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THE MATCH 3' - A Jarrad Branthwaite throw from almost the right side corner flag finds Richarlison. He returns the ball to Branthwaite who totally mis-hits a cross into the box that very nearly sneaks in at the Tyler Miller's near post. Luckily he is alert to the danger and manages to jump up and make the save. The clearance from Miller's tip is poor though and falls straight to on-loan midfielder Donny van de Beek, who hits a curling strike that bends just wide of the right side post. Almost the perfect start for Everton! 26' - Another Branthwaite throw-in, this time finds Dele Alli who manages to get his way past Robin Lod with some tricksy movement. He lays it off to Richarlison, whose low and skiddy shot from just outside the penalty area gets past the despairing dive of Tyler Miller and ends up in the back of the net right in the corner. 1-0 EVERTON HT - Minnesota United FC 0-0 Everton I went super defensive for the first half, with the objective being to just try and ride out the storm of expected Everton pressure. Defensively the tactic worked pretty well as Everton were limited in their clear cut chances, but it came at the expense of Minnesota not even trying to get forward but rather just creating a bit of a stalemate in midfield. As soon as Everton's goal went in I changed things up slightly as there was no point defending a 1-0 loss, so I switched it to be a little bit more balanced. 49' - Robin Lod with a decent run down the right flank, he gets to the Everton corner flag where he is pushed wide and away from goal by some good defending. He manages to get a pass off to Romain Metanire whose cross is met by Niko Hansen. His header is tame and Ben Godfrey blocks it with his body before kicking the ball away. His clearance doesn't go very far however and Emanuel Reynoso tries an OUTRAGEOUS Di Canio-esque scissor kick from fully 35 yards out that that goes over the crossbar. Minnesota United FC's first real chance of the game and it would have been spectacular if it had worked! 51' - Emanuel Reynoso with a corner from the right side, Sebastien Ibeagha rises highest to head the ball at the near post and it clips the post as it goes just wide! 70' - A long goal kick by Tyler Miller, flicked on by Adrien Hunou to Robin Lod, who manages to outpace Yerry Mina and get through on goal. Jarrad Branthwaite does very well to cover for his fellow centre back though and immediately puts Lod under pressure. This forces him to hit his shot earlier than he would have liked and it goes high and wild into the stands. 77' - Tactical genius that I am, I realise I haven't made any substitutions and partly for romantic reasons I want as many players to have the experience of playing against English Premier League opposition so I totally disrupt the flow of the game when we were starting to look dangerous and make NINE substitutions all at once- Dayne St. Clair, Chase Gasper, Luis Amarilla, Hassani Dotson, Jacori Hayes, Patrick Weah, Brent Kallman, Nabilai Kibunguchy and Abu Danladi all come on to the pitch for Tyler Miller, Sebastien Ibeagha, Michael Boxall, Bakaye Dibassy, Wil Trapp, Emanuel Reynoso, Niko Hansen, Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Adrien Hunou. As expected this kills any momentum and we fail to register another shot for the remainder of the game...... 88' - Last chance of the game falls to Everton. A throw-in from Branthwaite finds Andre Gomes. He is put under pressure by Patrick Weah, but still manages to get a pass off to Anthony Gordon, who fires in a shot from the edge of the box that substitute keeper Dayne St. Clair reads well and gets his body behind it for the easy save. FT - Minnesota United FC 0-1 Everton A much tighter game than I was expecting! Although, this might have something to do with the fact that on this save the English Premier League doesn't start for another four months and this was Everton's first game, so fitness levels were non-existent for their players. After changing up the tactics slightly in the second half Minnesota United FC did much better, as the first half was good defensively but offered absolutely nothing going forward. For a spell of about 15-20 minutes at the start of the second half I would say we were even the better team, but despite that we still didn't technically manage a single shot on target. Richarlison was given the Player of the Match award for his game-winning goal, plus making 3 interceptions and 4 clearances. I would say Emanuel Reynoso was probably the pick of the bunch for Minnesota United FC, as he was a constant threat from crosses, plus he made some key tackles and aerial challenges where he came out on top for the majority. Sebastien Ibeagha did OK in his first start for The Loons, coming close to scoring from a Reynoso corner in the second half. I'm not entirely sure yet how it works with sending players to Minnesota United FC II to give them game time, but I'm assuming it's allowed and they still remain eligible for the MLS roster? If that is the case then Ibeagha will start the season with the reserves to build up match practice and I'd look at having him match-ready by mid-May. **UP NEXT - The MLS season finally begins! The season starts with a trip to Florida and an opening day game against David Beckham's Inter Miami!**

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly Game 9 - vs. Everton Allianz Field, Saint Paul, Minnesota (Capacity - 19,400) The final game of pre-season sees The Loons taking on English Premier League side Everton FC at Allianz Field. Everton finished the 2020/2021 EPL season in 10th place with a W-L-D record of 17-13-8 and a Goal Difference of -1. After investing once more in the squad before the 2021/2022 season, owner Farhad Moshiri will no doubt be looking for the Toffees to improve on their record and potentially challenge for a European spot. Their most expensive signing ahead of the new season is 21-year old Ukranian fullback Vitaliy Mykolenko. Signed for $23,500,000 from Dynamo Kiev, Mykolenko had previously spent his entire career at Kiev. He made 132 senior appearances for the Blue & Whites, scoring 7 goals and won a number of trophies- The Ukranian Premier League 20/21,Ukranian Cup 19/20 and 20/21 and the Ukranian Super Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Individually he was awarded the u-19 Golden Talent of Ukraine in 2018, u-21 Golden Talent of Ukraine in 2019 and 2020 and the Ukranian Premier League Best Young Player award for the 2018/2019 season. Their other big money signing was opposite side fullback Nathan Patterson from SPL side Rangers for $16,750,000. The 19-year old product of the Rangers Youth Academy is very much seen as a talent for the future, being signed on a 5-year deal worth $2,891,000 p/a. Patterson played 27 times for Rangers in all competitions, scoring 2 goals in 3 seasons and has also represented Scotland 5 times already with his sole career honour to date being the Scottish Premier League Title with Rangers in the 2020/2021 season. You know there is some serious money in the Premier League when a prospect for the future earns over 50% of Minnesota United FC's entire yearly wage budget! Among their other signings is 24-year old attacking midfielder Dele Alli, who is looking to get his career back on track at Everton after it stalled somewhat at Tottenham Hotspur under managers Jose Mourinho and then Antonio Conte. Everton get something of a bargain with Alli, signing him on a Free Transfer from Spurs and will hope that his last few seasons were just a blip and that he can regain the form he found earlier in his career at Tottenham. 24-year old attacking midfielder Demarai Gray was a $2,400,000 signing from German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. Gray started his career at Birmingham City before joining Leicester City for $5,000,000 in 2016 and he was a regular starter in their remarkable Premier League Title of the 2015/2016 season. After 6 seasons at Leicester he spent a year at Bayer Leverkusen where he made a total of 12 appearances, scoring 1 goal before moving back to England to sign for Everton. Salomon Rondon signed on a Free Transfer from Chinese Super League side Dalian Professional FC, where he played under Rafa Benitez, the man who brought him to Everton. Rondon is obtaining a bit of a reputation as a wanderer, but he has scored goals wherever he has gone, with spells at Aragua FC (49 game, 15 goals), Las Palmas (46 games, 10 goals), Malaga (67 games, 25 goals), Rubin Kazan (36 games, 14 goals), Zenit St. Petersburg (37 games, 20 goals), West Bromwich Albion (108 games, 24 goals), Newcastle United (32 games, 11 goals), Dalian Professional (27 games, 14 goals) and finally CSKA Moscow (10 games, 4 goals). He has also represented Venezuela 84 times, scoring 31 goals for his country. It's likely he will play a backup role to Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the upcoming season. The aforementioned Dominic Calvert-Lewin is the highest rated player at Everton, with the 24-year old England International striker having joined the club for $2,000,000 in 2016 from Sheffield United. Calvert-Lewin started at Sheffield's Youth Academy in 2005 and apart from two loan spells at Stalybridge Celtic in 2014/2015 (6 goals in 5 league games) and Northampton Town in 2015/2016 (5 goals in 20 games) he spent his entire career up to 2016 with the Blades. Since joining the Toffees his goals output has steadily increased each season (1, 4, 6, 13 and 16 from 2016-2021) and his increasing ability earned him England senior honours, where he has so far been capped 11 times, scoring 4 goals for his country. Calvert-Lewin is 1 year into a 5-year contract worth $5,060,000 p/a with a guaranteed wage increase of 20% each season. With the 2022 Winter World Cup in Qatar on the horizon, Calvert-Lewin will no doubt be hoping for another good season to remain in contention for further England appearances. For the goalkeeping Number 1 decision I have decided to go with Tyler Miller to start the MLS season. In his four pre-season appearances so far he has yet to concede a goal and in the three games where he has played the full 90 minutes he has consistently good ratings of 7.4 (Seattle Mariners), 7.3 (Union Omaha) and 7.3 (St. Thomas Tommies). He's made 8 saves in total during pre-season, holding 3, parrying 2 and tipping 3. It was close between him and Dayne St. Clair, but ultimately St. Clair only played a full 90 minutes in his last game against Chicago Fire II and although he has made more saves than Miller (10 compared to Miller's 8) he has also conceded 2 goals against Vancouver and Colorado. His ratings were fairly similar to Miller's with 7.2 (Minnesota United II), 6.9 (Colorado Rapids), 6.5 (Vancouver Whitecaps) and 7.6 (Chicago Fire II). As I am expecting to be put under a lot of pressure by Everton in this match, Wil Trapp has been moved back to the DM role, with Emanuel Reynoso and Robin Lod playing in central midfield. Bakaye Dibassy gets another start at left-back with new signing Sebastien Ibeagha playing in central defence alongside Michael Boxall. It will probably take some time for Ibeagha to catch up with the rest of the squad's fitness and match sharpness level, with this being his first run out in pre-season. Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Niko Hansen get the starts on the wings, as they both just need some more game time to maintain their match sharpness levels, with Adrien Hunou starting up front. I'm expecting it to be a struggle for the forward line against the English Premier League opponents but hopefully we can spring a surprise result!

International Round-Up Before I move on, I realised I forgot to give a breakdown of how the International Call-Ups did for their respective Countries. Robin Lod's Finland as expected struggled against World Cup champions France, losing 4-1 at home with goals from Kylian Mbappe (2), Moussa Sissoko and Karim Benzema. Finland pulled one back through Matti Klinga. Lod started and played a total of 57 minutes but struggled to make any sort of impact before being subbed for goalscorer Klinga. He didn't feature in the second qualifier against Kazakhstan, which Finland won 2-0 thanks to a brace from Norwich City's Teemu Pukki. These early results see Finland sitting in 3rd place in World Cup Qualifying Group D behind France (6pts) and Ukraine (4pts). Dayne St. Clair didn't even make the matchday squads for Canada, as coach John Herdman prefered Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper Milan Borjan as his Number 1 with LAFC's Maxime Crepeau as the backup. Canada drew their first qualifier 1-1 with Panama, conceding a late equaliser from Cesar Yanis after Cyle Larin had given them the lead. In game 2 they comfortably beat St. Kitts & Nevis 4-0, with goals from Cyle Larin, Liam Millar, Steven Vitoria and Jonathan David (who also missed a penalty). Canada currently sit 2nd in the table behind Ecuador who have a 100% record. Luis Amarilla earned his first senior international appearance, coming off the bench for Paraguay against Costa Rica in the 56th minute. He only managed 1 shot on goal in the 34 minutes he was on the pitch and finished the game with a 6.4 rating. He didn't feature in Paraguay's first friendly of the break, a 2-0 win over Jamaica with goals from Richard Sanchez and Lorenzo Melgarejo. Romain Metanire played the full 90 minutes for Madagascar in both of their friendlies, a 2-0 loss to Gabon and a 1-1 draw with Equatorial Guinea, earning 6.5 and 6.3 ratings respectively. Bongokuhle Hlongwane was an unused substitute for both of South Africa's matches, a tight 1-0 loss to Uruguay followed by a hugely entertaining 6-3 thumping by Argentina in which Inter Milan's Lautaro Martinez scored 4 goals. Michael Boxall was also an unused substitute in New Zealand's two friendlies, however his brother and San Diego Loyal midfielder Nikko Boxall played in both games, coming on after 85 minutes in the All Whites 1-1 draw against Colombia and playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Bolivia.

