Stars Hope to Keep Current Away Record On Track

The NSC Stars tied the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday evening in Burnaby, BC with a score of 1-1.  Simone Bracalello put the Stars ahead in the 28th minute and Martin Nash drew the game even for Vancouver in the 67th minute. Vancouver dominated most of the second half. Minnesota allowed Vancouver to posses but stayed organized defensively to pull another point from another away game.

In Minnesota’s last 4 road games they are a very respectable 2-0-2 for 8 points. They have a +4 goal differential in those 4 road games and have given up an average of only 1 goal per game. Since May 29th Minnesota is 5-2-4 and and are now 7-9-5 overall with 26 points.

When Minnesota last traveled to Vancouver it was for the Stars very first game in team history. Unfortunately goalkeeper Louis Crayton blew out his ACL just before the half. Joe Warren came in as a backup but despite Minnesota looking good in the first half, the team looked shaken after the injury and ended up losing the game 2-0.

The starting lineup for that April 11 game was Johnny Menyongar, Warren Ukah, Leilei Gao, Andrei Gotsmanov, Kyle Altman, Andres Arango, Kevin Friedland, Brian Kallman, Louis Crayton and Daniel Wasson.  Simone Bracalello, Melvin Tarley, Chris Clements, and Ely Allen all came in as substitutes.

That was then, this is now. The starting lineup for Sunday evening’s rematch between the Stars and the Whitecaps didn’t look too different from that opening day, with some starters and a few of the substitutes getting the nod. Bracalello, Warren Ukah, Allen,  Menyongar,  Wasson, Arango, Friedland, and Kallman all started the game for the Stars. The only changes were Kentaro Takada, Scott Lorenz and Matt VanOekel. While it may seem logical that the Stars would have a similar starting lineup to that opening day, Manny Lagos’ starting 11 has rarely looked like that opening day lineup.

While VanOekel received the start on Sunday and showed well, Joe Warren is still the starting keeper for the Stars.

Bracalello has only been featured a few times but has seen more starts recently and scored the team’s only goal on Sunday.

Ukah fell out of favor early and has only recently worked his way back into the lineup while Brian Cvilikas and Melvin Tarley have both been tried as answers to Minnesota’s lack of goals.

Allen was in the starting 11 only a few times until the June 9th game against Montreal where he started getting penciled into the lineup on a semi-regular basis.

Menyongar was injured for a while and Brazilian Geison Moura filled in admirably for the Liberian midfielder. Since healing up, the Stars captain is back with the starters and seems to be showing more energy than he had previously.

Gao has left the team and returned to China while Takada, a pickup from last year’s Rochester Thunder, was given a chance to start after he flew back to Japan to straighten out some visa issues. Since than he has become one of the key players on the team working with Wasson as a holding midfielder. Coach Lagos recently commented that Takada’s ability to read the game and put on the unexpected pass has helped the team to have much better midfield control than earlier in the season.

Chris Clements had pretty much cemented his position but an injury has given an opportunity to young Scott Lorenz who still makes the occasional rookie defensive mistake but is a much bigger threat up the flank.

Overall, Lagos seems to have found his starting 11. But Minnesota is still in search of a Stars forward to kickstart the team by going on a goal scoring run.

The Stars will need to keep their away record going as their next two games are also on the road. On Sunday, August 1, the Stars take on AC St. Louis at the Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park.

The team then has a week and a half off until they travel to Portland for the second time this year to play the Timbers. That game is on Wednesday August 11, at PGE Park.

Finally the Stars return home to play the Whitecaps for a third time this season. Game time for that one is 7:00 pm on Saturday,  August 14.