Thunder Hope to Take Positive Momentum With Them To Vancouver
The Minnesota Thunder will be on the road this evening as they play the Vancouver Whitecaps at Swangard Stadium in Vancouver. The team hopes to take some of the positive energy from the last several games and use that to continue a trend of playing better soccer.
Jeremiah Bass pokes the ball into the Portland net for the draw. Photos by Jeremy Olson
The Thunder pulled off a tie with Portland at home last Saturday in a game that saw Minnesota play a good first half but sag in both energy and positive passing in the second half. Portland’s Tony McManus scored in the 63rd minute and it was hard to see where a Thunder goal would come from. But as the final seconds of the clock ticked away, the Thunder put together a collective effort. Led by a tireless team captain, Jeremiah Bass, who attacked and defended end-to-end all night, the team was able to score on a scramble in front of the Portland goal in injury time. It was truly a team goal with the ball touching at least 3 Thunder players after receiving a corner kick. Finally, Bass drove the ball home to pull the game even. The team celebrated as if they had won the game, but with a season that has had few highlights, the goal, the tie and the collective effort was something to draw from.
The previous Tuesday evening, the Thunder had taken on the Kansas City Wizards for a US Open Cup game that saw the team play one of the more inspired games of the season. Sadly, the Thunder lost in penalty kicks as the game was still tied 3-3 at the end of overtime. Minnesota received a standing ovation at the end of those spot kicks even though the Thunder were on the losing end, as the fans applauded a well-fought battle.
Bass’s effort in Saturday’s game was rewarded by being named to the USL-1 Team of the Week. Quavas Kirk, who is starting to settle into his new position at right back, was rewarded with the same honor.
Quavas Kirk is turning heads in his new right fullback position. Photo by Jeremy Olson
Thunder coach Don Gramenz said both players were deserving of this week’s honor. “Bass worked relentlessly offensively and defensively which in the end the Thunder, and Jeremiah, were rewarded for his effort by earning a tie with his goal in extra time,” said Gramenz.
“Kirk is getting better with each start and performance as an outside back,” Gramenz stated. “I credit his attitude, personality, work ethic, desire and his overall ability to play the game. He will only get better with time by learning the position tactically, defensively and offensively. I believe Quavas will develop into one of the best outside defenders in this league and possibly beyond.”
Gramenz feels tonight’s game is going to be a good one. “Tonight should be a great battle and we will rely on our team’s depth,” said Gramenz. “Vancouver has an electrifying atmosphere and there is not a better venue to get a positive result.”
A moment of frustration for Portland forward Suzuki as Quavas Kirk lets the big forward know he was not going to back down. Photo by Jeremy Olson
The Thunder traveled to Vancouver with both keepers, Nic Platter and Matt Van Oekel. Also traveling were Quavas Kirk, Chris Clements, Andres Arango, Andrew Peterson, Kevin Friedland, Brian Kallman, Jeremiah Bass, Ricardo Sanchez, Rod Dyachenko, Melvin Tarley, Brian Cvilikas, Geoffrey Myers, Marco Terminesi and Nathan Knox.
Tonight’s game in Vancouver will be carried free on USL Live.com at 9:30 central time.
Minnesota returns home on Saturday night to play the Montreal Impact at the National Sports Center. Kickoff is at 7:05.
Bass and company celebrate the injury-time goal in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with Portland
Comments are closed.
8pts in 14games.
“Tonight should be a great battle and we will rely on our team’s depth,” said Gramenz.
…and by depth I mean one sub in the 70minute.
I found Donny’s quote about team depth pretty laughable as well. Couldn’t believe Friedland’s sliding tackle (if you can call it that) once he was on the pitch. Nathan Knox didn’t impress at all and was stifled by the Whitecap defenders’ ability to play the offsides trap. Our central defenders had trouble with the pace of the Cap’s forwards, particularly Clements on the first goal.
They might’ve relied on the team’s depth, which is how come the scoreline was 4-nil.
First, I’m not going to defend the Thunders poor performance this year. There are problems no doubt. However, I don’t think player for player they may be as bad as you are making them out to be. If you look man for man at our team, we are better than Miami, Cleveland, and Austin.
As to Kevin Friedland is coming off a long injury. It’s his first game back. I didn’t see the tackle but cut him some slack. He’s a decent defender.
Knox hasn’t been getting very many starts this year after coming off an ACL.
I do agree that our whole team has issues with speed. The defense was not really bolstered this winter. The team tried to bid for a number of decent central defenders and were always outbid. I don’t want to say a lot about it at this time but there lies the real core issue with the team. Greenfield did not make the trip and I am not sure if that was injury or not. Greenfield is underrated and holds the back line together. Without him it only gets worse. The fact that Clements, a rookie, has gotten so many starts this year says a lot about the lack of depth of our defenders. However, the bigger issue in my mind is in central midfield were there are issues with players just not sticking it in and playing D and being tenacious for 90 min.
Last night, as I stated, the team played with Vancouver for most of the match until the PK. It was all down hill after that. However, if the team had stuck a couple of those balls in the back of the net earlier, we would most likely be telling a different story. However, this is the same story we’ve been talking about all season. Same issues almost every game.
Don’t disagree with much you said BQ and certainly don’t mean to slag off our players and their performances on the whole. My comments were in response to Donny’s quote that SuperRookie posted, relating strictly to the Vancouver match.