NEW SIGNING Welcome to Minnesota United FC Sebastien Ibeagha! Our waiver claim is successful and so Ibeagha joins The Loons with 1 year 8 months remaining on his $177,000 p/a contract. Sebastien Ibeagha was born in Warri, Nigeria in 1992 and moved with his family to the United States in 2001. Having signed for the Houston Dynamo Academy, he went on to play college soccer for the Duke Blue Devils, where he made 70 appearances and scored 8 goals. In his four years at Duke, Ibeagha was twice named First Team All-ACC as well as 2012 ACC Defensive Player of the Year. During his time in college he was offered multiple contracts by the Houston Dynamo but he declined them all, primarily to finish his education but also because he wanted to try and pursue a professional soccer career in Europe. To achieve this ambition, Ibeagha signed with Danish club AC Horsens, making his debut for them on 15th March 2014 in a Danish Cup game vs. Vejle Boldklub. He made his league debut for the club a week later. In his first season in Denmark, Ibeagha made a total of 17 starts out of a possible 18. After just 2 appearances in the 14/15 season he was sent to FC Fredercia on loan, where he appeared against his parent club in a 3-3 draw in which he scored an own goal. Following one more loan move to Icelandic side Fram Reykjavik (19 games, 1 goal) he returned to the United States where he re-joined his former youth team, Houston Dynamo. Ibeagha spent the 2016 season being loaned out to a couple of clubs, firstly the Dynamo's USL affiliate club Rio Grande Valley FC (6 games, 0 goals) and then Rayo Oklahoma City (19 games, 2 goals) with whom he qualified for the 2016 NASL Playoffs and lost 2-1 to New York Cosmos in the Semi-Finals. After this unsuccessful return to Houston Dynamo, Sebastien Ibeagha joined USL Championship side San Antonio FC, where he was part of the team who recorded the second longest shutout streak in USL history going 672 minutes without conceding a goal. The team finished 2nd in the Western Conference with a league-leading 15 clean sheets and just 24 goals conceded. Ibeagha's 190 clearances were the most by any USL player in 2017 and he was named as the USL Defender of the Year. Following this revival in his career, he joined New York City FC on 27th Februaty 2018 and made his debut as a substitute in a 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on opening day. He would go on to make a total of 27 appearances (18 starts) in his first season as NYCFC qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In the three seasons Ibeagha was at NYCFC, they successfully qualified for the playoffs every season although his game time was limited in his final 2020 season for the club. In 2021, Sebastien Ibeagha joined LAFC in exchange for $150,000 in General Allocation Money Senior Contract - $177,000 p/a Cap Impact - $177,000 p/a

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly Game 8 - vs. Chicago Fire II Allianz Field, Saint Paul, Minnesota (Capacity - 19,400) As mentioned previously I won't go into massive amounts of detail for the friendly against Chicago Fire II. Dayne St. Clair returns from international duty and gets the start in goal as it's his turn and it's the last game before I make a decision on who will likely be the Number 1 goalkeeper to start the season. It's also the entire backup back four, giving them one last chance to impress and push for more playing minutes in the MLS regular season. Jacori Hayes gets a start in place of the rested Wil Trapp, from whom he takes the captain's armband for the game and as for the forward line I decided to mix things up a little bit. I've gone two up front with Abu Danladi playing as a False Nine in support of Luis Amarilla as a complete forward. Patrick Weah is being switched to the left flank as an inverted winger and Niko Hansen gets the start in right, as both players needed one final push to get their match sharpness up and that was the only way I could think to get them both starting the game. Chicago Fire II only have three actual players on their roster and one of those, 21-year old central defender Carlo Ritaccio is out injured with a broken wrist for another 4-8 weeks. Their other two players are 20-year old captain AM/ST Josh Penn and transfer-listed 20-year old Nigerian striker Chinoso Offor. Offor was a 2021 signing from Latvian Optibet Virsliga side RFS for an undisclosed amount but clearly has already been deemed surplus to requirements at Chicago Fire. As expected it was a bit of a pummeling against a side with mostly greyed-out players. Robin Lod was understandably Player of the Match for his 35-minute hat-trick. Nabilai Kibunguchy was unlucky not to get a brace, with his first being ruled out for a foul as he headed in from a corner. Jacori Hayes also had an exceptional game as the stand-in captain, with 2 assists, 3 interceptions, 4 clearances and an 89% passing success rate. ** UP NEXT - An actual challenge for a change in pre-season, with English Premier League side Everton making the trip to Minnesota to take on The Loons, plus we find out whether our waiver claim for Sebastien Ibeagha was successful**

Before the next friendly against Chicago Fire II there were a couple of developments, firstly the MLS roster submission date arrived and I confirmed the following 24-man roster- Goalkeepers Tyler Miller Dayne St. Clair Eric Dick Defenders Brent Kallman Callum Montgomery Michael Boxall Oniel Fisher Chase Gasper Romain Metanire Nabilai Kibunguchy Bakaye Dibassy Midfielders Wil Trapp (C) Hassani Dotson Jacori Hayes Emanuel Reynoso Forwards Franco Fragapane Robin Lod Niko Hansen Aziel Jackson Adrien Hunou Bongokuhle Hlongwane Abu Danladi Patrick Weah Luis Amarilla Immediately after roster submission day, any players not confirmed onto a 30-man roster are automatically waived by their clubs and can be claimed by any other club (there is a specific order of seniority to claims based on finishing order the previous season). 23 players in total were waived by MLS clubs, with Inter Miami (5) and LAFC (5) accounting for a good chunk of them- Tristan Trager (21, USA, AM/ST, Atlanta United, $63,500) Ben Lundgaard (25, USA, GK, Atlanta United, $81,500) Dylan Castanheira (25, USA, GK, Atlanta United, $81,500) Jhojan Valencia (24, Colombia, DM/MC, Austin FC, $416,000) Jossymar Gomez (33, Colombia, DM/MC, Chicago Fire, $81,500) Federico Navarro (21, Argentina, DM/MC, Chicago Fire, $257,000) Bruno Silva (33, Brazil, DM/DC, Colorado Rapids, $81,500) Olivier Mbaizo (23, Cameroon, DR, FC Dallas, $81,500) Tsiki Ntsabeleng (23, South Africa, AMC, FC Dallas, $81,500) Ema Twumasi (23, Ghana, DR/MR/AMR, FC Dallas, $247,000) Robert Taylor (26, Finland, AMR/L, Inter Miami, $416,000) Ari Lassiter (26, Costa Rica, AML/ST, Inter Miami, $230,000) Jean Mota (27, Brazil, DL/ML/AML, Inter Miami, $520,000) Clement Diop (27, Senegal, GK, Inter Miami, $188,000) Noah Allen (16, USA, DL, Inter Miami, $81,500) Kellyn Acosta (25, USA, MC/DM, LAFC, $1,110,000) Franco Escobar (26, Argentina, DC/DR, LAFC, $450,000) Sebastian Ibeagha (29, USA, DC, LAFC, $177,000) John McCarthy (28, USA, GK, LAFC, $137,000) Andrew Putna (26, USA, GK, LAFC, $153,000) Marvin Loria (23, Costa Rica, AMR/L, Portland Timbers, $81,500) David Ayala (18, Argentina, MC, Portland Timbers, $520,000) Hal Uderitz (21, USA, DC/DM, Seattle Mariners, $63,500) Inter Miami and LAFC seem to be undergoing major salary dumps, with Miami getting rid of $1,435,500 in wages and LAFC a whopping $2,027,000. David Ayala looks to be a serious prospect and I'd be surprised if another club doesn't snap him up. I would have made a claim for him myself but I don't have the salary cap space to pay for his $520,000 salary. He has the potential to be a star player not only in the MLS but any top league in Europe. Similarly Federico Navarro looks to be a promising talent and while his wages are much more manageable at $257,000 I didn't have any spare International Player Slots to find a space for him in the roster. I've added both players to a shortlist to see how their careers pan out if they do move outside of the USA. Kellyn Acosta is a bit unfortunate to be waived, having only joined LAFC in February, but I guess they do have two similar midfield talents in 22-year old Uruguayan Francisco Ginella and 22-year old Ecuadorian Jose Cifuentes to fill the central midfield positions and at a fraction of the salary of Acosta. The player I am interested in is 29-year old American central defender Sebastien Ibeagha from LAFC. He looks perfectly capable of being the backup central defender that I very much need as, although Callum Montgomery and especially Nabilai Kibunguchy have performed well in pre-season I have doubts over their viability over the course of an entire MLS season. His $177,000 salary doesn't break the bank as at the moment if my maths are correct I'm $347,000 under the salary cap and $262,000 under the club's imposed wage budget. I have made a waiver claim for him, but Minnesota United FC are 24th on the waiver list pick order, so essentially if any team other than Seattle Mariners, Columbus Crew or San Jose Earthquakes want him also then I will miss out.

The Match 9' - Goalkick by Jim Lamb is collected by Bakaye Dibassy. He calmly passes to Wil Trapp while under pressure from two Tommies midfielders. Trapp sends it out wide to Franco Fragapane, whose cross is headed just over the top of the crossbar by Adrien Hunou! 10' - Oniel Fisher fizzes a cross right along the penalty area, both Hunou and Fragapane dive to stick a leg out and both miss the ball by inches. Chase Gasper collects it from the left side and sends in another cross. Wil Trapp shoots and it's blocked off the line by Josh Alvarez. The rebound falls to Aziel Jackson and his shot is also cleared off the line by Alvarez! Great last ditch defending by the Tommies player. 18' - Franco Fragapane hits a curler from just outside the box, SOMEHOW Jim Lamb gets a fingertip to it and pushes onto the post. Great save! 20' - Free Kick by Wil Trapp, he sends it into the penalty area where Dibassy is there to meet it at the back post. He manages to jump the highest and sends a bullet header destined for the goal but again Lamb does well, reads the danger early and gets across to push the ball away for a corner. 34' - The one-man wall continues to keep The Loons at bay. Jacori Hayes sends a defence splitting through ball that leaves both centrebacks flat-footed. Adrien Hunou latches onto it and is through on goal. He shoots early before Lamb has a chance to close the gap and yet the Tommies goalkeeper still manages to make an excellent diving save to prevent the goal! 43' - A scramble in the penalty area as the Tommies fail to clear a cross into the box. It falls to Abu Danladi whose shot is blocked, Fragapane picks up the pieces but sends his shot narrowly wide of the left post. HT - Minnesota United FC 0-0 University of St. Thomas Tommies 49' - Another worldie save from Jim Lamb, this time a curling shot from Emanuel Reynoso that is heading into the top left corner from 25 years out. He stretches and gets fingertips to it once again to send it out for a corner. 54' - The wall finally breached! A corner from Fragapane is met at the near post by Nabilai Kibunguchy and flicked on. Somehow Abu Danladi finds himself unmarked at the far post and he has an easy tap into an empty net. Nothing Lamb could have done about it this time, but it was poor marking from the Tommies. 1-0 Minnesota United FC! 55' - Right from kick off, Minnesota win possession and Abu Danladi makes a piercing run down the right flank. He cuts back to get some space for a whipped cross which finds Oniel Fisher. He does very well, sells Omar Herrera a dummy which leaves him standing still and fires a low shot past Jim Lamb and into the back of the net. 2-0 Minnesota United FC! 64' - Hassani Dotson wins possession following an excellently timed sliding tackle. He drives towards the goal, lays it off to Aziel Jackson and his shot deflects off the outstretched leg of Yury Osipov, looping just over the top of the crossbar! From the ensuing corner, Brent Kallman connects well with a header but it's right at Lamb who doesn't even have to move to make the save. 67' - St. Thomas' first real chance of a very one-sided game. Evgeny Anisimov sets up Ferdinand Sieghart just outside the Minnesota box, but his shot is high, wide and not at all handsome, not worrying Tyler Miller at all. 71' - Chase Gasper with a run down the left flank, he cuts inside to pass to Aziel Jackson. After a slick 1-2 with Hunou, Jackson gets it back and drills a shot from a tight angle that goes across the dive of Jim Lamb and in off the far post. 3-0 Minnesota United FC! 73' - A speculative long range shot by Aziel Jackson is horribly fumbled by newly subbed-on Tommies keeper Nick Duran. He flaps at the ball, it spins up and over his head and rolls just wide of the left post. 80' - Nick Duran makes amends for his earlier mistake, pulling off a great reaction save from Abu Danladi, after he is put through on goal by a killer pass from Patrick Weah. 93' - A free kick from Emanuel Reynoso by the right touch line is sent in, Callum Montgomery manages to get his head to it in a crowd of people and Nick Duran makes a wonderful diving save to keep the ball from going in for goal number 4! FT - Minnesota United FC 3-0 University of St. Thomas Tommies That felt very much like a bit of a training game for Minnesota United FC, with 38 total shots (12 on target) and limiting the Tommies to 3 shots (only 1 on target). For large parts of the game The Loons were camped in the Tommies half of the pitch, attacking wave after wave being repelled. The two Tommies goalkeepers Jim Lamb and Nick Duran played absolute blinders (apart from the one mistake Duran made seconds after coming on to the pitch when he spilled a long range shot) and honestly if I could I would give them both the joint-Player of the Match Award! In the end they combined to make 9 saves, 4 held and 5 parried away. The ACTUAL Player of the Match according to FM was Franco Fragapane, with his 93% successful passing rating, 14 key passes and completing 90% of his 11 attempted crosses. Personally I would have said Abu Danladi deserved the award more, with an identical 93% passing completion (with 17 more attempts than Fragapane), plus his goal and assist. Oniel Fisher had to come off injured in the 63rd minute, being replaced by Brent Kallman, however luckily it's not a major injury and he'll only miss a few days with a tight thigh. ** UP NEXT - The Loons take on Chicago Fire II in their penultimate friendly, given that they are a reserve side and much like when we played Minnesota United FC II they don't have many actual players in the squad, I won't go into too much detail for that game**

I have nine friendlies in total, with the last two being against Chicago Fire II and then the 'glamour' friendly against Everton before the season properly kicks off.

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly Game 7 - vs. University of St. Thomas Tommies Allianz Field, St. Paul, Minnesota (Capacity - 19,400) The University of St. Thomas Tommies are a new addition to NCAA Division 1 soccer in the United States. They moved directly from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in Division III straight to the Summit League in Division I for the start of the 2021 college season. The Tommies were involuntarily ejected from the MIAC after being deemed to be "Too Good" by other MIAC school presidents. St. Thomas therefore became the first school in modern history to jump directly from Division III to Division I. They are also now the only college soccer programme to be participating in Division I in the entire state of Minnesota. The Tommies take their place in The Summit League alongside the University of Denver Pioneers, Eastern Illinois University Panthers, University of Missouri- Kansas City Roos, University of Nebraska- Omaha Mavericks, Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles and Western Illinois University Leathernecks. St. Thomas are currently predicted to finish 3rd in the league (33-1) behind ORU Golden Eagles (10-11 favourites) and the Omaha Mavericks (Evens). Technically as a school 'in transition' from D III to D I St. Thomas should be ineligible for the NCAA Playoffs, definitely in their first season at least. However I'm not even sure how the college playoffs work in this extended database but I'm expecting that The Tommies will still be eligible, if indeed playoffs of any kind are actually included. We will find out together! They don't really have any players that I would consider as "Must Take" for the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, but they do still have a couple of decent players for the level. Omar Herrera is probably the pick of the bunch. The 18-year old native of Minnesota can play anywhere in attacking midfield and can also potentially do a job in central midfield. In his prefered role of central attacking midfield he has an excellent first touch and technique, good passing, decision making and flair. He needs to work on his dribbling and composure a little bit and he doesn't exactly have WOW pace and acceleration. Their other standout player is 17-year old striker Tyrese Brenet. According to the season preview he is not only the best ranked player at St. Thomas, but he is also the fourth best rated player in the entire Summit League. As an advanced forward he posesses good dribbling, finishing, first touch and technique ratings as well as having decent acceleration and pace. His positioning is an abysmal 5, but if I understand it correctly that's more of a stat for the defensive side of the ball so is perhaps not vitally important? Other players worth a quick mention are 19-year old Ball-Winning midfielder Alex Daniel, who has maxed out 20 aggression and should be good for a dozen yellows and a couple of reds each season, and Fullback Brian White who is only slightly behind on 19 aggression. Between the pair of them they will probably account for a good portion of the Tommies card count in the NCAA for 2021. Tyler Miller gets a second consecutive start in goal with the absence of Dayne St. Clair. Bakaye Dibassy as already mentioned is being given a game in central defence, with Chase Gasper getting the starting left-back spot. Club captain Wil Trapp gets another start, this time partnering Jacori Hayes in central midfield, with Abu Danladi, Aziel Jackson and Franco Fragapane the starting attacking midfielders. I probably would have rested Adrien Hunou for this game, but with Luis Amarilla off with the Paraguay squad I don't really have many options up front. Only 7 substitutes named this time because of all the international call-ups.

