Minnesota United fullback DJ Taylor has made nearly 70 starts at right back over the past three seasons, including starting 17 times so far this season. And the Loons brought in young Slovakian standout Matúš Kmeť, ostensibly to give some competition for Taylor at the right wingback spot — especially after they traded Caden Clark, the other player they had used regularly as a right back. So naturally, when the Loons took the field on Saturday night against Seattle, the right wingback was .
.. Sang Bin Jeong ? Chalk it up to the thing that coach Eric Ramsay prizes from all of his players: versatility.
“He’s got a really good engine; he can be up and down very quickly and can get himself on the backline,” Ramsay said after the 3-2 loss to the Sounders at Allianz Field. “We ask him very often to, depending on how the opposition plays, attack as if he’s a winger and defend as if he’s a fullback at points, which is obviously the case with them playing very wide on that side. He’s someone we feel can bring that system to life a bit; we obviously don’t want to attack without the width, without the numbers on the backline, and he’s someone that really wants to be there.
The combination of him and Joe [ Joseph Rosales , the left wingback], it works well for us and we create a lot of chances in that sense.” In some ways, Jeong’s inclusion on the right was a natural complement to Ramsay’s selections at forward, since he started only two rather than the usu.