Two days after the regular-season finale, Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay sent striker Kelvin Yeboah a picture from their St. Louis City win on Oct. 19.
It showed Yeboah surrounded within the 18-yard box by 4 City defenders, who were cutting down his space and angles on goal. Ramsay took the chance to exhibit how much attention he believes Yeboah will receive from Real Salt Lake once the first-round MLS Cup Playoffs series starts Tuesday night for Game 1 in Sandy, Utah.
With seven goals and one assist across his opening nine MLS matches, the Italian/Ghanian forward’s decision-making — shoot or pass? — can be ultra-important to MNUFC’s success within the best-of-three set. Game 2 is Saturday night in St. Paul; Game 3, if obligatory, is back in Utah on Nov. 8.
“(Yeboah) may have to execute quickly and execute well,” Ramsay said last week. “But in addition, his game will grow to be as much about what he can create as much as what it’s he can rating.”
Yeboah showed goal creation is in his bag.
His first MLS assist was tallied on a terrific through ball on Robin Lod’s opening goal within the 4-1 blowout of St. Louis almost 10 days ago. Yeboah dropped into the Loons’ defensive half of the sphere to receive a pass. He turned towards the goal, dribbled through the middle circle and perfectly weighted a ball between two City defenders and to Lod. After a soft first touch, Lod coolly slotted his shot into the underside left corner within the twenty first minute.
When Yeboah arrived in late August, MLS teams didn’t quite know what to anticipate from him. But those days are over.
“His life goes to be harder in front of goal than it was within the early stages because I feel like he caught a number of teams by surprise,” Ramsay said. “I believe now everyone knows the threat that he poses.”
With experience in a number of the top European leagues, Yeboah hit the bottom running with MNUFC. With three goals from penalty kicks and 4 from open play, Yeboah’s 0.89 goals per 90 minutes ranks fourth in MLS.
He has lived as much as his billing as a high-priced Designated Player. The Loons paid Italian club Genoa a transfer fee of roughly $3.2 million for Yeboah. His guaranteed annual compensation is $1.4 million, per the MLSPA salary numbers released last week. Which means he currently is the team’s third-highest paid player.
“He’s coming here as a marque player,” Ramsay said. “He’s our big threat. He’s our principal man at the highest of the pitch in the mean time, so with that comes a certain quantity of pressure that you just imagine the highest players have needed to take care of their whole profession.”
Ramsay still took the chance to teach up his No. 9 last week. The primary-year head coach will often do this in the times immediately following matches. (On that specific play shared last week, Yeboah passed around to get MNUFC one other phase of possession.)
“Because the season has gone on, we’re more established from the attitude of general principles of play,” Ramsay said. “I’m attempting to be sure that we’re homing in on individual details.”
- Playoffs, Minnesota United vs. Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah: Watch Game 1 at 7:50 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday on FS1 and Apple TV.