International Call-Ups Not ideal for this point of pre-season, Minnesota United FC are losing six players to international duty for the next 9-12 days- Romain Metanire (Madagascar)- Friendlies vs. Gabon & Equatorial Guinea Bongokuhle Hlongwane (South Africa)- Friendlies vs. Uruguay & Argentina Michael Boxall (New Zealand)- Friendlies vs. Colombia & Bolivia Luis Amarilla (Paraguay) can potentially make his international debut in Friendlies vs. Jamaica & Costa Rica Robin Lod (Finland) has been named in the squad for two European World Cup Qualifiers against France (H) and Kazakhstan (A). Finland are in quite a tough group with reigning World Cup Champions France, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ukraine and Kazakhstan and will be outsiders to grab a playoff spot. Dayne St. Clair (Canada) likewise has the potential to play some competitive football for his country. Canada are playing two World Cup First Round Qualifiers vs. Panama (H) and St. Kitts & Nevis (A). Alongside those two teams, Canada will also face El Salvador and Puerto Rico in Group F. In a tie at 68th, they share similar world rankings with Panama (77th) and El Salvador (t-68th) so it might be a close call to see who finishes the group top and qualifies for the Second Round.

THE MATCH 3' - Emir Alidhodzic is caught dallying too long on the ball in the centre circle. Robin Lod pounces and steals the ball off him, he passes forward to Adrien Hunou who beats Dylan Harmon for pace. His shot is just wide of the right hand post, it had Rashid Nuhu well beaten. 6' - A poor clearance from Harmon only falls to Wil Trapp inside the Union Omaha half. Him and Robin Lod exchange quick passes before laying it off to Emanuel Reynoso. His pass puts Hunou through on goal again and this time he makes no mistake, firing the ball low and hard past the dive of Nuhu and into the bottom right corner. 1-0 Minnesota United FC! 17' - Wil Trapp sends in a low skiddy cross into the box from the right side. Reynoso sticks a hopeful leg out and manages to glance it towards the goal. It ends up cannoning off Yoskar Galvin-Mercado's foot after a poor attempt to get the ball away and loops over Nuhu's head and into the goal. Probably should have gone down as an own goal, but Reynoso will take it! 2-0 Minnesota United FC! 21' - Indirect free kick by Reynoso 40 yards out. He plays a sneaky one to Hunou who is loitering quietly just outside the right corner of the penalty area. Unmarked he slams a shot in from a tight angle and it whistles past the oppoite post! 29' - Goal kick by Nuhu is brought down and controlled by Trapp, he passes out wide to Franco Fragapane who races down the left wing. Austin Panchot and Galvin-Mercado get sucked in and both follow in his wake. After being forced wide, Fragapane suddenly cuts back and gets space to cross the ball in. Robin Lod flicks the ball on to an open Hunou, who once again fires the ball past a diving Nuhu and into the bottom right corner. 3-0 Minnesota United FC! 35' - Austin Panchot gets free down the left and sends in a floated cross towards Chavany Willis. Hassani Dotson is with him, but goes down with an apparent injury at the critical moment, leaving Willis with a free header. Luckily the header is poor and straight at Tyler Miller. Dotson comes off immediately and is replaced by Oniel Fisher. HT - Minnesota United FC 3-0 Union Omaha 48' - Corner from the left side by Fragapane. Nabilai Kibunguchy connects with it at the near post but Nuhu somehow manages to get a hand to it and palm it over. Great reflex save by Nuhu! 57' - Goal kick by Nuhu, Adrien Hunou wins the header after outjumping Illal Osumanu. He sends the ball wide to Abu Danladi. He cuts it back to Wil Trapp on the edge of the area and his half-volley cannons off the crossbar and back into play! The ball doesn't go out, there is a scramble in the box and somewhere in the melee, Reynoso is brought down by Dylan Harmon. The referee does well to spot it, penalty awarded! Adrien Hunou coolly rolls the ball into the bottom right corner after Nuhu commits too early and dives the opposite side. 4-0 Minnesota United FC! 60' - Nuhu sends a long ball booming forward. Brent Kallman and Kibunguchy both totally misjudge the bounce and Hugo Kametani races past them and picks up possession. Through on goal he shoots too close to Miller, who is able to get down and make a good save. 64' - J.P. Scearce sets up Elma N'For on the edge of the box. N'for cuts inside to avoid the tackle of Bakaye Dibassy and sends a shot just wide of the left post! 67' - N'For involved again, this time beating Chase Gasper for pace down the right side. His cross finds Conor Doyle but his header is weak and right at Miller. A good 10-minute spell of pressure by the visitors. 70' - Free kick for Minnesota just outside the box. Abu Danladi takes it, curls it up and over the wall but it hits the crossbar and goes out of play! 91' - After a particularly sedate 20 minutes, where substitutions break up the flow of the game, there is one final chance for Union Omaha. A corner from the right by N'For. Doyle gets ahead of Callum Montgomery, who gets his positioning all wrong but he heads it just over the crossbar! FT - Minnesota United FC 4-0 Union Omaha A thoroughly pleasing victory over Union Omaha, gaining some revenge for real-world events. Adrien Hunou was the obvious Player of the Match winner with his hat-trick and 7 shots in total during the game. Emanuel Reynoso also had an outstanding game with 1 goal, 1 assist, making 5 key passes and winning 100% of his aerial challenges. Luckily the injury to Hassani Dotson is not severe, he merely suffered a tight hamstring and is only expected to be out for a day or two. He might be rested for the next pre-season game just to be on the safe side. Bakaye Dibassy had a solid enough game at left back, playing 64 minutes before being replaced by Chase Gasper. I might try him out in a centre-back role in the next game to try and see which position he is better at. I'm starting to think that Chase Gasper and/or Oniel Fisher are more than capable of holding down the regular left-back starting job. Freeing up Dibassy to play centrally would alleviate the lack of depth at CB (even though Nabilai Kibunguchy has been largely excellent as the emergency '3rd choice' centreback so far, despite a couple of mistakes today). ** UP NEXT - I get flashbacks of my 3 wasted years at university as Minnesota United FC invite the NCAA Summit League side, the University of St. Thomas 'Tommies' to Allianz Field for pre-season friendly match number seven.**

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly Game 6 - vs. Union Omaha Allianz Field, Saint Paul, Minnesota (Capacity - 19,400) It's amazing how quickly you can become attached to a team that you previously had zero connection with, just by picking them in FM. I've rewatched some Minnesota United FC games, had a look at how their MLS season is progressing (just outside a playoff spot in 8th after 14 games played)....even considered buying myself their home shirt. I saw by an interesting quirk of fate that The Loons had drawn Union Omaha in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 in real life. After having a look at the lineups and seeing that Minnesota had put out a weaker team, I figured it should still be strong enough to see off the challenge of a team 10th (out of 11) in the USL League One. I went to bed, having to be up early in the morning for work and when I rose from my crypt the next day, opened my phone up to check the results, and..... Oh dear..... team captain Michael Boxall didn't hold back either - “The freshest ones always hurt the most,” Boxall said. “There have certainly been a lot of low points, I think. But we have to give credit to Omaha. They were well organized and took their chances.” “We had a 16-man squad (Wednesday),” Boxall said of a bench that had available spots left empty. “Probably half the players sitting in the stands who could have helped us (Wednesday). I mean 30-40 minutes (of playing time) isn’t going to kill anyone for the weekend.” “It wouldn’t be news to you guys that we are not as dangerous as we should be in the final third,” Boxall told reporters. Also, this line from TwinCities Pioneer Press' match report made me realise, perhaps Luis Amarilla shouldn't be the go-to striker - "Hunou scored, but Amarilla’s drought without a goal reached nine games played. Amarilla and others couldn’t capitalize, especially on first half-scoring chances to create a wider margin, and it came back to bite. Amarilla’s best chance was saved off the line by an Omaha defender just before halftime." So, Luis Amarilla might be as rubbish in real life as he has been for me so far in pre-season? (Apologies Luis if by some slight chance you look at FM Career Updates in your free time after training, I still love you really). ANYWAY, this all just gives me the perfect opportunity to exact some FM 22-style revenge against the plucky underdogs of Union Omaha! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Union Omaha are a very new side, having begun playing in just 2020 in USL League One. They play their home games at the 9,023-capacity Werner Park in Omaha, Nebraska, a stadium they share with the Omaha Storm Chasers minor league baseball team (AAA-affiliate of the MLB Kansas City Royals if anyone is interested). They have been fairly successful in their short history so far, in 2020 they finished the USL League One season in 2nd place behind Greenville Triumph SC. This qualified them for the League Championship game, which subsequently got cancelled due to several Union Omaha players testing positive for Covid-19. Greenville were awarded the title based on their higher points-per-game average over Omaha (2.188 to 1.825). They bounced back in 2021, finishing 6 points clear of Greenville in 1st place during the regular season. In the Playoffs they trounced FC Tucson 6-1 in the Semi-Finals before a convincing 3-0 win over defending champions Greenville in the Final, to claim their first USL League One Championship Title. This title gained them entry into the 2022 U.S. Open Cup, where they have so far beaten Des Moines Menace of USL League Two 2-1, MLS side Chicago Fire 5-4 on Penalties following a 2-2- draw after extra time, Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC of USL League One 2-1 and of course, claiming the scalp of Minnesota United FC 2-1 in the Round of 16. They have drawn MLS side Sporting Kansas City in the Quarter-Finals. **OF COURSE, none of the 2021 and 2022 seasons have actually happened in FM 22 yet, so Union Omaha are technically entering their second season on the save** In the world of FM 22, Union Omaha have made a quartet of signings so far in pre-season. Dylan Harmon (18, DL) and Victor Parra (20, MC) both from the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, former IMG-Academy graduate Hanif Wright (21, Attacking Midfielder) on a Free Transfer and Rhode Island Rams' George Jones (20, DL/CB). I'm now almost certain that all the College players that leave their NCAA clubs and join amateur clubs in USL League 1 & 2 are ineligible for the MLS SuperDraft, as they are all signing professional contracts with their teams. Their two highest earning players are Americans Kevin Piedrahita (29, Goalkeeper) and Attacking Midfielder/Striker Conor Doyle (Also 29) both on $60,000 p/a. Piedrahita has spent most of his career in Colombian football, being a youth player at America de Cali before making his debut for the senior side in 2011. He has also played for Rionegro Aguilas, Le Equidad and Leones before moving to Union Omaha on a Free Transfer at the start of the 2021 season. Conor Doyle enrolled at Creighton University, but only played 7 spring exhibition games for the Bluejays before leaving college to sign with Derby County of the English Championship. He had been spotted by a scout at Derby while playing in a tournament in the Summer of 2009 and was subsequently invited to a 3-day trial with the Rams. He featured 23 times for Derby in 3 seasons, often being played out of position as a holding midfielder by then-boss Nigel Clough. After failing to establish himself as a first team regular, Doyle moved back to the United States and signed for D.C. United, first on loan and then permanently. He won the U.S. Open Cup in his first season at D.C. and played 64 times for them in total, including 4 appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League, where he scored two goals. After a very brief spell at the Colorado Rapids (3 games, 0 goals) he moved down the leagues and played firstly for the Rapids' USL Championship affiliate the Colorado Springs Switchbacks (11 games, 1 goal), then Puerto Rico FC in the NASL (28 games, 5 goals), Jacksonville Armada in the NPSL (10 games, 1 goal) and the Chattanooga Red Wolves in the USL League One (40 games, 2 goals). He then joined Union Omaha on a Free Transfer in 2021. Their highest rated player is another goalkeeper, 25-year old Ghanaian Rashid Nuhu. Nuhu played his college soccer for the Fordham University Rams where he played in 74 games and was named in the First-Team All-Atlantic 10 Conference Team in both his junior and senior years, as well as the Most Outstanding Player of the 2016 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Tournament as a sophmore after posting three consecutive shutouts as Fordham won the tournament. Nuhu was then selected 70th overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by the New York Red Bulls, but only managed a handful of apearances for both their U-23 team and NY Red Bulls II, before leaving to join Union Omaha on 16th February 2020. Unfortunately Romain Metanire (Madagascar), Bongokuhle Hlongwane (South Africa), Michael Boxall (New Zealand) and Luis Amarilla (Paraguay) are all travelling for international duty for this match, so they miss out. Apart from that I've named a fairly strong side to try and get some revenge on Union Omaha. Abu Danladi gets the start on the right wing and Bakaye Dibassy starts at left-back, as both players desperately need the minutes to get up to match speed before the season starts. Nabilai Kibunguchy partners Brent Kallman in central defence in the absence of Michael Boxall and it's Tyler Miller's turn to take his place between the posts for Minnesota United FC. Only 9 substitutes named, due to the players missing for international duty.

haha yep, that will definitely be getting a mention in the next write-up in a couple of days, I guess this makes the upcoming friendly a revenge mission of sorts! I was going to play a weaker team for it.....not anymore, bringing out the big guns lol

