“I was very keen to keep him on because I thought he was in a good place,” Ramsay said. “We now are in a position where we’ve got some nice tools at our disposal on that front line, and we can do a couple of different things. I’m excited to see what we’re able to get from the team and what those guys are able to produce.”
For a few minutes, the Loons were lined up in a 4-3-3, with Jefferson Diaz playing as a traditional right back, Oluwaseyi as a central striker and Yeboah and Hlongwane lined up as wider forwards. Hlongwane’s second goal came almost immediately after the change, meaning the formation switch lasted for only a few minutes before Ramsay changed back to a more defensive, lead-protecting setup — but those moments showed that, with the new additions to the roster, he has something he’s been looking for all season: flexibility.
“I do now feel like we’re back to that point where we can think about the team looking a number of different ways,” Ramsay said. “I think in that sense, we’ve made a couple of nice strides today.”
Minnesota United’s shift to playing with three central midfielders instead of two has also coincided with a renewed sense of dynamism from Hassani Dotson, who’s started the past two games playing as one of the two more advanced midfielders.
The position frees Dotson from some of the defensive responsibilities that come with a two-man midfield, where both midfielders are tasked with protecting the center of the defense, and enables him to get forward more often and combine offensively with the forwards.
Dotson was as responsible as any player for the game’s first goal. He was the one that picked off a wayward San Jose pass to recover the ball in the offensive half. And then, when Robin Lod’s first touch on another pass was heavy, it was Dotson who crashed into a 50-50 challenge, winning the ball back and deflecting it back to Lod, who then applied the final pass to Hlongwane for the goal.