(SUN BOWL STADIUM, El Paso, TX) - We've learned Buzz Lagos' dirty little secret.
Minnesota's A-League side may be named after Thor's hammer, but as showy as it is, Thunder is strictly a defensive weapon.
That's supposed to be the Patriots' line, being named after the ballyhooed missile based at Fort Bliss that earned its keep in Gulf Wars I and II. But El Paso's team could take lessons from Lagos on deterrence.
In a not-too-entertaining Friday debut in the Patriots' new digs, the 51,000-seat Sun Bowl, Minnesota beat their new Central Division rivals, 1-0, in the first match for both teams.
Ironically, what was to be a new beginning for the Patriots was merely a case of déjà vu.
The loss came in the same stadium where El Paso lost in the playoffs to the same team, 2-1, last September 5. The Patriots wrapped up their season two days later with a 1-1 tie in Minnesota, but the Thunder advanced on aggregate goals.
Friday, brandishing his weapon only when threatened - which is to say, rarely - Lagos continued a theme that has grown stronger over the years: Don't let El Paso play its game and Minnesota wins.
Sporting a bevy of new players, including two new forwards - first-round draft pick Tim Pierce of UCLA and Omar Millan, who played under new coach Fernando Gutierrez with Bachilleres in Mexico's First Division-A - El Paso still hasn't found a way to move the ball up to their men in front with any frequency against stout defenses like the Thunder's.
The Patriots played more than half the match before firing their first shot at Minnesota goalkeeper Joe Warren.
Meanwhile, with a good breeze at their back, the Thunder had four shots in the first 45 minutes, including the match-winner.
As they usually are, this close game came down to one sliver of time that was a touch of both opportunistic offense and missing defense.
Playing a free kick from their defensive third midway through the first half, Minnesota brought the ball up, finally finding their way to the Patriots 18-yard-box along the right wing.
Defender Mark Schulte zipped a short cross into the box just as the appropriately-named Marshall Morehead broke away from the Patriots' Joel Rios 10 yards from goal.
Back-tracking a step, Morehead's forehead flicked the one-time bullet just between Patriots' goalkeeper Alfredo Estrada's outstretched hand and the right post for the goal in the 29th minute.
And, as every coach worth his salt will tell you, when you get the lead on the road it's nighty-night time.
Keeping the inside on every foray El Paso's forwards made into the attacking third, pushing, shoving and fouling, when necessary, Thor's hammer eviscerated virtually every Patriots' attack.
El Paso was able to showcase its superior ball-handling skills in the open field, but against Minnesota's packed defense it was like trying to squeeze a block of granite.
Both Millan, who played the full 90 minutes, and Pierce, who subbed in at the half, had problems receiving the ball, though Pierce looked good the few times he had it, distributing the ball well to his teammates.
El Pasoan Michael Griego, a tall, lanky forward returning from a torn ACL that kept him out all last season, also played the full 90 minutes. Intended to be the taller target the Patriots needed up front, Griego just didn't have the upper body strength to jockey for position against the meatier Minnesotans.
The Thunder defense played a large part in making El Paso's crosses look even worse than they were. The Patriots' tendency to loft crossing balls into the box resembles the philosophy behind the original Patriot missiles in the days before laser guidance - lob it up and see if it hits something. But if you lob it into a forest, odds are you'll hit a tree.
We understand Minnesota has lots of forests.
El Paso may have been missing the midfield services of El Pasoan Jose Abarca, who is back from a season in the Chilean First Division but wasn't on the roster for Friday's match. At the end of last season, Abarca looked to be the creative playmaker the Patriots needed to force things from the middle. It was Abarca's passes that sprung forward Danny Frias in 2002, perhaps he can create the same magic with Millan, who looks similar to Frias in style.
There were bright spots for El Paso, though. Freddy Juarez, the young Las Crucen who begins his fifth campaign with the Patriots and now wears the captain's armband, is still as fierce a defensive midfielder as he has always been. On the soft AstroPlay surface in the Sun Bowl, his slide tackles are still ultra-effective.
The Patriots' best scoring chance came off the foot of late second half sub Javier Carrasco, an El Pasoan who has been playing collegiately with the University of New Mexico. Carrasco got off two of the Patriots four total shots in his 22 minutes of action, including an 88th-minute one-timer from a hard angle on the right side that was deflected by Warren.
But for now the song remains the same.
Asking anyone to remember the last time the Patriots beat the Thunder in a low-scoring match is like asking if anyone remembers the SALT Treaty. But they'll get another chance Sunday, as Minnesota will take advantage of El Paso's hospitality for a couple of nights before playing again.
Maybe the sun and temperatures in the mid-80's will shock the Midwesterners into submission come matchtime.
Then again, Buzz and his boys seem to like it here.
MINNESOTA 1, EL PASO 0
Minnesota 1-0-1
El Paso 0-0-0
Scoring - M, Morehead (Schulte, 29). Shots - M, 4-2-6; E 0-4-4. Saves - M 0-2-2; E 0-0-0. Fouls - M 11-11-22; E 10-9-19. Offsides - M 3-4-7; E 2-2-4. Corner Kicks - M 2-2-4; E 1-3-4. Cautions - M, Ferruzzi (25, Dissent); E, Villa (38, Unsporting Behavior), Figueroa (62, Unsporting Behavior).
MINNESOTA - Joe Warren, Steve Shak, Adams Eyre, Mark Schulte, Alvin Hudson, Kevin Anderson, Hugo Llamas, Zafer Kilickan (88, Jason Willan), Marco Ferruzzi (71, Carlos Parra), John Menyongar (84, Melvin Tarley), Marshall Morehead (83, Johnny Torres).
EL PASO - Alfredo Estrada, Sidnei dos Santos, Joel Rios, Carlos Martinez, Freddy Juarez, Pablo Cabrera, Victor Arreola (45, Tim Pierce), Ahmed Figueroa (68, Javier Carrasco), Arturo Villa (64, Sem Lopez), Omar Millan, Michael Griego.
Referee - Jesse Johnson. Senior Assistant - Gibby Widner. Junior Assistant - Anthony J. Herrera. Fourth Official - Andrew Gage. Attendance - 1,400.