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly game 5 - vs. Vancouver Whitecaps Grand Canyon Stadium, Phoenix, Arizona (Capacity- 2,500) Next up for The Loons is MLS Western Conference side Vancouver Whitecaps FC, after another short hop back to Phoenix. The Whitecaps finished the 2020 season in 9th place in the conference (17th overall), missing out on the MLS Cup Playoffs by 3pts (or a Points Per Game total of 1.17 vs 8th placed San Jose Earthquakes' 1.30 PPG). Due to cross-border Covid-19 restrictions imposed in September of that season they had to play their remaining 7 home games at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. They haven't made any player trades or transfers since the save started, with their only trade being the already mentioned 2022 1st Round MLS SuperDraft Pick in return for Seattle's 2-Year International Slot. There is still just over a month to go before the MLS season starts though, so plenty of time for trades and transfers for all the teams. Pre-save starting they acquired a few players of note- Deiber Caicedo, a 20-year old Colombian winger from Deportivo Cali for $2,500,000. Caicedo had previously spent his entire career at the Colombian Categoria Primera A side, making 72 appearances for the club and scoring 7 goals for Los Verdiblancos. Vancouver had to purchase his discovery rights from Nashville SC for $75,000 in General Allocation Money.... discovery rights are a totally new 'discovery' for me in the MLS rules, I have no idea how they work and I'm not entirely sure if that concept is represented in the game? Caicedo joins the Whitecaps on a 2-year Senior Contract worth $202,000 p/a with an optional 1-year club extension. Their most expensive signing of the winter was Caio Alexandre, a 22-year old Brazilian Defensive Midfielder/Box-to-Box Midfielder for $3,500,000 from Botafogo. Like Caicedo, he has spent his entire career at Botafogo, making his senior debut for them in 2020. He made 34 league appearances with another 16 in State League and Cups, scoring 5 goals overall as 'Fogo' finished bottom of the table and were relegated to Campeonato Brasileiro Serie B. Alexandre signed a 3-year Senior Contract with the Whitecaps worth $540,000 p/a. Their best player is 25-year old Scottish attacking midfielder Ryan Gauld, signed in the winter from Portugese Primeira Liga side Farense for $825,000. Gauld began his career at Dundee United where he was compared to Lionel Messi by the Scottish Media in 2014 after he helped the team reach the Scottish Cup Final. This hype around his potential superstar future lead to him signing for Sporting Lisbon in July 2014 for £3,000,000. Despite his promising ability he didn't end up featuring much for the senior team, appearing only twice in the league for the 'Leoes'. Instead he spent most of his time in Portugal playing for the 'B' team where he featured in a total of 73 games, scoring 8 goals. He was then sent on a procession of loan moves, to Vitoria de Setubal, Aves, Farense (all in Portugal) and then Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership. While he played ok during these loan spells, he found it impossible to live up to the "New Messi" hype that had been unfairly heaped upon him so early in his career. Gauld eventually left Sporting Lisbon and joined Farense on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee in 2019. He found some form while playing for the 'Leoes de Faro'. On 29th February 2020 he scored his first career hat-trick in a 3-1 win against Academico de Viseu which put his team top of the second division. This concluded a run of 6 goals from 7 games and when the season was stopped due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Farense were awarded promotion to the Primeira Liga. He finished his first season at Farense as the club's top league scorer (9 goals) and was voted as the top player in the Portugese Second Division. He joins the Vancouver Whitecaps on a 3-year Designated Player Contract worth $2,025,000 p/a. Their second Designated Player is 28-year old Canadian Striker Lucas Cavallini, signed in 2020 for $5,250,000 from Liga MX side Club Puebla. Cavallini was born in Toronto but left Canada aged 16 to move to South America and develop his soccer talents. He joined Nacional's youth development squad in Uruguay in 2010 and featured in the 2011 U-20 Copa Libertadores for them before signing a contract with the senior team in 2012. He was sent on a couple of loans where he ultimately impressed, first to Juventud de Las Piedras (25 apps, 10 goals) and then Centro Atletico Fenix (40 apps, 16 goals in 2 seasons). After impressing Fenix, he joined permanently for 2 more seasons, going on to score another 12 goals in 38 games in all competitions. He then moved to Penarol for a single season scoring 6 goals in 17 games as the team finished the Torneo Apertura half of the season in 3rd place. After his season at Penarol he went on to join Club Puebla in Liga MX, where he finished as the team's top scorer in every one of his three seasons, including scoring 13 goals in his first season, 9 more than anyone else in the squad. Cavallini signed for the Whitecaps in 2020 on a 2-year Designated Player Contract worth $1,362,000 p/a. He has represented Canada 28 times, despite giving an interview that he regretted having been 'cap-tied' to Canada following an 8-1 loss to Honduras in World Cup Qualifying in his competitive debut, and scored 16 goals. Their third and final Designated Player is 19-year old Ecuadorian utility player Pedro Vite. Vite can play anywhere on the pitch from central midfield to striker, has good attributes in several areas like technique, flair and dribbling but abysmal elsewhere, such as his Determination rating of 2 and Positioning rating of 5. Fair to say that he seems a bit of a wildcard talent who can be told to "Run around a bit and see what happens" on the pitch. Vite had spent his entire career at Independiente del Valle in Ecuadorian Serie A, making 14 league appearances and scoring 3 goals before being snapped up by Vancouver for the start of the 2021 MLS season on an Undisclosed Fee. He joins on a 4-year Young Designated Player Contract worth $610,000 p/a. Dayne St. Clair gets the start between the posts to continue the goalkeeper merry-go-round strategy. I've also decided to give Chase Gasper a rest and put Callum Montgomery in as a bit of an emergency left-back for this game. I could have put Oniel Fisher in there instead but he has also played quite a few minutes in pre-season so far. Wil Trapp gets to put his feet up too, being replaced in the central midfield advanced playmaker role by Jacori Hayes. I could claim to be giving Luis Amarilla a rest too, but let's be frank, I dropped him in favour of Adrien Hunou because he still fails to impress me. Abu Danladi makes the bench for the first time this season, having recovered from his injury and now needs to be worked up to match fitness slowly and surely. THE MATCH 15' - Throw-in down the left flank by Callum Montgomery, Franco Fragapane collects it and drives into the penalty area. Marcus Godinho hacks him down wildly and with zero subtlety and the referee doesn't hesitate to award a penalty to Minnesota United FC. Niko Hansen steps up to take it....blasts it, but too close to the goalkeeper who saves to his right at the perfect height for him! 26' - Another throw-in down the left by Montgomery to Emanuel Reynoso. He passes it to Fragapane in the penalty area again, this time Godinho makes an EXCELLENT tackle to disposses him. Jacori Hayes pounces on the loose ball and launches a screamer from just outside the box which takes a wicked deflection off Sebastian Berhalter and goes just wide. 27' - Ryan Gauld with a long pass down the right flank for Godinho to chase. He manages to beat Montgomery in a 1-on-1 situation, crosses the ball into the penalty area for Cristian Dajome to attack. His header is straight at Dayne St. Clair though who makes an easy save. 38' - Callum Montgomery starts a counter-attack winning possession in his own half, this is followed by a nice 1-2 between Hassani Dotson and Reynoso, which sets Dotson away to drive into the box. He squares for Adrien Hunou but his shot is well tipped over the bar by Evan Newton. 41' - Romain Metanire with a run down the right side of the pitch, gets deep into Vancouver territory before laying it off for Reynoso. He hits a ball ofer the top which finds Hunou, as Reynoso continues his run. Hunou lays it back to Metanire, whose cross finds Reynoso again, but his volley goes over the crossbar. 45' - Fragapane and Dotson link up down the left and the move ends with a crafty pass to Reynoso by the penalty spot which the centre-back fails to read before it's too late. His shot from close range is well saved by Newton who shows excellent reflexes! HT - Minnesota United FC 0-0 Vancouver Whitecaps 46' - Pretty much from kick-off, Juan Agudelo hoofs the ball forward to Gauld, whose shot goes narrowly wide. A very sloppy start to the half from Minnesota who were totally caught sleeping. 47' - From a broken down Minnesota attack, Newton throws the ball out to Gauld quickly to launch an attack. The ball is launched up towards Russell Tiebert who manages to get a flick on for Dajome to chase. He outpaces Michael Boxall in a foot race, advances through on goal and slots the ball right under the advancing Dayne St. Clair. 1-0 Vancouver Whitecaps. 54' - Niko Hansen sends in a cross from the right flank which is headed by Montgomery at a tight angle. Newton gets his body behind it and makes a routine save. However, his kick out is terrible and goes straight to Dotson. A very slick 1-2-3 between him, Hayes and Reynoso followed by a pass to Adrien Hunou ends with a through-ball putting Hansen in on goal. He makes no mistake shooting firmly to the goalie's left side and into the back of the net. 1-1 Equaliser for Minnesota United FC! 60' - Free kick by Reynoso, floated in but cleared away by Vancouver easily enough. The clearance falls to Dajome, whose long ball sets Gauld away. He waits to square it to Agudelo, the delay meaning St. Clair has time to get across and get his body behind the weak shot to make the save. 63' - Callum Montgomery, despite being given strict instructions to stay back and defend, runs with the ball the entire length of the pitch and whips in a cross which is met by Niko Hansen. His header is just wide of the left post by millimetres! 66' - A poor clearance by new Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer falls to Dotson. He manages to nutmeg Gauld and thread a pass into the feet of Adrien Hunou. His shot is well blocked by Matteo Campagna, who puts his body on the line to stop a goal. The follow up shot from Hassani Dotson is then ALSO cleared off the line. A good chance for Minnesota and great last ditch defending from Vancouver! 74' - Free-kick by Reynoso near the right corner flag. Michael Boxall connects with it but his header hits the post and goes out for a goal kick. 75' - Franco Fragapane corner, played short to Jacori Hayes, who gives the ball back to him. Fragapane drives into the box and elects to shoot from a tight angle trying to catch the goalkeeper out. Boehmer gets down well though and makes the diving save. 82' - Abu Danladi makes a spirited run down the right flank, beating Dajome all ends up for pace. He whips in a cross which Fragapane heads just over the bar. 90' - Chase Gasper launches a counter-attacking move by launching the ball up to Adrien Hunou. His through ball puts Luis Amarilla through on goal, but he wastes the chance by shooting weakly straight at the goalkeeper. He really should have done better! FT - Minnesota United FC 1-1 Vancouver Whitecaps How on earth did we only manage to get a draw out of that game?! 36 shots to 6, with exactly 4 times as many shots on target as Vancouver managed. An xG (a stat which I don't fully understand anyway) of 4.23 and possession of 62% I think tells the general story. The amount of times a player was in a clear position and fluffed it or sent a header just wide was too numerous to count! According to the game, Franco Fragapane was the Man of the Match, having made 14 key passes and creating 1 clear-cut chance. He also had an overall passing success of 94%. He attempted TWENTY-SIX crosses in the game (completing 53% of them), which seems like a ludicrous amount. Adrien Hunou and Luis Amarilla combined up front for a total 11 shots, with only 4 being on target, so a disappointing output from the strikers again. Abu Danladi made his return from injury as a 77th minute substitute, replacing goalscorer Niko Hansen. He generally played well in the 13 minutes he was given on the pitch and will hopefully get a few more minutes in the next game to continue his return to match fitness. **UP NEXT - It's back to Allianz Field where Bakaye Dibassy will FINALLY be allowed to join up with the team once again as they take on Union Omaha of the USL League One in their next friendly match**

