Voices were raised and fingers were pointed within Minnesota United’s dressing room after Friday’s 4-3 loss to Toronto FC.
The Loons had given up a 3-2 lead in the final 20 minutes and had two players sent off with red cards, curtailing a last-ditch comeback attempt at BMO Field in Toronto.
“A lot of tempers boiled over,” Loons defender Michael Boxall said. “A couple of us left our marks on the training room there. A lot of anger and a lot of disappointment and rightfully so because that’s one or three points that we maybe should be bringing home.”
Coach Adrian Heath said Boxall was the first to raise his hand and assume blame after his failed clearance turned into Jordan Hamilton’s game-winning header in the 79th minute.
Heath has witnessed more players holding each other more accountable this season than in years past. “People don’t do their job, people will come in and let them know,” Heath said.
Boxall’s gesture didn’t clear his conscience, however, with his mind racing through the play “thousands of times.” He was sprinting back to help goalkeeper Vito Mannone, who came off his line to thwart an in-charging Jozy Altidore.
With Altidore’s ball bouncing toward an open net, Boxall said: “If I touch it, it’s going in the goal, so I have to get around it to try to get it away. I have no idea that the other guy is steaming in.”
Hamilton connected with the ball as Boxall lunged toward it. Boxall was then thrust into a restless night’s sleep in Toronto. “That is one of the most embarrassing moments of my career,” he said.
One lingering fallout from Friday is a level of exasperation and bewilderment on what the Loons should do next with defender Francisco Calvo, the Pioneer Press has learned.
The Loons’ three-year captain lashed out and drew a second yellow card when he tripped Toronto defender Auro in stoppage time. Calvo first received a yellow caution for dissent a minute prior as midfielder Jan Gregus was sent off for hooking Reds star Alejandro Pozuelo’s leg in a tackle.
Calvo and Gregus are now forced to sit out when Minnesota (3-3-1) plays the Los Angeles Galaxy (6-1-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Allianz Field.
But with Calvo, United has been trying to figure out what’s best for him since preseason when Heath moved Calvo from his preferred center back spot to left fullback. Calvo played center back for most of Minnesota’s first two MLS seasons, while fullback was his spot for the Costa Rican national team, including during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
On the position switch, Calvo, at first, voiced reluctance, but quickly added he would do it to put the team first. His athleticism and attacking abilities were seen in the season opener when he scored in Minnesota’s 3-2 victory over Vancouver on March 2.
But Calvo also had middling defensive outputs and levels of culpability in goals allowed across the first seven games. He failed to clear New York City’s in-swinging free kick that helped produced a 3-3 draw in the Allianz Field opener on April 13.
Calvo’s retention of the captain’s armband into a third straight season comes through the position switch as well as the offseason additions of respected and seasoned MLS veterans Ozzie Alonso and Ike Opara. Calvo’s suspension Wednesday will, at least, create a one-game hiatus from that leadership status, and perplexed feelings toward him within the club could curtail or end his captain status.
This also might portend the beginning of the end of Calvo’s tenure in Minnesota. The MLS primary transfer window closes in two weeks, on May 7; the summer transfer window runs from July 7 to Aug. 7.
Calvo has been with the club since 2016. Heath traveled to Costa Rica to court Calvo that fall, and Calvo signed with Minnesota in December. Last season, he had the club’s fourth-most expensive total compensation at $522,000.
MARTIN TO HARTFORD
The Loons have loaned midfielder Collin Martin to the Hartford Athletic, Heath said Monday. Hartford plays in the lower-level United Soccer League’s top division called the Championship.
Martin played in 23 of 68 games for Minnesota across 2017-18, but had yet to appear in seven Loons games this season. He has spent time with Forward Madison, United’s affiliate in one of USL’s lower divisions called League One.
Martin made international headlines last June when he announced he is gay, becoming the only publicly gay male athlete in a major U.S. men’s pro team sport.
BRIEFLY
Opara (head injury) was a partial participant in Monday’s training session, and United remains hopeful their top center back could play Wednesday, Heath said. … Pozuelo was named MLS player of the week for his two-goal game against the Loons last Friday.