We’re going to switch gears again this month and talk about soccer. Yes, we have a professional soccer team here in Minnesota and they’re called the Minnesota United. I feel like they’re in a similar position to the Minnesota Whitecaps where their fans know they’re here but maybe the rest of the state doesn’t.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t watch a lot of soccer but I do like the sport quite a bit. My cousin played all through high school and college and I loved going to her games when I had the chance. They’ve been a team for just about four years now, they began play in Major League Soccer in 2017. Along with the soccer team came a new building, a beautiful new stadium. Allianz Field started construction shortly after the announcement that the team would be starting play. 

They started out a little rough as far as competing goes. Their first year they finished with a record of 10-18-6, and ninth in the West. The next season wasn’t any better but after that they started climbing the ranks. Last season they went 9-5-7 for fourth in the West and they made it to the conference final for playoffs.

This season hasn’t been great so far. They currently have a record of 2-4-2 as of Tuesday evening with games scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday. Their games are pretty spread out through the season with sometimes breaks of a week or more. Despite their rough record they do sit at fifth place in the West with 26 more games scheduled from now until the first week of November. 

With the schedule covered it’s time to take a closer look at who plays on this team. I’m not very familiar with their roster but hopefully with taking a deeper dive into their stats I’ll be able to notice their players more in the news. 

Their top goal scorer is Robin Lod ,who is a midfielder. So far this season he has two goals and two assists off of 22 total shots. There are five players right below Lod, all with one point each. Ramón Ábila is a forward who managed to score his first goal of the season a little over a month ago and it was also his first MLS goal. 

Following him is Hassani Dotson a midfielder who played some college soccer before joining the professional ranks and scored his first goal and so far, only point of the season back in the first week of May. Next up is another forward, Franco Fragapane, who’s only been with the team for a little over a month, he also has just one goal on the season. 

That leaves three more players with points so far this season. Midfielder Niko Hansen also joined the team this year and scored his first goal at the end of May which turned out to also be his first appearance for Minnesota United. Another midfielder is next with Emanuel Reynoso, he’s been able to record both a goal and assist since making his first start back in April. 

The last player to have points in the season thus far is Osvaldo Alonso, who is a midfielder as well. He has an assist so far this season and with him being the last, the number of players who have scored is quite small for the Minnesota United.  

Their goaltending has been split between two athletes, Tyler Miller and Dayne St. Clair. Both have played four games each but Miller is now out with a season-ending injury, leaving the rest of the season to St. Clair as well as Adrián Zendejas and Fred Emmings, the other goaltenders on the roster who haven’t played yet this season. 

It’s still rather early in the year and they’ll be coming into Wednesday’s game with a tie from the previous Saturday. They’ve played just eight games so far with 26 more to go. They could easily turn their season around if they get some scoring soon. They’ll also be at home, where their two wins of the season have come from. 

Hopefully they’ll be able to keep their luck of previous seasons going and keep moving up the standings. I’m going to try to keep a closer eye on their results and hopefully see some more wins as well as getting more familiar with their entire roster. There’s still plenty of time for both and a playoff run as well!