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly game 4 - @ Forward Madison FC Breese Stevens Field, Madison, Wisconsin (Capacity - 5,000) For the next pre-season friendly Minnesota United FC make the short hop of 1,685 miles to Madison, Wisconsin to play against Forward Madison FC of the USL League One. Forward Madison are listed as an affiliated club to both Chicago Fire and Minnesota United FC in FM 22, but while Chicago Fire are only able to loan players with their agreement, Minnesota can loan players to Madison, from Madison, agree to host a pre-season friendly every season AND they share scouting data between the two clubs which in my eyes makes Minnesota United FC the SENIOR affiliate club out of the two. While the club has a short history, being founded in just 2018, the stadium they play in goes all the way back to 1926. Breese Stevens Field is named in honour of a former Mayor of Madison and is located just eight blocks away from the Wisconsin State Capitol. In it's time it has hosted baseball, american football (including three NFL games), athletics, rodeo, midget auto racing, Ultimate Disc League, soccer and perhaps most prestigiously..... marbles tournaments. Olympic Gold Medalist at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens ran three exhibition races on the field there in 1938. As for the squad they have a couple of players of note. Noah Ballamann, an 18-year old left-back started the save playing for the Manhattan College Jaspers in the NCAA Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. I earmarked him as a potential draft prospect when the save began, not realising that the college teams could transfer players away to USL League One teams. I'm not sure if him joining Forward Madison means I now won't be able to draft him, or whether the SuperDraft also incorporates players from that divison? Time will tell I suppose. He is a bit raw as you would expect for a teenager in the NCAA but he had good determination and decision making along with decent pace. If his crossing could be improved he could be a decent attacking fullback in the future. Arguably their best player (and highest paid at $60,000 p/a) is 25-year old Brazilian attacking midfielder Matheus Cassini. He started out as a youth player at Corinthians before being snapped up by Italian side Palermo in 2015 for $3,500,000. He was immediately given the Number 9 shirt and was expected to feature for the first team right away. For whatever reason this never materialised and after appearing for the reserves multiple times he was loaned out to Croatian side Inter Zapresic and then to Italian Serie C side Siracusa Calcio. Following the second loan move he terminated his contract with Palermo and that lead to a bit of a merry-go-round for Cassini as in just a single year he moved to Ponte Preta, Santos (Both in Brazilian Serie A), Oeste (Brazilian Serie B) and Amiens B (French Championnat National 3). After yet another loan move to Estoril in Portugal, he moved back to Brazil to play for Fluminense before finally joining Forward Madison FC at the start of the 2021 season..... I wouldn't bet on Cassini staying for too long, he seems to love a passport stamp. Eric Dick gets his first start of pre-season, leaving Abu Danladi as the only player not to have started a game yet. Danladi is still 3 days away from resuming full training so won't be risked. Luis Amarilla gets another start up front, I'm hoping he can perform against a lower league opponent to build his confidence up a little bit as he hasn't been great so far. The lineup is a mixture of backups and first teamers, Oniel Fisher gets the start at right-back, with Aziel Jackson getting the nod at attacking central midfield. Robin Lod got the nod (hey they rhymes) over Jacori Hayes in central midfield as the latter was looking a little jaded. Chase Gasper must be desperate at this point for Bakaye Dibassy to be brought back into the team, I'd like to think during this accidental hiatus from the squad he is back at Minnesota's training ground preparing himself all on his own.....but if I was him I'd be sat around in the clubhouse playing Space Invaders Winstone Bogarde style as a way to repay my careless manager. I'm not entirely sure why he is still ineligible for this game as it's not technically taking place in the Training Camp, but nevermind this just means I won't have him back now until the 6th game of pre-season against Union Omaha. THE MATCH 3' - Corner to Forward Madison, taken by Matheus Cassini, swung in to the back post where Justin Sukow meets it with a bullet header that cannons off the post, great chance early on! 6' - Patrick Weah with an enterprising run down the right flank, weaves past Matheus Cassini and Noah Ballamann like they aren't even there. He swings a cross in and Bongokuhle Hlongwane manages to outjump Christian Diaz and heads it straight past Phil Breno into the back of the net. 1-0 Minnesota United FC! 13' - Almost a carbon copy of the first goal, this time it's Oniel Fisher with the run down the right flank and again Noah Ballamann struggles to stay with his man. The cross is sent in and this time Christian Diaz manages to get his head to it but he heads it straight to Bongokuhle Hlongwane who rifles it home from close range. 2-0 Minnesota United FC! 31' - A corner from Chase Gasper whipped in to the near post, Callum Montgomery times his run perfectly to flat foot Eric Leonard and he heads it into the back of the net, 3-0 Minnesota United FC! 32' - 60 seconds later Forward Madison nearly pull a goal back, Audi Jepson and Matheus Cassini exchange a neat one-two near the centre circle before Jepson slots a pass between the two Minnesota centre-backs and sets Abdou Thiam through on goal. He decides to square it to Jordan Sukow whose shot is very tame and gives Eric Dick time to get across and make the save. Huge wasted chance for Forward Madison. HT - Forward Madison FC 0-3 Minnesota United FC HT - Adrien Hunou comes on the for still-disappointing Luis Amarilla, Brent Kallman comes on to give Chase Gasper a breather with Callum Montgomery filling in at left back and Kallmann going to centre back. Emanuel Reynoso, Romain Metanire and Niko Hansen come on for Aziel Jackson, Oniel Fisher and Patrick Weah respectively. 50' - Romain Metanire and Niko Hansen combine well down the right flank, Hansen floating in a cross that Wil Trapp meets on the half-volley. His shot smacks into the crossbar and up out of play. 62' - Mitchell Osmond launches a long ball forward from central defence that Derek Gebhard latches on to. He passes off to Abdou Thiam who flicks on for Christian Enriquez through on goal. His shot is very well palmed away by Eric Dick, tremendous goalkeeping! 64' - Corner from Emanuel Reynoso directed to the near post, this time it's Nabilai Kibunguchy outjumping the defenders to score past new Forward Madison goakeeper Aidan Hogan. 4-0 Minnesota United FC! 69' - Matheus Cassini does well to rob Romain Metanire of the ball down the right flank, passes to Derek Gebhard who drives towards goan down the centre of the pitch. He dumps it off to Drew Connor who chips a ball over the top of the defenders and Matheus Cassini volleys it from a tight angle over Eric Dick's outstretched hand and into the top left corner. 4-1 Goal back for Forward Madison FC. 82' - A Niko Hansen cross from the right is missed by everyone in the box until it reaches Bongokuhle Hlongwane on the opposite flank. His cross/shot (definitely a mis-hit cross!) flashes right across the goal before being cleared off the line by Mele Temguia. FT - Forward Madison FC 1-4 Minnesota United FC A good run out for The Loons against inferior opposition who were spirited but limited in their ability. Unfortunately the one player I was interested in scouting, Noah Ballamann had a woeful game, being constantly caught out of position and not having the speed to catch up to players once he had been passed, which happened all too frequently. It was only one half of football in fairness but I'm already questioning calling him a potential prospect for the future. Player of the Match was Nabilai Kibunguchy for his headed goal, 97% successful pass rating, making 14 interceptions and winning 72% of his 22 attempted headers. I may have been tempted to give the POtM award to Bongokuhle Hlongwane instead, with his 2 excellent goals and all-round performance. Luis Amarilla was a disappointment again, completing just 54% of his passes and only managing 2 shots, one of which was woefully off target and had more chance of hitting the moon than the back of the net. *UP NEXT - It's another mammoth trip back to the training camp in Phoeniz, Arizona where The Loons will take on Vancouver Whitecaps FC at the Grand Canyon Stadium*

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly game 3 - Seattle Sounders @ Grand Canyon Stadium (Neutral Venue) Today's pre-season opponents are another MLS Western Conference team, this time it's the Seattle Sounders. The Sounders finished 2nd in the conference (6th overall) in the truncated 2020 season following the resumption in play after the Covid-19 Pandemic had seen the season suspended. They had home field advantage (although no crowd due to Covid restrictions) in the MLS Cup Playoffs up to the Conference Finals, beating LAFC 3-1, FC Dallas 1-0 and as already mentioned previously, Minnesota United FC 3-2 with two dramatic late goals to make the MLS Cup. In the final they ran out of steam against a superior side on the day in the Columbus Crew, losing 3-0 thanks to goals from Zelarayan (2) and Derrick Etienne and seeing Columbus win their second MLS Cup title. In the off-season Seattle have made a couple of trades so far, Acquiring the man who scored the third and final goal against them in the MLS Cup Final, 24-year old Haitian winger Derrick Etienne from the Columbus Crew along with Columbus' 1st Round Pick in the 2022 SuperDraft in exchange for 26-year old Ecuadorian central defender Xavier Arreaga, a 2-year International Slot and $700,000 in General Allocation Money. Arreaga cost the Sounders $3,000,000 when they brought him outright from Barcelona Sporting Club of the Ecuadorian LigaPro Serie A in 2019. They also traded another 2-year International Slot to the Vancouver Whitecaps in exchange for their 2022 SuperDraft 1st Round Pick. Seattle also signed 36-year old Brazilian central midfielder Cicero on a Free Transfer, giving him a 1-year contract worth $344,000 with an automatic 1-game extension should he feature in 15 MLS league games this season and a further optional 1-year club extension option after that. It seems unlikely that he will get to that second extension given his age at the moment. Cicero seems to be a little bit of a wanderer, having played for 11 clubs since 2003- Esporte Clube Bahia, Figueirense FC, Tombense FC, Fluminese (3 different times), Hertha Berlin, VFL Wolfsburg, Sao Paulo, Santos FC, Al-Gharafa (in the Qatari Stars League), Gremio and Botafogo. Their only major departure of note so far has been 26-year old Australian Central Midfielder Brad Smith to D.C. United for $750,000 in General Allocation Money. The former Liverpool academy graduate played for the Sounders 36 times in all competitions while on a 2-year loan from AFC Bournemouth, but only another 9 times once the move was made permanent in 2020 after he had spent a year on loan at Cardiff inbetween. Seattle have a full compliment of Designated players, unlike the Colorado Rapids who we played previously. Nicolas Lodeiro (31, Uruguay, attacking midfielder) has been with the club since 2016, signing from Boca Juniors in Argentina for $6,000,000. He's been a very consistent player for them chipping in with 7 league goals in 3 of his full seasons and 8 in the other. He's also made 21 appearances for Seattle in the MLS Cup Playoffs, scoring 8 goals. Their second DP is 30-year old Peruvian striker Raul Ruidiaz, who has been one of the top forwards in the league since joining from Mexican side Club Atletico Morelia for $7,500,000 in 2018. He has scored 42 goals in 66 games for Seattle in all competitions, including the team's third goal in the 2019 MLS Cup victory over Toronto FC. Their final DP is 26-year old Slovakian playmaker Albert Rusnak, signed on a Free Transfer from Real Salt Lake in the off-season. Rusnak started out as a youth player at Manchester City but didn't make a single appearance for them in the Premier League, with a couple of loan moves to Oldham Athletic and Birmingham City, His career never really got going until a 2014 loan move to SC Cambuur in the Dutch Eridivisie where he scored 4 goals in 17 league games before sealing a permanent move to FC Groningen in the same league. In three seasons at Groningen he played in 71 matches, scoring 10 goals and won the KNVB Cup in his first year. in 2017 he joined Real Salt Lake in the MLS for $500,000 and enjoyed four fairly prolific seasons, tallying 30 goals in 97 games in all competitions. Rusnak has represented Slovakia 34 times since making his debut in 2016 and has won the King's Cup (an invitational tournament organised by Thailand) in 2018, scoring in the 2-1 win over the United Arab Emirates in the Semi-Final. The first choice back line (minus the accidentally excluded Bakaye Dibassy) all come back into the starting XI and I've given Wil Trapp and Hassani Dotson a game off after they started both our pre-season matches so far, with Emanuel Reynoso and Jacori Hayes starting in central midfield. Two of the four players (The other two being 3rd choice goalkeeper Eric Dick and the injured Abu Danladi) on the roster not to start a game yet are Patrick Weah and Aziel Jackson, so they both get into the XI. Aziel Jackson was unlucky with his offside goal against Colorado, so it will be interesting to see if he can continue his good form. Luis Amarilla, despite his fortunate penalty rebound goal didn't have the best of games against Colorado, so he has another chance to try and impress against the Sounders. Abu Danladi failed a late fitness test, so remains out of the side while he recovers. All three of Seattle's designated players make the starting XI in what looks to be a very scary forward trio. The Match 12' - Romain Metanire's low cross into the box from the right side is hacked away by Gomez Andrade, Patrick Weah gains possession and passes to Jacori Hayes on the edge of the box. His through ball puts Franco Fragapane in and he slots under the advancing keeper, but he strayed a fraction offside and the goal won't stand! 14' - A chance after good buildup play from the back, Gasper and Kallman exchange passes before the latter gives it to Hayes. He goes on a mazy run through the centre of midfield, passes it out wide again to Gasper whose cross is met by Patrick Weah. His header is just tipped over by Stefan Frei. 22' - Good work again from Patrick Weah, after finding himself boxed in by Nouhou Tolo near the corner flag, he nutmegs the Seattle player, passes it to Metanire who lays it off for Aziel Jackson to shoot. His shot is blocked but Jacori Hayes hits it on the volley after it falls to him and it sails just over the top of the crossbar. 28' - A long clearance by Stefan Frei falls to Romain Metanire, he manages to outpace several Seattle players and runs right to the edge of the penalty box, crosses it for Patrick Weah who then slides a pass to Aziel Jackson near the penalty spot. He makes no mistake and blasts it past Frei to open the scoring. 1-0 Minnesota United FC! (For some reason Patrick Weah didn't get credited with an assist on the goal, not sure why?) 33' - Seattle's only real chance of the half as an Alex Roldan cross is met by Raul Ruidiaz on the volley. The shot is fierce but a diving stop from Tyler Miller save a goal. 43' - Last chance of the half as Fragapane sets up Jacori Hayes for a shot just outside the box, looks to be heading into the top right corner but somehow Frei gets a diving hand to it to palm it over. HT - Minnesota United FC 1-0 Seattle Sounders Chase Gasper did a lot of running in the first half, so he gets replaced by Oniel Fisher to give him a breather and that was the only change at half-time. 53' - A corner from Nicolas Lodeiro is met at the back post by Gomez Andrade, he manages to outjump Michael Boxall but his header is tipped over well by Tyler Miller to keep it at 1-0. 57' - A poor clearance from Hal Uderitz falls to Patrick Weah, who passes to Luis Amarilla deep in Seattle territory. After getting two defenders to commit, he passes to the wide open Aziel Jackson in the box whose shot is well saved by Frei. 60' - The standard bank of substitutions in a pre-season friendly. Robin Lod, Adrien Hunou and Bongokuhle Hlongwane come on for Jacori Hayes, Luis Amarilla and Franco Fragapane respectively. 68' - A Patrick Weah cross from the right wing is met by the unmarked head of Bongokuhle Hlongwane, but his header is straight at Frei who makes the save. Probably should have done better with the chance. 78' - Just minutes after coming on as a sub replacing the excellent Patrick Weah, Niko Hansen gets on the scoresheet. Oniel Fisher lays it off to Aziel Jackson whose long range shot from outside the penalty area cannons off the crossbar, falling fortunately to Hansen who half volleys it past the prone Frei. 2-0 Minnesota United FC! 85' - An Emanuel Reynoso freekick from 30 yards out cannons up off the crossbar and spins out of play for a goal kick. 90+1' - A Reynoso cross into the box is met by a totally unmarked Robin Lod whose header gives Frei no chance in the Seattle goal. Terrible defending from Seattle, who still had a lot of players commited forward looking to get a goal back and got caught on the counter attack. 3-0 Minnesota United FC! 90+5' - Another counter attacking goal, a Seattle Sounders corner is cleared away by Michael Boxall, Niko Hansen gets the ball and runs almost the entire length of the pitch before squaring it to Adrien Honou who slots it cooly pat Frei to add a 4th goal for The Loons. 4-0 Minnesota United FC! FT - Minnesota United FC 4-0 Seattle Sounders A very dominant game of football from Minnesota, limiting Seattle to one (admittedly quite good) chance and a couple of half chances. 10 shots (5 on target) for Minnesota compared to Seattle's 3 in the first half and although the Sounders started the second half brightly, they had nothing in the final third that posed any danger. The Loons ended the game with 25 shots (10 on target) and 52% possession, completing 92% of their passes. Player of the Match was Emanuel Reynoso for his assist and several key passes, plus posing a danger from set pieces during the game. He completed 89% of his 75 passes and 57% of his crossing attempts. Another player who impressed was winger Patrick Weah, who attempted 15 crosses, won 100% of the tackles he attempted as well as 100% of the headers he attempted. *Up Next - The Loons take a trip across the country from their Training Camp base to Wisconsin to play their USL League One affiliate club, Forward Madison FC in the next pre-season friendly*

