How Loons manager Adrian Heath handles substitutions

Minnesota United can see the end of a grueling stretch.

Come Saturday, the Loons will have played 12 matches over 43 days since late April, and manager Adrian Heath has asked a smaller group of players to get the team through it.

“Big workload,” Heath said Tuesday. “Plenty of miles on the clock, for sure, over the last few weeks.”

The busy schedule continues with the Loons (5-5-4, 19 points) traveling to play Austin FC (4-6-4, 16 points) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Q2 Stadium in Texas.

In MLS action, MNUFC has made a league-low 43 substitutions this season, according to fbref.com. Those subs are playing more than the MLS average at 21 minutes per appearance, which ranks 11th in the league.

With five substitutions available per match, Heath has averaged 3.07 changes per game, leaving approximately two unused subs per contest.

“America has a fascination with substitutes, more so than anywhere else I’ve ever been,” said the Englishman, repeating a line he often uses when the subject is broached. “At the end of the day, I want to win a game of football and if I thought anybody on the bench would go on and win us the game, then I would do that.”

Compared to Europe’s top five leagues and Mexico’s Liga MX, the Loons’ average substitutes are lower than all but one.

The least-subbed teams in Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, German Bundeslinga and Liga MX each still subbed 3.9 times per match this season. That’s nearly one more sub than MNUFC on a per-game basis.

France’s Ligue 1’s least-subbed club was at 3.7. The Premier League had the closest numbers, with 2022-23 champion Manchester City at 3.2 subs per match and nearly relegated Everton at 3.05.

Heath described Tuesday what he is looking for in a substitute.

“Invariably, you want to put some energy on the field,” he said. “You want to give the (opposing) defense a different look, Sang Bin (Jeong) than Luis Amarilla.”

Heath emphasized his caution in making what he feels might be too many changes in a certain game.

“What I do know is, if you suddenly make four and five changes, sometimes you completely disrupt the rhythm of the group,” Heath said. “It takes them a while to get into the game and understanding what their opposition is doing. Sometime you can go the other way and you give yourself no chance from when you had a chance.”

MNUFC has had only 17 players log more than 100 minutes across the 14 MLS games this season. With injuries and absences, the players available off the bench have often included two goalkeepers.

Newcomer Cameron Dunbar provides depth at winger, but has played in only one MLS game, when the club had seven players away for international duty in March.

After not playing in the Loons’ 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Dunbar scored for MNUFC2 in a 4-1 loss to Colorado Rapids 2 on Sunday. Heath has asked Dunbar to remain patient.

“As I said to him, with the games we’ve got coming up this year with the Leagues Cup and everything, he’s going to get games,” Heath said. “At this moment in time, I think Bongi (Hlongwane) is picking himself, and I think Joe (Rosales) has come in and done excellent. They will keep their spots” in the starting XI.

The Loons midfield has seen the most rotation of any position during this long stretch, but it’s been a grind for them, too.

“I don’t think I remember a month in which I’ve had so many games,” captain Wil Trapp said Tuesday. “It’s about recovering and playing. I think our guys have done a really good job because you can’t play all these games and be slacking off the field. I think our guys have done an amazing job to keep the bodies ready, the minds ready and preparing for what is next.”

Reynoso ‘ridiculous’

Emanuel Reynoso participated in his first full training session with the first team on Tuesday. The two-time MLS All-Star will not play against Austin on Wednesday, but his debut could be just around the corner.

“He has had an exceptional morning,” Heath said Tuesday. “His quality has been ridiculous.”

Heath said last week that he wanted to have Reynoso train with the the first team for a full week before his first MLS game. That timeline sets up next week, before a June 10 match at CF Montreal. But Heath appears to be considering a shorter, maybe 10- to 15-minute shift against Toronto on Saturday at Allianz Field.

Defender Bakaye Dibassy also participated in first-team training Tuesday, and the club will look to get him minutes.

Amarilla meeting

An interesting conversation took place after Tuesday’s training session on the club’s outdoor fields in Blaine.

Amid news the Loons are shopping Luis Amarilla to other clubs, the Paraguayan striker met with MNUFC sporting director Mark Watson and assistant team administrator Saul Rosales, who presumably was handling Spanish/English interpretations. It appeared cordial with Watson patting Amarilla on the back.

The Pioneer Press can confirm Mazatlan of Liga MX is an option for Amarilla. Last week, Liga de Quito in Ecuador surfaced as a possible destination.

Any deal for Amarilla’s exit might be finalized before the MLS summer transfer window opens in July because other countries have earlier windows to do business in June.

Briefly

MNUFC has loaned forward Patrich Weah to FC Tulsa of the USL Championship for the rest of the 2023 season, with a right to recall. The 19-year-old homegrown player has scored two goals in 314 minutes for MNUFC2 this season. “Getting Patrick away from here might focus him a little bit more and freshen him up a little bit,” Heath said. Weah, who attended Wayzata High School, went on loan to the Sacramento Republic during the 2021 season, going scoreless in 201 minutes. … New defender Mikael Marques, who just recovered from two ankle injuries to play for MNUFC2, injured his shoulder in the reserve team’s match Sunday. The Swede fell on it awkwardly and damaged the socket, Heath said. … Austin has been without injured Sebastian Druissi since late April. The Argentine has only two goals in 810 minutes after scoring 22 goals last season, which tied for second-most in MLS.

Related Articles

• Soccer | Real Salt Lake continues to annoy Loons in 1-1 home draw

• Soccer | Bongi Hlongwane’s success shows what Under-22 Initiative can do for Loons

• Soccer | Loons’ Robin Lod to be out 4-6 months with knee injury

• Soccer | Loons net dramatic late goal for 1-0 win at Portland

• Soccer | Loons lose key midfielder Robin Lod to torn meniscus