From a fiery first half to a slowed down second half one thing remained constant, neither club was able to hit the back of the net. Through a combination of well timed goalkeeping and missed chances and shots the two clubs waltzed to a scoreless draw, a huge change from the first match of the series in Vancouver.
Both clubs came into the Saturday night match with just two days between matches and both had a similar lineup philosophy, minimal changes. Cameron Knowles made two changes for the Loons with Jefferson Díaz and Mamadou Dieng replacing Devin Padelford and Tomás Chancalay, both of whom were available from the bench. Jesper Sørensen's Whitecaps made a trio of changes with Veselinović, Sabaly, and Müller starting in place of Ocampo, Caicedo, and Gauld.
Northland Soccer Journal
Both teams in the match coming off losses put some extra fire in the match and the clubs showed that from the opening whistle. Physical play was taking place from the start and the referee was mostly just letting the two sides go at it to a certain extent. That fire also extended to the clubs offence with each side getting some decent chances at goal.
All of this came after Ranko Veselinović came off in the 11th minute after going down with an apparent injury. Mihail Gherasimencov replaced Veselinović on the back line, forcing the Caps to slightly alternate positions.
Neither Minnesota nor Vancouver were able to break through for a goal in the opening half of football. Vancouver's problem was mostly a lack of accuracy on the attack. While the Caps got six shots in the half, only two of those went on target while three more completely missed the goal. For Minnesota it was a combination of blocked shots and couple of huge saves from Yohei Takaoka.
Northland Soccer Journal
Coming into the second half Vancouver made a pair of changes, which dropped the Whitecaps down to two remaining subs, while Minnesota made no changes and held onto their subs. Knowles side retention helped the Loons relatively quickly with Minnesota getting a good chance inside the opening ten minutes of the second half. Joaquín Pereyra sent an outswinger into the box that Mamadou Dieng got his head on, forcing Yohei Takaoka to make a save.
Vancouver had their own threat come in the 63rd minute when Ryan Gauld got a great shot and forced Drake Callender to make a save. Callender just got his fingertips on the ball to push the shot wide and keep the match nil-nil. Shortly after the save Cameron Knowles brought on the second and third subs for the Loons, including a debuting Peter Stroud who replaced Wil Trapp.
With the clock ticking closer to 90 minutes, Cameron Knowles brought on his last two subs to try and change the tide for the final ten minutes. Devin Padelford and Bongokuhle Hlongwane came on to replace Anthony Markanich and Kyle Duncan. Minnesota came the closest to scoring with less than five minutes on the clock with a three on one breakout. An errant pass from Boxall followed by Chancalay slowing down helped kill the chance before the Loons could take a shot.
After two matches in a single week Minnesota United will have a full week to rest and recover before they play their next match. That next match will have the Loons host San Diego FC in the final match before Leagues Cup begins the following week. Next Saturday's match is set for a 7:30pm kickoff time.