Pre-Season (Continued) Friendly Game 2 - vs. Colorado Rapids @ Grand Canyon Stadium (Neutral Venue) The second game of pre-season and the first on our pre-season training camp in Arizona. During the training camp we will be based at Grand Canyon Stadium, the home ground of the Grand Canyon Antelopes, representing Grand Canyon University based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Apparently as a bit of trivia, GCU is the largest Christian university in the world, with 25,000 attending students on campus and another 90,000 online. Pretty cool if you're into that sort of thing I suppose. Grand Canyon Stadium, capacity 2,500 (according to FM 22, apparently in real life it's listed as 6,000) Our opponent's in our first training camp match will be the Colorado Rapids, a fellow Western Conference MLS team. As a bit of a coincidence, the Rapids let a former Grand Canyon University Alumni, Niki Jackson (Striker, 25) depart on a Free Transfer to San Diego Loyal of the USL Championship in the off-season. Jackson had a grand total of 9 appearances for the Rapids, but only one of those was a start and scored 3 goals. He made his debut for the club in a CONCACAF Champions League match against Toronto FC, coming on as a sub in the 66th minute. As previously mentioned, The Colorado Rapids signed midfielder Freddy Guarin on a Free Transfer in the off-season to be one of only two designated players currently at the club, with the other being 19-year old Brazilian attacking midfielder Max Alves who they signed from Brazilian Campeonato side Flamengo for $1,000,000. Alves only made a handful of appearances for Flamengo before being sent out on loan to Ciuaba, where he scored 1 goal in 15 league appearances. After 1 goal in 12 appearances for Flamengo he signed for Colorado Rapids on a Young Designated Player Contract with a 4-year deal. He looks to have a fair bit of potential, although a determination rating of only 4 is a bit concerning. Their highest paid player is Honduran international Bryan Acosta, a 27-year old ball-winning midfielder who is on $700,000 per annum until 2023. Acosta began his senior career at Honduran club Real Espana, making over 100 league appearances for them before moving to Spain to play for Tenerife in the Canary Islands. He signed for FC Dallas as a designated player in 2019 and played 49 games for the club, scoring 3 goals including 1 in his only MLS Cup Playoff game, a 4-3 defeat to Seattle Sounders in Round 1. Other players of note are former Wolves, Yeovil and Leyton Orient, 28-year old English defensive midfielder Jack Price, former Rangers and Hearts 29-year old Scottish central defender Danny Wilson and utility player Mark-Anthony Kaye, a 26-year old Canadian footballer formerly of LAFC and acquired for $1,400,000. Kaye can play left-back, defensive midfielder, central midfielder, right or left winger and central attacking midfielder. For this game I changed nearly the entire team, as the aim in early pre-season is just to get everyone some minutes in their legs. Both of the reserve squad call-ups Callum Montgomery and Nabilai Kibunguchy played well in their first game against Minnesota United II, so they got a start together to see if they can keep it up. I would have tried Bakaye Dibassy at left-back for this game but I was a bit of an idiot and SOMEHOW left him out of the training camp squad entirely, much to his anger so Chase Gasper gets the start there. Wil Trapp and Hassani Dotson are the only two players who keep their starting places from game 1, although Wil Trapp has been moved from DM to CM, with Hassani Dotson playing as the defensive midfielder for this match. The Match 7'- Bongokuhle Hlongwane with a lovely cross-field pass from the left flank, finding Niko Hansen and switching the attack to the right. Hansen passed back to Oneil Fisher who fired in a first time cross, straight to the feet of Wil Trapp who made no mistake blasting the ball into the top left corner and leaving Rapids goalie William Yarbrough totally rooted to the spot. 1-0 MINNESOTA UNITED FC! 9' - Oneil Fisher fires in a cross from the left flank straight to Luis Amarilla but his header is straight at Yarbrough, anywhere else and it would have been a goal! 14' - Hlongwane fires in a ball over the top of the defence that Wil Trapp latches on to but his first time volley is just disrupted by the outstretched boot of Danny Wilson, which sends the balll spinning out for a corner. 26' - Chase Gasper with a corner from the left side, finds Nabilai Kibunguchy at the near post but his header whistles just over the top of the crossbar! 29' - A cross from the left by Chase Gasper is headed away by Auston Trusty, falling to Jacori Hayes on the edge of the box. He passed sidways to Wil Trapp who threaded a through ball that cut out 2 Rapids defenders totally and found Bongokuhle Hlongwane. He cooly fires the ball home from close range to the goalies right, with Yarbrough having no chance to make a save. 2-0 MINNESOTA UNITED FC! 34' - Colorado Rapids hit back a few minutes later, from a throw in on the right hand side by Steven Beitashour, he plays a 1-2 with Jack Price before whipping a cross in near the penalty spot. Jacori Hayes should do better competing with Diego Rubio but in the end Rubio gets his head to it and sends it beyond the despairing dive of Dayne St. Clair. 2-1. HT - Minnesota United FC 2-1 Colorado Rapids Hassani Dotson looked to be a little tired by the half time break, so he came off to be replaced by Michael Boxall. Nabilai Kibunguchy took over from Dotson as the DM, while Boxall went into the centre back position. Also at the break, Niko Hansen came off to be replaced by youngster Aziel Jackson on the right flank. 47' - Chase Gasper runs into the box from the left side, passes to Wil Trapp by the penalty spot who is then blatantly shoved in the back by Danny Wilson to give away a penalty. Luis Amarilla steps up to take it.....blasts it straight down the middle, but Yarbrough doesn't move an inch, parries it away but straight back to Amarilla who at the second attempt puts the ball into the back of the net, 3-1 Minnesota United FC! 53' - Fredy Guarin with a direct free kick a few yards outside the box, sends the ball swinging over the heads of the Minnesota wall but Dayne St. Clair reads it well to get his body behind it. 57' - Aziel Jackson scores after a lovely through ball from Hlongwane, but it turns out he went slightly too early and is a fraction offside, so the goal is ruled out! That was pretty much it for memorable moments, I made a raft of substitutions in the 60' minute bring on Kallman, Dick, Hunou and Fragapane for Montgomery, St. Clair, Amarilla and Hlongwane respectively, then gave Reynoso and Lod some minutes late on. FT - Minnesota United FC 3-1 Colorado Rapids A pretty comfortable win in the end, which hopefully bodes well for when the MLS regular season kicks off. Wil Trapp was Player of the Match with his 1 goal, 1 assist for an 8.1 final rating. Nabilai Kibunguchy continues to make the most of his chance in the side, finishing the game with a 100% pass completion rate in 68 attempts as well as winning 100% of attempted headers. While Chase Gasper seemed to be involved in a lot of the chances, he also only had a cross completion rate of 21% from 14 attempts, with Oneil Fisher completing half of his 8 attempts for a 50% success rate on the opposite flank. Bongokuhle Hlongwane also had a good game, with his goal, a 97% pass completion rate, with 2 key passes and 2 clear cut chances created. * UP NEXT - The Pre-season training camp at Grand Canyon University continues, with a friendly game against 2020 MLS Cup Runners-Up the Seattle Sounders.

Pre-Season So I won't go into much detail about the first game in pre-season as it was just a game against Minnesota United FC II and their squad only has 7 actual members in it with the rest being greyed out players. The highest potential player they have is 17-year old Luxembourger Goalkeeper Fred Emmings. He starts the game in the main Minnesota United FC squad but he wouldn't see any game time at all being the 4th choice keeper so it made more sense to send him down. They also have 20-year old Honduran right winger Joseph Rosales who is on loan from Panama Primera Division club CA Indepediente but even compared to the rest of the Minnesota squad he just doesn't seem good enough talent-wise. I can't cancel the loan but I'm hoping that his parent club will run out of patience with him being in the reserves at some point and will recall him. Apart from those two there aren't really any other players of note that I would deem good enough for a place on the Minnesota United FC roster but maybe I can use a couple as trade pieces somewhere down the line. Pretty much a full strength lineup and bench, minus Chase Gasper who is suffering from flu and got sent home to avoid infecting anyone else and Abu Danladi who pulled his hamstring and is expected to be out for up to 2 weeks. The game went pretty much as you might expect, with The Loons getting 12 shots off in the first half (only 2 on target though, bit of a worry) and having 54% possession. We did only manage a solitary goal in the first half with Hassani Dotson playing a nice through ball to Adrien Hunou who chipped over the goalie. With constant changes in the second half the game never really had a chance to get going again. Fred Emmings played well for the reserves, pulling off a couple of good saves from long range strikes by Niko Hansen, who himself had a decent second half.

Oh that's interesting, I don't think the option for u22 Initiative Player contracts exists in the game, unless I am being blind and just not seeing it? Also, I ran out of General Allocation money already buying down some other contracts to make sure I had enough cap space to potentially sign or trade for a decent centre back, so I don't have any GAM left to buy down any of the DP contracts.

Off-Season Developments Before pre-season has officially started I get 8 clubs offering 1st round picks in the 2022 SuperDraft, along with various other incentives like International Slots and General Allocation Money in exchange for Hassani Dotson, I would have been tempted by some of the higher 1st round picks or especially the General Allocation Money but the Minnesota United FC midfield is a little thin in numbers as it is so I need to keep hold of him for now. Minnesota United FC Primary Tactic for 2021 Season The idea with the tactic being to deploy a defensive midfielder in Wil Trapp for games where I'm expected to be the underdog or in late-game situations where I am defending a lead, then switching him out and replacing him with an attacking central midfielder in games where we are the favourite and/or needing to find an equaliser/late winner in games. Adrien Hunou would be the primary choice for attacking midfield, with Luis Amarilla taking his place as the striker up front. Heading into pre-season I'm undecided who will be the starting goalkeeper between Tyler Miller and Dayne St. Clair as well as which two players will be the first choice centre-back pairing. Bakaye Dibassy seems equally at home in either central defence or playing as a left-back, I'm more inclined to play him as a full-back because of his crossing, pace and stamina but that would leave the centre-backs weakened with Michael Boxall or the two call-ups from Minnesota United FC II Callum Montgomery or Nabilai Kibunguchy being the other options.... if I play him in central defence then the full-back position will be weaker as either Chase Gasper or Oneil Fisher would be deputising, so basically I just need to figure out which option leaves the team slightly LESS weak. MLS Off-Season Notable Trades/Transfers Expansion side Charlotte FC have been doing a bit of early squad building ahead of their entry into the league in 2022. They gave up their 2024 1st Round MLS SuperDraft pick to acquire 19-year old Mexican right-back Julian Araujo from LA Galaxy and then a few days later gave up their 1st round 2022 and 2023 SuperDraft picks for 24-year old Brazilian central midfielder Matheus Rossetto and $220,000 in General Allocation Money from Atlanta United. LA Galaxy also traded away 35-year old MLS Veteran central midfielder Sacha Kljestan along with a whopping $800,000 in General Allocation Money to Toronto FC in exchange for an extra International Slot for 2 seasons. New York Red Bulls gave up a lot to acquire a 2-year International Slot and DeJuan Jones, a 23-year old American full-back from New England Revolution, giving the Revs their 1st round SuperDraft picks for 2022 and 2023 as well as $350,000 in General Allocation Money. Atlanta United acted to try and shore up their defence ahead of the new season, acquiring 24-year old Colombian Central Defender Eddie Segura and $110,000 in General Allocation Money from LAFC in exchange for a 2024 SuperDraft 1st Round Pick. Another MLS Veteran to be on the move is 31-year old American left-sided fullback Brek Shea, with Philadelphia Union acquiring him and $425,000 in General Allocation Money from Inter Miami CF for the Union's 2023 1st Round SuperDraft Pick. The highest outright transfer fee to be paid by an MLS club in the off-season was by Houston Dynamo FC, who signed 23-year old Venezuelan goalkeeper Joel Graterol from Colombian First Division side America de Cali for $600,000 potentially rising to $725,000 if certain bonus incentives are met. Graterol signed a 3-year designated player contract with the Dynamo worth $801,000 per annum. Toronto FC signed 36-year old Honduran central midfielder Wilson Palacios on a Free Transfer. Palacios has previously played for Birmingham, Wigan, Tottenham Hotspur and Stoke in the English Premier League, as well as having spells at MIAMI FC in the NASL and several clubs in his native Honduras. Palacios joins the club on a 1-year deal worth $286,000 with an automatic 1-year extension if he plays in 20 MLS games in 2021. Colorado Rapids sign former Boca Juniors, Saint-Etienne, Porto and Inter Milan central midfielder, 34-year old Colombian Freddy Guarin on a Free Transfer giving him a 1-season designated player deal worth $612,000 with a club option extension for the 2022 season.