The depth that Donny wanted to “rely” on just isn’t there at the moment, since most substitutes haven’t seen any playing time (due to injury, total lack of substitutes being used in matches thus far, e.g.). In my mind, you can’t talk about relying on depth if you never explore the depth that the team might have, as you say. I tend to agree that man for man, we have more skilled players than Miami, Cleveland, and Austin and there have been several matches where we’ve been unlucky in getting the results. Unfortunately though, we’re at the bottom of the table and we’re not getting the results that those teams seem to be getting.
Greenfield is massively underrated and massively missed when he’s out – you’re spot on there. Bass’ stock has risen dramatically as of late – he’s been running himself ragged the last few games between the boxes. Who do you feel is lacking in the midfield?
“However, if the team had stuck a couple of those balls in the back of the net earlier, we would most likely be telling a different story.” As you know, this has been an unfortunate mantra all season and it’s a typical saying in the sport. The fact is, our chances on goal leading up to the PK weren’t as quality as Vancouver’s (Cvilikas had a few decent chances if I recall).
Agree with everything you’re saying as well JP. The subs have been a mystery all year. I still don’t get it. I asked Donny about this once in an interview and he said he thought those on the field were playing pretty well so he didn’t see the need for change. OK, I disagree and evidently there’s a lot of us that are seeing things differently then Donny is, but as long as he’s the coach he gets to make those decisions, right or wrong.
Midfielder in particular I’m thinking about is Dyachenko. Way to soft at times. He can be masterful with the ball but far to soft and it seems like every game in the first have he has a near chance that almost goes in but never does. Compare him to a Steel, or a Nash. You see guys who are a lot more solid defensively, tough and good passers of the ball. Plus they score. Sanchez can also frustrate me to know end. He will track someone down if he’s been beaten but often does not do the defensive work I would like to see. But with Sanchez you know he always has the ability to score.
BQ, you mentioned our lack of defensive depth and the fact that the team backline “wasn’t’ really bolstered this winter.” Just curious, what’s the structure/hierarchy in place for transfers/purchases/loans in the USL – you mentioned bidding – I’m not too familiar with this aspect of the league. How are personnel decisions made and what’s your impression of Donny’s involvement in these decisions?
In terms of Donny’s quote – maybe instead of waxing on about team depth, he needs to go a bit “Joe Kinnear” with his press statements. It’d certainly breathe some life into those official press releases. Also, I wouldn’t mind seeing him more fiery on the touchline. He must’ve been able to motivate the players at the tail end of last season – this season’s performance could be a result of some real lack of consistent motivation? I respect Donny’s ability and still have faith that he can push the squad to turn things around. Everybody’s frustrated, from supporters to players to the ticket booth staff. Things need to start happening as of Saturday and now’s the time, what with the long home stand.
I’d like to see something more from Dyachenko as well, though he has great ability to get into space – turns well, works hard to get around defenders – people have complained about his lack of defensive tenacity, but I think he works hard. He’s probably the player I had the highest expectations of heading into this season – I’m possibly giving him too much leeway for that reason. Ricardo on the other hand, has really frustrated me from this season through to last in terms of work ethic and sportsmanship. He’s a set piece threat, but really doesn’t do much more than Dyachenko if you’re comparing the two.
First, I like Donny a lot — he’s a fantastic guy. Sometimes as I am reporting about the Thunder (because they are a smaller club) you actually get almost too involved becoming acquaintances and friends with people like Manny and Donny. That makes it hard for me to report as honestly as I sometimes would like. Donny is going to make a great coach someday. I really believe that but I also believe he is very inexperienced at coaching but that is changing. I know it’s probably hard for Donny to see now but this process will make Donny a hell of a coach. It’s a shame he couldn’t have spent some time working with someone like Buzz for a while like Amos did. Now Amo is working under Gavin Wilkinson. A guy I don’t particularly like from the outside but I do think is a pretty darn good coach. Manny has to shoulder the blame here for putting Donny in charge knowing he didn’t have any coaching experience at this high of a level except for last years interim period and Dean Johnson for not allowing the budget to really go out there and hire someone with a ton of experience.
Donny was very responsible for bringing players in this year. He and Manny worked closely but ultimately Donny got to make the decisions. I know for a fact that Donny tried to bring in some very solid defenders but we lost out each and every time. Again, this is part of the issue with the team. They only had X amount to spend on players salary this year and were handcuffed. We also have a harder time getting players to MN for a number of reasons that the FO could possibly change to make signing more attractive. I will perhaps go into that another time. As well, we have the MN cold, no good competition up here in the spring amongst some other issues going against the Thunder. We will always fight those things.
I did the first interview as a coach with Donny last fall. He has learned fast but agree and have heard it from others as well, that it would be nice to hear him speak his mind sometimes. He has a tendency to be very careful and say all the right coaching phrases but not get down to the meat of things at times. I know he can do it because I’ve have heard him do that off the record and he’s a really interesting guy, pretty fiery but also sort of an introvert in that he’s quiet on the outside.
No more comments from me on Dyachenko because I think they would be pretty negative if I was to elaborate. I just wonder how well he fits in with the team after watching him get off the field as fast as he can after games and try to avoid singing autographs for the kids.