Minnesota United manager heaps praise on Kenya defender after debut

After waiting for over 13 months to make his debut, Kenyan defender Nabi Kibunguchy was the recipient of high praise from Minnesota United head coach Adrian Heath.

The 24-year-old defender was picked by Minnesota United in the 2021 Major Soccer League (MLS) draft but was immediately shipped out on loan to their feeder team Sacramento Republic FC.

Kenyan defender delighted to make Minnesota debut after 13 months

Heath waxed lyrical about Kibunguchi's performance in the 2-0 win over Forward Maddison in the US Open Cup and revealed that he could feature as a defensive midfielder or full back owing to his pace.

“I thought Nabi [Kibunguchy] was terrific. I can’t really remember any mistakes from him, certainly not important ones. I thought Joseph [Rosales] used the ball really well in midfield. On the whole, I thought it was a really professional performance from a really good group who were determined to get a result.

His performance has given us a bit of food for thought there because he’s quicker than people think. He’s used to playing at full-back and midfield, he’s comfortable on the ball, got a good range of passing so he can play out through the back very well. He has a really good night, I was pleased for him,” said Heath.

Kibunguchi is a natural center back but slotted in as a defensive midfielder in a number of games for Sacramento and put in a solid shift in the Maddison game as he helped the team to a clean sheet.

Heath went on to laud the all round performance of the team in the game as he also singled out Matt Glaeser and Tyler Miler for praise after advancing to the Round of 16 of the tournament.

“I thought we were excellent all evening. Matt’s [Glaeser] got a really good little group here. They’re well-organized, they’re highly motivated and we knew it was going to be tough. But we set us ourselves up nice and early, we kept playing the ball wide, stretching them as much as we could.

I don’t Tyler [Miler] had a save to make all evening. Against a highly motivated, well-organized team, I think it was very professional and disciplined performance from our guys, in really difficult conditions,” added Heath.