disputed a foul call drawn by Timbers defender Dario Zuparic. "But it doesn't do me any good because I think I might be suspended now. I'm not sure.
"We'll ask the question because it was a really poor decision," Heath added, implying the club might ask for an appeal on his suspension.
Franck Boli's 60th-minute goal that brought Portland back to a one-goal deficit served as the Timbers' last moment of hope, as the Loons (6-7-6) separated themselves on scores within three minutes of each other. Bongokuhle Hlongwane added a fifth goal to his team-leading total with one in the 74th minute that snuck under goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic, who soon afterwards saw Emanuel Reynoso tap in a well-set-up score off a Hlongwane assist, for Reynoso's second goal of the game.
But such chemistry took some time to show.
"Coach said to me [at] halftime the only thing that made me have a great start of the season is because I was running forward, running in behind," Hlongwane said. "First half, I didn't do that. And then he came back at halftime, he shouted at me. So in second half, I came out not the same as first half."
The teams played scoreless soccer for more than 43 minutes during a span in which four separate Loons players — Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall, Hassani Dotson and DJ Taylor — picked up yellow cards, before Portland captain Diego Chará kicked in an own goal while parallel with Mender García on a sprint down center of the box. Hlongwane set up the opportunity with a pass that Chará deflected past Ivacic.
And it wasn't long until Ivacic let in another unorthodox goal.
Reynoso did all the work himself on a corner kick that concluded as an Olimpico goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, just moments before halftime. When asked postgame if he did it on purpose, he said: "Sí."
"He saw the goalkeeper was kind out of the position, and the help of his teammates as well being able to kind of maneuver out of the way to be able to get that in there," Reynoso said through a translator.
It was only the second time this season that United led at the break, but Heath still wasn't entirely pleased with his team's performance in the locker room.
"We were good in patches and then turned it over cheaply and, you know, it wasn't the complete 45," Heath said of the first half. "I said to them, 'If you want to up the game, if you want to up your pace of it and a bit more life in it all-around and keep the ball better, then we could probably go on and score more goals. If you don't, there's still going to be a game.' We were better second half."
García and Taylor were subbed out in the second half after active offensive showings, but García was sidelined for strategy's sake: Taylor walked to the sideline because of an apparent injury that Heath said he thinks is a hamstring strain.
"Normally [it's] the next day that you find out the severity of it," Heath said. "I don't think it looks too bad. So hopefully it'll be OK."
Minnesota started only two strikers against Seattle, leaving Sang Bin Jeong and Joseph Rosales to provide the width behind Teemu Pukki and Kelvin Yeboah.
