MINNEAPOLIS — A five-goal first half against visiting La Crosse Aris was more than enough to lift Minneapolis City SC to its third win of the 2022 NPSL season. The victory marked the start of the second half of the Crows’ NPSL conference schedule, their first NPSL win at Edor Nelson field this summer, and what the team hopes will be the start of a strong finish to its 2022 campaign.
The subject of the Crows’ struggles in adapting to simultaneously competing in two leagues has not been avoided in these digital pages. Thrice-defending NPSL North Conference champion Minneapolis is now a long shot to make the postseason. Second-place Duluth FC, at time of publication, holds an 8-point advantage plus a game in hand. First-place Med City holds a 12-point lead with just seven games left to play for both it and Minneapolis.
Since joining the NPSL in 2017, the Crows have never finished lower than third place in conference play. Third-place Minnesota TwinStars and fourth-place Dakota Fusion are both within three points of the 10 that Minneapolis has earned through its first eight matches.
At the start of the summer, NPSL head coach Marco Campoverde and USL2 head coach Matt VanBenschoten were handed the novel task of utilizing a larger pool of players than those of their opponents’. A hard lesson taken has been that the shuffling of gameday rosters has lengthened the time it has taken for players to develop chemistry with one another and also the time it has taken for the two coaches to find the best roles for those players.
“Where I feel for Marco is that on any given day, he can have 10 different players than he had for the last game,” VanBenschoten said.
Going forward, the Crows’ brass will look to provide more continuity among their NPSL and USL2 rosters, respectively.
On Saturday, Campoverde’s charges took the game to last-place Aris and did so early, as five different Crows put their names on the score sheet in the opening 45 minutes.
Sidney Tume initiated the Crows’ first goal, playing a long backheel to Matt Murakami before the latter assisted Cole Schwartz in the 8th minute. Aiden Cavanaugh scored from outside the penalty area in the 13th minute. Ten minutes later, Jacek Nickowski split a pair of Aris defenders before roofing the ball over the visiting keeper, Ernesto Ascenzo. Schwartz returned the favor for Tume, feeding the latter inside the 18-yard box before Tume turned and lashed the ball into the net in the 27th minute. And just before halftime, Abbai Habte scored a milestone goal.
Asked after the game if he was aware he had scored the 200th competitive goal in club history, Habte said he was not, breaking a large smile.
“It’s the first time I’ve picked up that kind of milestone,” noted Habte. “Two hundred [club] goals is quite a bit. That’s very cool, actually. I feel pretty good about it.”
Carrying a 5-1 lead into the second half, Campoverde was able to have a look at a number of players off his bench.
“We had some young guys feature. We had guys who hadn’t featured as much throughout the season. The positive is we can rely on all our players to step up and do the job, regardless of whether we’re favorites or underdogs,” said Campoverde.
“A lot of guys have been making it really difficult in training. People don’t see their work, their commitment and dedication to the club, and their recovery — all the different aspects that are hidden.”
Campoverde highlighted the performance of second half substitute Jorge Pacheco, who had not previously been used by the Crows centrally. Moved in from the wing, Pacheco found space in the middle of the Crows’ attack, combining well with teammates.
Tume, fresh off creating a goal and scoring his first for the Crows, singled out two fullbacks for praise.
“Neython [Streitz] and Luke [Lindsay], they did a great job of joining the attack, getting crosses and shots in,” Tume said. “I say Neython probably had one of the better shots, today. Just unlucky that it didn’t go in, but it was good to see him get those minutes.”
“We’ve got to keep going,” added Tume, turning his attention to the summer’s remaining games. “The road to the playoffs is a bit narrow, but just keep winning and hope for the best in the end.”
In Other Action
Kicking off an hour after the NPSL side on Saturday, the Crows fell 4-1 on the road to the defending League Two national-champion Des Moines Menance.
VanBenschoten had set a goal that City not concede early, which it avoided. But Fernando Garcia and Alessandro Salvadego each found the back of the next in the last five minutes of the opening half, as Dennis brought a 2-0 lead into the break. Eliot Goldthorp added a goal of his own in the 56th minute, giving the Crows a mountain to ascend in the game’s final half hour.
“I think once they got that first one, you could feel the dam had broken a bit, because we hadn’t scored and then they get a second one. They get a third goal early in the second half. Martin [Sanchez] had a couple of fantastic saves. We were creating chances. But we didn’t necessarily finish until later in the second half,” said VanBenschoten.
In the 64th minute, 18-year old Loïc Mesanvi would add his third League Two goal in just his second League Two appearance. Mesanvi’s strike cut Dennis’ lead to two. But Alfeu Bertini would later put the game fully out of reach, scoring Des Moines’ fourth with six minutes remaining in regulation time.
VanBenschoten was relatively positive after coming out on the short side of a three-goal defeat. He noted the absence of key players like rightback Xavier Zengue and midfielder Luca Contestabile, who were out due to injury.
“Morale is as good as it can be. Obviously, it’s hard to lose. It’s not fun. It’s not why you play the game,” VanBenschoten said. “The people who understand it — our staff and most of our players — I don’t think it was the wrong decision to try and play in two leagues this year.
“Now that we’re halfway through the season, I think you start to see relationships forming a bit more. Guys are getting out of their comfort zones. And it’s a lot different when you’re playing with your buddy and for your buddy, as opposed to someone you just met two weeks ago. I was really happy with the overall level of effort, in spite of the result. We’ve played four of six [USL2] games on the road. In the second half we’re going to get a lot more home games, and I really do think we’re going to start to see results in the next couple weeks.”
