NFL
By: Randall Gimm
Teemu Pukki has been a bona fide goal scorer at each stop in his career. In his time with Norwich City, Pukki scored 87 goals over 5 different seasons and won the championship in 2 seasons. Specifically, in the 2018-19 season he scored 29 goals and in the 2020-21 season, he scored 26 goals.
Pukki was introduced to the media and fans on July 8th, and he was met with great excitement. He was recruited by his teammate on the Finish National Team, Robin Lod. Lod, has been a cornerstone to the success that Minnesota United has had and to add a striker like Pukki, “it is exactly what this group needed,” said head coach Adrian Heath. Pukki did say Robin Lod was a driving factor in his decision to come to Minnesota. Pukki also said that Lod knows him well, especially on the field but, we will have to wait for Lod to recover from his torn right meniscus.
Recently, Heath and Technical Director Mark Watson have been hard at work to supplement this roster with improved strikers. They added Sang Bin Jeong back in March and Heath said, Jeong is starting to come into his own, slowly but surely. Towards the end of June, Minnesota signed Teemu Pukki and MNUFC2 prospect Emmanuel Iwe. Iwe has showed great athletic promise and is a quick as they come. He should fit in with this club that struggles to apply ball pressure.
Amid all of this, MLS All-Star Emanuel Reynoso has returned to the team like he never left. In 5 games and 3 starts, Reynoso has 3 goals. That places him only behind this season’s standout Bongokhule Hlongwane who has 5 goals so far this season. Now, Minnesota has a newly formed ‘Big 3’ offensive players. Reynoso, Hlongwane, and the finishing veteran, Pukki.
Pukki said that being aligned with Reynoso will help him get lots of goals. When you have 3 players on your frontline that all can score, it spreads out opposing defenses so there are even more angles to attack. So far this season, Minnesota has created the opportunities but, they have struggled to capitalize on them.
At this point, Minnesota is 6-6-8. There has not been a correlation between the Loons being better at home or away. At home they have only won twice with 5 draws and 2 losses. On the road, the loons have won four times, tied once, and lost six. So, they have earned more points on the road (13) but lost more games. The United have held more leads at home but have lost games in the last 27.5 minutes of play. I brought this up in my last article discussing Loons’ goal scoring and the theme has remained the same.
Currently, Minnesota is out of the Playoff Picture sitting in the 11th spot only one point behind the 9th seed, Vancouver. Minnesota is 2nd to last in goals scored and 2nd in goals allowed in the Western Conference. Last season, the united made it to the first round of the playoffs and lost to Denver FC in a shootout. The United want to build off that success and they are running out of time with only 14 games left in the regular season. This addition of Pukki and the return of Reynoso will start to form the turnaround this team is looking to see.