GOALKEEPERS Tyler Miller played his college career for Northwestern University, where he set the school record for shutouts with 36 in 77 appearances. He was drafted 33rd overall in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft by the Seattle Sounders, however he decided instead to sign for German 4th tier side SVN Zweibruken for whom he went on to only make 10 appearances before ultimately joining Seattle Sounders 2 in the USL Championship. Miller only played 2 games for the MLS parent club Sounders before being selected by Los Angeles FC with the first pick in the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft. He was a regular for LAFC in the two season he was with them, making a total of 67 appearances as they made the playoffs on both occasions. On 16th January 2020 Los Angeles FC traded Tyler Miller to Minnesota United FC in exchange for $150,000 GAM in 2020 and $50,000 TAM in 2021. SENIOR CONTRACT - $421,000 p/a CAP IMPACT- $196,000 p/a Dayne St. Clair was a two-year starter for the Maryland Terrapins in his college soccer career, where he made a total of 43 appearances for the school. He was awarded the NCAA Div. 1 Men's Soccer Tournament Most Outstanding Defensive Player award during their run to the National Championship in 2018. St. Clair decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility in order to sign a Generation Adidas contract with MLS and enter the 2019 SuperDraft, where was selected 9th overall by Minnesota United FC. Following his selection in the Draft, St. Clair was loaned out to Minnesota's USL League One affiliate club Forward Madison, where he made 5 appearances. The following season he was loaned out to San Antonio FC in the USL Championship, where he also made 5 appearances before being recalled to his parent club for the remainder of the 2020 season. He played the last 13 regular season games for Minnesota and 3 games in the MLS Cup playoffs, conceding 15 goals and keeping 8 clean sheets as Minnesota were eventually eliminated in the Western Conference Final 3-2 by Seattle Sounders FC. SENIOR CONTRACT - $150,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $74,500 p/a Eric Dick played his college soccer for the Butler Bulldogs between 2013-2017, including a redshirted year in 2013. He played in 71 games for Butler, keeping 28 clean sheets, a 39.4% shutout rate. During his time in college he also played for Premier Development League sides Portland Timber u23's in 2015 and OKC Energy u23's in 2017. On 19th January 2018, Eric Dick was drafted in the first round (13th Overall) in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft by Sporting Kansas City. Dick spent most of his time out on loan, playing for Swope Park Rangers, Tulsa Roughnecks and Phoenix Rising before being released by Kansas City in 2020, having made just one MLS appearance for the senior team. On 22nd December 2020, his rights were acquired by Columbus Crew SC in State Two of the MLS Re-Entry Draft. Much like his time in Kansas City, Dick spent the majority of the season out on loan, this time playing for Indy Eleven in the USL Championship. Columbus eventually opted to decline their contract option and he was released. Minnesota then selected Eric Dick in Stage Two of the 2021 MLS Re-Entry Draft and he officially signed with the club shortly after. SENIOR MINIMUM SALARY CONTRACT - $81,500 CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Non-Reserve/Non-Homegrown Off-Budget Player Slot DEFENDERS France-born Madagascar international Romain Metanire began his career at his hometown club FC Metz, first appearing for the reserve team in the Championnat de France Amateur, the 4th tier of French soccer. He made just 4 substitute appearances in his first season as FC Metz II were relegated to the 5th tier. In his second season he made 19 appearances and scored two goals as Metz II were promoted back to the 4th tier at the first attempt. In his third season with the reserves his good form was rewarded with his first senior appearance for Metz, coming off the bench against Clermont Foot in League 2. He made another two senior appearances (against Le Mans and Evian TG, his first start for Metz) to round out the 2010-2011 season. In the following seasons Metanire established himself as a first choice right-back for Metz, making a total of 174 appearances for the club as they bounced between League 2, Championnat National and League 1. He scored his only two goals for the club in the 2015/16 League 2 campaign, his final one for Metz before joining Belgian First Division side KV Kortrijk. His stay in Belgium was brief, making just 21 league and cup appearances, before returning to France and signing for League 2 side Reims. He was a first team regular for the the side in the 2017/18 season as Reims secured promotion back to League 1, making 38 appearances in total. After just 5 appeaances for Reims in League 1 he left to join Minnesota United FC on a Free Transfer at the start of the 2019 MLS season. He scored his first (and so far only) goal for Minnesota on 25th May 2019, the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Houston Dynamo. SENIOR CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $699,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $199,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot Another French-born footballer who represents another nation internationally, in this case Mali. Dibassy started his career playing for Bergerac in the Championnat de France Amateur 2. After 18 appearances and 1 goal in the 2012/13 season he moved up a league to play for Stade Montois in the Championnat de France Amateur. He then moved to Sedan on a Free Transfer a year later, being part of their promotion winning squad in the 2014/15 season. Following a good season in National 1 he attracted the attention of a bigger team, this time Amiens in Ligue 2 who he joined on another free transfer. Dibassy enjoyed his most prolific season in his first for Amiens, scoring 5 goals in 37 games as the club got promoted to Ligue 1. He ended up making 134 appearances in all competitions for Amiens, scoring 9 goals. Minnesota had been tracking Dibassy by this point for a couple of years and finally the opportunity to sign him presented itself. Using Targeted Allocation Money for elevated signings, Dibassy joined the club for the 2020 season, going on to make 14 appearances in all competitions and scoring 2 goals, both in the MLS Cup Playoffs. SENIOR CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $718,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $359,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot New Zealander Michael Boxall started his soccer career playing for Mount Albert Grammar School in Auckland, New Zealand. His time there was very successful as they went on to win league titles in 2004 and 2005 and won the second of two knockout cups in his senior year in 2006 after he had been made team captain. Boxall played professionally for several clubs in New Zealand, starting out with Ellerslie AFC, before moving on to Three Kings United, Central United where he won the 2007 Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Premier League and then finally Auckland City FC. While at Auckland FC Boxall won the New Zealand Football Championship and was awarded the team's Young Player of the Year Award. Following this spell in New Zealand's football pyramid, Boxall was recruited to go and play college soccer in the US for the University of California, Santa Barbara by their Head Coach Tim Von Steeg. In his first season for the Gauchos he played 12 games, including 10 starts which led all rookies that year and he managed to tie the team high for yellow (6) and red cards (1). Boxall was selected first overall in the 2011 MLS Supplemental Draft by the Vancouver Whitecaps, going on to make his debut on 19th March for the team's season opener against Toronto FC. He went on to appear 21 times for the Whitecaps before being waived during the 2012 season. Following this disappointment he returned to his native New Zealand and joined Wellington Phoenix, where he initially became a backup to the team's estsblished centreback pairing. This lack of starts led to him being loaned to the Oakleigh Cannons of the Victorian Premier League in Australia for the remainder of the season. His second year for the Phoenix was better personally as he became a regular starter, appearing in 20 games for the club in the A-League, however the team could only manage 9th in the 10 team league and missed out on the Playoff Finals Series by 10pts. Boxall then moved to South Africa and spent two seasons at Premier Division club SuperSport United in Pretoria, where the team won the 2016 and 2017 Nedbank Cup to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup, ultimately being defeated in the 2016 final by TP Mazembe of DR Congo. Due to his good form for SuperSport, Boxall was picked up by Minnesota United FC on a Free Transfer ahead of the 2017 MLS Season. He has been a regular for the Loons ever since, able to play both Centre-Back and Right-Back and is fast approaching 100 career appearances for them. SENIOR CONTRACT - $422,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $272,000 p/a Brent Kallman attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska and played four seasons for the Bluejays, making 78 appearances, scoring 3 goals and helping the team to back-to-back College Cup appearances in 2011 and 2012. During the summer of 2012 he also played for the Des Moine Menace in USL League Two, scoring 2 goals in 6 appearances for the club during his break from university. Following his time at Creighton University, Kallman signed for Minnesota United (then playing in the North American Soccer League). The team won the NASL Spring Championship in 2014 with a record of 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. The following year despite being heavy favourites for the overall title, Minnesota struggled early before regaining their form and ultimately falling to Ottawa Fury FC in the playoff semi-finals. Kallman only became a regular starter for Minnesota in the club's final season in the NASL, going on to make 40 league appearances and score 1 goal for the Loons over a 4-year period. When Minnesota United FC became he 22nd club to enter Major League Soccer, Kallman was signed to remain with the team as he became their longest tenured player and first native Minnesotan to join the Loons in the MLS. He went on to make 23 appearances during the club's inaugural MLS season, contributing 2 goals and captaining the side on a number of occasions. Kallman has gone on to make over 100 appearances for Minnesota, split between the NASL and MLS in addition to a loan spell at El Paso Locomotive in the USL Champonship in 2020. In addition to his football career he is also an accomplished poker player, having earned $193,192 playing in tournament poker. SENIOR CONTRACT - $158,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $79,000 p/a Oniel Fisher, born in Portmore Jamaica is a pacy full-back who is equally comfortable playing either right or left side of the defence. After spending his youth career with St. George's SC in Jamaica he moved to the USA and played Junior College soccer at Tyler Junior College, making 20 appearances in two seasons scoring 6 goals and making three assists. In 2013 Fisher transferred to the University of New Mexico, making him the school's first every Jamaican student-athlete. Playing for the Lobos he made a total of 29 appearances, tallying 4 goals and 3 assists and helping lead the team to the College Cup Semi-Finals in 2013. During his college years he also played for the Jersey Express in the Premier Development League and for New York Red Bulls u23's in the National Premier Soccer League. In January 2015, Oniel Fisher was selected in the second round (40th overall) in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft by Seattle Sounders FC, making his debut for the USL affiliate Seattle Sounders FC 2 on 21st March and his MLS debut for the parent club a week later in a 0-0 draw away at FC Dallas. He made a total of 27 appearances for Seattle in three seasons before being traded to D.C. United ahead of the 2018 Season. He suffered a bad knee injury during a game against Montreal Impact in September 2018 that caused him to miss the rest of that season and the entire 2019 season as he entered rehabilitation. He finally returned from injury on 7th March 2020, coming on as a substitute against Inter Miami CF. He was released by D.C. United at the end of the 2020 season and joined the LA Galaxy as a Free Agent, making 12 appearances before being released yet again. This time he was picked up by Minnesota United FC and signed to a 1-year deal with a club option to renew for a second season, should he prove his fitness and ability sufficiently. Oniel made his international debut for Jamaica in 2010 in a 3-1 victory against Trinidad & Tobago and he has gone on to make 20 appearances in total for his country, also featuring for the U-20 side in the 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. SENIOR CONTRACT - $148,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $93,500 p/a Chase Gasper attended UCLA from 2014-2016, playing 43 times for the Bruins and scoring 2 goals before transferring to the University of Maryland to be closer to his father, who had been diagnosed with small-fiber neuropathy. He went on to play 28 times for the Terrapins to conclude his college career. While in college Gasper played for PSA Elite in the USASA, being a part of the team's shock run to the 4th round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup beating Golden State Misioneros, Orange County Blues FC and Ventura County Fusion before finally falling 6-1 to MLS side LA Galaxy. On 11th January 2019 Chase Gasper was drafted 15th overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United FC after they traded $50,000 of General Allocation Money to Chicago Fire to secure the pick. He earned his only international cap to date on 1st February 2020 as a substitute in a friendly match against Costa Rica. SENIOR MINIMUM SALARY CONTRACT - $81,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Non-Reserve/Non-Homegrown Off-Budget Player Slot **Callum Montgomery begins the game in the Minnesota United FC 2 squad, I had to call him up to the Senior squad as the cover at centre-back is worryingly thin.** Canadian Callum Montgomery played for St. Michael's University School in Victoria, British Columbia, leading them to a BC Provincial AA Championship title in 2014. He then played 4 years of college soccer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte between 2015 and 2019. During his time at UNC Charlotte, Montgomery was named a First Team All-American and Conference USA Defender of the Year. In 2018 Montgomery made the men's semi-finalist list for the Hermann Trophy, an annual award for college soccer players. He ultimately went on to make 73 appearances for the UNC Charlotte 49ers, scoring 11 goals. During his time in college he also played for the Victoria Highlanders in the Vancouver Island Soccer League, playing 25 times and scoring 4 goals. On 11th January 2019, Montgomery was selected 4th overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by FC Dallas. He was sent out on loan to North Texas SC and San Antonio FC but failed to break into the FC Dallas first team before being released following the 2020 season. in 2020 Minnesota United FC acquired Montgomery's rights from Dallas in exchange for a 4th round 2022 MLS SuperDraft pick and potentially $50,000 in General Allocation Money. After a year on loan at San Diego Loyal in the USL Championship his option was picked up by Minnesota and he joined The Loons in the MLS. SENIOR MINIMUM SALARY CONTRACT - $81,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Non-Reserve/Non-Homegrown Off-Budget Player Slot ** Nabilai Kibunguchy begins the game in the Minnesota United FC 2 squad, just like Callum Montgomery I had to call him up to provide cover in the centre-back position** Naibilay Kibunguchy attended the University of California, Davis between 2016-2019 and played 52 games for the UC Davis Aggies, scoring 3 goals and registering 2 assists. Kibunguchy was redshirted in his freshman season following a season-ending injury and the Big West Conference was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. During his time at college Kibunguchy was named All-Big West Conference First Team, Big West All-Freshman Team and Big West Conference All-Academic Team in 2017 and United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Second Team and All-Big West Conference First Team in 2019. While at college he also played for the San Francisco Glens in USL League Two, playing 11 games for them. Kibunguchy was selected 18th overall in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United FC and officially joined the team on 3rd April 2021 (although with the updated FM database, he begins the save already a part of the Minnesota Organisattion). RESERVE CONTRACT - $63,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Reserve Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Non-Homegrown Reserve Player Slot MIDFIELDERS Wil Trapp graduated from Lincoln High School, where he was the 2010 NSCAA National High School Player of the Year and led the school to their first ever state title in 2009. In 2014 the school retired his number 20 jersey in recognition of his achievements during High School. As a Freshman in college, Trapp started all 23 games for the Akron Zips, earning him praise as one of the top freshman soccer players in the entire country. In just two seasons at Akron he played in a total of 45 games, scoring one goal and he recieved several awards- MAC Newcomer of the Year, All-MAC First Team x2, NSCAA Third Team All-American. During his time in college Akron won two regular season MAC titles, an MAC Tournament Title and qualified for the NCAA Tournament both seasons. In December 2012 Trapp signed for his hometown MLS Club Columbus Crew as a Homegrown Player. He was named Man of the Match on his debut for the Crew after completing 86% of his passes in a 1-0 win over the Portland Timbers. He was awarded the Breakout Performer of the Year for the Crew at the end of the season. In 7 seasons with Columbus Crew he made a total of 205 appearances and scored 2 goals, with an Eastern Conference Playoff title in 2015 and was named an All-Star in 2016. On January 31st 2020, Trapp was traded to MLS Expansion side Inter Miami CF in exchange for $100,000 in General Allocation Money and an International Roster Slot. He featured in 22 games for Inter Miami as they barely made it into the Play-In Round of the MLS Playoffs, where they were beaten 3-0 by Nashville SC. Following the 2020 season it was announced that Minnesota United FC had signed Wil Trapp as a Free Agent. Internationally Trapp has represented the United States at u18, u20, u23 and Senior level. He has played in the 2011 Lisbon International Tournament, 2013 Toulon Tournament, 2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship and the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup (where he was named to the tournament's best XI). He has earned 20 caps for the Senior USA side, including several games where he was given the captain's armband, most notably in a 1-1 draw against France in Lyon. SENIOR CONTRACT - $747,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $297,000 p/a HOME-GROWN PLAYER Emanuel Reynoso started his soccer career with Talleres de Cordoba in the Argentinian Primera Division. However, his career was nearly over before it had even begun as he was shot in the left leg in March 2014. He recovered and spent 5 seasons at Talleres, seeing them rise from the third tier Torneo Federal A all the way up to the Argentine Primera Division. He contributed 4 goals in 58 appearances for Talleres before joining Boca Juniors in 2018 for $4,900,000. He had three solid seasons with the Blue and Gold, winning two Primera Division titles in the 2017/18 and 2019/20 seasons, along with a Supercopa Argentina in 2018. He finished with 5 goals in 66 appearances for Boca Juniors. On September 2020, Reynoso signed with Minnesota United FC for $4,700,000. He set a single season MLS record with seven assists in the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs and he is also the first MLS player in league history to record multiple three-assist playoff games. DESIGNATED PLAYER CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $967,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $612,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x Designated Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot Hassani Dotson is a highly versatile player, able to play both sides of the fullback position, defensive midfielder, central midfielder and both wing positions meaning he is a valuable member of the squad as injury cover. He played his college career for Oregon State University, appearing in 72 games, scoring 5 goals and 3 assists in four years from 2015-2018. In his senior year he was named to the United Soccer Coaches Second Team of the All-Far West Region, he made the Second Team of the All-Pac-12 Conference and received a Pac-12 Conference Academic Honorable Mention. While in college he also played in the Premier Development League for Washington Crossfire and then Lane United FC. On January 11th 2019, Dotson was drafted 31st overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United FC. He made his debut in March of the same year in a game against the Vancouver Whitecaps and scored his first goal for the club on June 2nd against Philadelphia Union. At the start of the 2021 season Dotson signed a three-year contract extension at Minnesota with an optional one year automatic extension option for the club. SENIOR CONTRACT - $198,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $99,000 p/a Jacori Hayes attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He played 81 times for the Demon Deacons, scoring 15 goals and picking up 15 assists. He was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team in 2013, The All-ACC First Team in 2015 and 2016, The NSCAA All-South Region Second Team in 2015 and 2016 and the All-ACC Tournament Team in 2015 and 2016. He was part of the Wake Forest team that won the ACC Tournament in 2016. During his time at University, he also played for Portland Timbers u23's and then D.C. United u23's in the USL Premier Development League. Hayes was selected by FC Dallas in the 1st round (18th overall) of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, making his debut for the team a few months later on 11th March against Sporting Kansas City. During his time at FC Dallas, Hayes was sent on loan to the Tulsa Roughnecks in the USL Championship and then FC Dallas' reserve team, North Texas SC in USL League One. At the conclusion of the 2019 season, Jacori Hayes was traded to Minnesota United FC in exchange for a third-round MLS SuperDraft pick. He went on to make 11 league appearances for The Loons in 2020, scoring 1 goal. SENIOR CONTRACT - $170,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $170,000 p/a FORWARDS Paraguayan international Luis Amarilla started his senior soccer career at local club Libertad in the Paraguayan Primera Division. Starts were limited at Libertad and he was loaned out twice, firstly to 3 de Febrero in the Division Intermedia (5 appearances, 0 goals) and Sol de America in the Primera Division (20 appearances, 1 goal). After making just 13 appearances for Libertad, Amarilla moved to Velez Sarsfeld in the Argentine Primera Division. Just like at Libertad, starts for his parent club were limited, but his loan spells were much more productive, finishing as Ecuadorian Serie A top scorer with 19 goals in 24 games for Universidad Catolica before an injury-hit loan spell at Minnesota United FC saw him score 3 goals in just 10 appearances the following season. In his third loan spell he scored 15 goals in 31 appearances for LDU Quito in Ecuador. Luis Amarilla then moved to Minnesota United FC on a full-time basis at the start of the 2021 season for $2,500,000 where he became one of the club's designated players. His move back to Minnesota was, in his coaches words "unfinished business" as he had originally promised he would have a role in at least 25 goals in his loan season, however his injury ruled out any possibility of that happening. DESIGNATED PLAYER CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $1,300,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $612,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Designated Player Slot Adrien Hunou had a youth career that spanned multiple clubs, playing for Senart-Moissy, Torcy and Clairefontaine before eventually finding his way into the Rennes youth setup. He made his first appearance for Rennes II in 2012 and the first team in 2013, switching between the two sides for a number of years. He ended up scoring 14 goals in 49 appearances for Rennes II and 25 goals in 124 appearances for the first team in Ligue 1. In the middle of his Rennes career he spent two seasons on loan at Clermont Foot 63, where he scored 11 goals in 47 appearances in Ligue 2. Hunou has represented France at u18, u19 and u20 level although he has recently expressed an interest to switch to Poland, which he is eligible for through his Polish grandmother. Minnesota United FC signed Adrien Hunou for $3,900,000 at the start of the 2021 season as a Designated Player. DESIGNATED PLAYER CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $2,588,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $612,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Designated Player Slot Finnish attacking midfielder Robin Lod started as a youth player for SUMU in his native Finland, before moving to the academy of national powerhouse HJK Helsinki. He played for HJK's reserve club Klubi 04 for two seasons, winning the 3rd tier Kakkonen title in 2011. Moving up to the senior team, he played a role in the club winning three consecutive Veikkausliiga titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014, as well as the Fiinish Cup in 2014 and the Finnish League Cup in 2015. He moved to Greek Super League side Panathinaikos in 2015 for $400,000 playing three seasons there as the Greek side qualified for the playoffs in his first two years, ending his spell in Greece with 15 goals in 104 appearances in all competitions. Lod then moved to Spanish Segunda Division side Sporting Gijon for a season, scoring 4 goals as the club finished 9th and missed out on the promotion play-offs. After just a season in Spain, Minnesota United FC signed Lod for $325,000 in 2019. He played half of the 2019 season, scoring 1 goal in 13 games before a slightly better return in the 2020 season with 8 goals in 23 games. Robin Lod has been a regular international for Finland since making his debut for his country in 2013. He so far has 5 international goals in in 52 appearances, against Iceland, Estonia (2), Bulgaria and Bosnia & Herzegovina. SENIOR CONTRACT - $952,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $247,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot Franco Fragapane is a product of the Boca Juniors academy system, which he joined at the age of 12 in 2005 after impressing in a trial. He made his debut for the senior side in 2013, coming off the bench in a 1-1 draw against Gimnasia La Plata. He appeared in 2 other games during that season, in which Boca Juniors finished second overall in the league. At the conclusion of the 2013 season Fragapane joined Spanish Segunda Division B side Elche CF on loan, with a buyout clause inserted. He made 28 appearances and scored 4 goals for Elche B but only made one appearance for the senior side during his loan spell, in a 2-0 home loss against Atletico Madrid. The foolowing season he was loaned out to Celta Vigo, but again didn't feature for the senior side, instead playing 28 games for their 'B' Team and scoring 8 goals. After this stint in Spain, Fragapane returned to play in Argentina for several clubs, appearing for Arsenal de Sarandi (23 games, 0 goals), Union Santa Fe (49 games, 10 goals) and Talleres (46 games, 7 goals). In between his time at Talleres he also played 10 games on loan at Brazilian club Fortaleza, but didn't manage to score a goal in 10 league appearances. Franco Fragapane was then signed by Minnesota United FC to a 4-year contract using an undisclosed amount of Targeted Allocation Money, ahead of the 2021 season. Fragapane's only taste of international football was being selected for the 22-man Argentina u23 squad for the 2011 Pan American Games. He appeared 5 times for Argentina and scored one goal against Costa Rica in the Group Stages. SENIOR CONTRACT - INTERNATIONAL - $142,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $71,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot Born in Randers, Denmark Niko Hansen moved with his family to the United States at the age of 10. He attended Jesuit High School in Sacramento, in his senior year scoring 35 goals for the Marauders and being named as an NSCAA High School All-American. He was also selected to take part in the NSCAA High School All-American Game. In 2013 he committed to play college soccer for the New Mexico Lobos, making his debut on 31st August and scoring 2 goal against Villanova in an eventual 7-2 victory. In his time at New Mexico he received several individual awards- C-USA All-Freshman Team 2013, Third Team All-CUSA 2014, Second Team All-CUSA 2015, First Team All-CUSA 2016, C-USA All Tournament Team 2016 and NSCAA All-Southwest Region First Team 2016. During his time playing for the Lobos, the team also won a Conference USA (Regular Season) title in 2013 and the Conference USA Men's Soccer Tournament in 2016. In his college career he made 79 appearances for New Mexico, scoring 28 goals. Columbus Crew SC selected Niko Hansen with the 9th overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. Because he had already signed a league-guaranteed contract before the draft, he was automatically added to the Columbus roster without having to negotiate a contract with the club. He scored the game-winner on his debut for the Crew, an 84th minute strike against Portland Timbers to win 3-2. Hi time at Columbus was marked by several injurie that led to him missing significant playing time, missing 14 matches in his first season after undergoing surgery to repair an inguinal hernia and then suffering a thigh strain upon his return to training. In 2018 he suffered a pulled hamstring during preseason which curtailed his early season, and although he was fit for the latter half of the regular season and the start of the MLS Cup Playoffs, he then missed the Conference Semi-Final against New York Red Bulls. After the 2018 season Hansen had surgery on his ankle, but during 2019 preseason he suffered further setbacks, tearing scar tissue in the same ankle and then suffering a torn hamstring in his preseason debut. After his delayed start to the season he struggled to get into the starting XI and appeared in just 9 matches for The Crew. He was traded to the Houston Dynamo for $75,000 in Targeted Allocation Money, making 4 appearances in his first season and then 17 appearances in 2020 once the MLS season had resumed following the Covid-19 Pandemic, scoring 2 goals. After failing to agree terms with Houston for a new contract, Hansen was traded to Minnesota United FC in exchange for $125,000 in General Allocation Money. SENIOR MINIMUM SALARY CONTRACT - $81,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Non-Reserve/Non-Homegrown Off-Budget Player Slot Born in Accra, Ghana Abu Danladi graduated from Ghana's Right to Dream Academy in 2011. Following this he moved to the United States, attending Dunn High School and then attending college at UCLA, where he played his college soccer for the Bruins. During his time in college Danladi scored 18 goals in 42 games for UCLA, as well as 6 goals in 11 games for Ventura County Fusion in the Premier Development League. He was given a Generation Adidas contract with Major League Soccer in 2017 and promptly picked with the first overall selection in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by the then-expansion team Minnesota United FC. He scored 8 goals in 28 appearances in his rookie season, finishing runner-up for the 2017 Rookie of the Year Award behind Julian Gressel of Atlanta United. His second and third seasons were not as prolific, scoring just 3 goals in a combined 41 appearances over those two years. on November 2019 Danladi was selected by MLS Expansion side Nashville SC in the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft, where he scored 3 goals in 25 appearances over two seasons before his contract was allowed to run down and he left as a Free Agent. Following his release by Nashville Abu Danladi was re-signed by Minnesota United FC. SENIOR CONTRACT - $237,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $118,000 p/a **South African native Bongokuhle Hlongwane begins the game with a Young Designated Player cotract with a value of $200,000 p/a however in order to meet the strict roster requirement of 3 Designated Players maximum I had to offer him a new 4-year Senior Contract worth $442,000 p/a.** Hlongwane grew up in Nxamalala, Pietermaritzburg and played for Nxamalala First XI in the SAFA Regional League before joining Maritzburg United's Academy. He made his debut for the senior club in April 2019 in a 1-0 defeat to Orlando Pirates and scored his first goal a month later against Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in the league's relegation play-offs. He was awarded the South African Premier Division Young Player of the Season for the 2020-2021 campaign and in July 2021 signed a new 1-year deal. After 4 seasons playing for Maritzburg United, Minnesota United FC announced the signing of Hlongwane for an undisclosed fee, giving him a 3-year contract with a 1-year club extension option. Bongokuhle Hlongwane has so far appeared 8 times for his country since making his debut on 28th July 2019 as a substitute in a 3-2 defeat to Lesotho. He made his full debut against Uganda in his second appearance and scored his first international goal against them in a 3-2 friendly win. His second goal for his country came against Ghana, scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory in Johannesburg in a 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification match. SENIOR CONTRACT - $442,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - $442,000 p/a CAP IMPACT - 1x International Player Slot Aziel Jackson joined the New York Red Bulls Academy in 2014, where he played until 2017. In 2017 he moved with his family to France where he subsequently joined the Toulouse Academy until 2018. He played 4 times for Championnat National 3 side Blagnac FC before returning to the United States and joining the Crossfire FC Academy, as well as training with Seattle Sounders in 2020. Aziel Jackson signed a homegrown player contract with Minnesota United FC in 2021, after The Loons had acquired his rights from the New York Red Bulls in exchange for a 3rd round pick in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft. RESERVE CONTRACT - $63,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot CAP IMPACT - 1x Reserve Contract Player Slot Patrick Weah was born in Monrovia, Liberia and moved with his parents to Maple Grove, Minnesota where he played High School soccer at Wayzata High School. Weah was part of the side that ended up as State Runners-Up before helping his school win the State Championship during his sophmore season. Following this success he was named as the 2017 Minnesota State Player of the Year. Patrick Weah then went on to attend the Minnesota United FC Youth Academy, before playing college soccer for the Saint Louis Billikens. He scored on his debut for the Billikens in a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Roos, but ultimately only made 3 appearances for his college team. Patrick Weah then returned to Minnesota United FC and signed for the club as a homegrown player. RESERVE CONTRACT - $63,500 p/a CAP IMPACT - N/A (Off-Budget Player) CAP IMPACT - 1x Off-Budget Player Slot

MINNESOTA UNITED FC I have always wanted to do a Major League Soccer save on Football Manager, but the mind-bendingly complicated contract types and roster rules had always put me off from getting too invested. I also didn't like that the lower leagues and reserve leagues in the USA were never really represented in the game. Thanks to the EXCELLENT USA Expansion file by 'Palk' which I only discovered a few week ago, it's given me new determination to give an MLS save a real go. A link to the USA EXPANSION file- https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/560678-fm22-usa-league-structure-extended-with-usl-league-two-v227-thanks-owncredible/ So, why the MLS and why Minnesota? Well back in the day I started to get into American sports, something about the flashy presentation, the fancy team nicknames and the uniqueness of the sports caught my attention. I was never really a fan of any one team in particular as I was of the leagues themselves. I used to stay up until 3-4am to watch the MLB and NHL on Channel 5 on school nights before the wonders of being able to pre-plan recordings on long-play VHS tapes using strange numerical codes straight into my TV. Coupled with my love of sports management games, I hatched a plan to try and manage US sports teams from one US State to try and make them the most successful team in all of the 'Big 5' sports (Baseball, American Football, Ice Hockey, Basketball and Soccer). Ideally I wanted a State that only had 1 professional team in each sport, so places like California, New York, Florida and Texas were out of the running as between them they have a whopping 49 professional sports teams. There were 22 States that had MLS teams, but many of them had a team missing from one of the other 'Big 5' leagues, ruling them out. There were only three States that fit the criteria- Massachusetts, Colorado and Minnesota. Massachusetts I ruled out because they are the home of some already pretty successful teams in the New England Patriots (NFL) and Boston Celtics (NBA), which left just Minnesota and Colorado. In the end I don't want to say it came down to a coin flip, but......it came down a coin flip, which lead me to pick Minnesota. The Lazy Wikipedia Blurb Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Soccer League (NASL) franchise of the same name. The club played its home games at TCF Bank Stadium, on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, for its first two seasons in MLS play. The club began playing in Saint Paul (becoming the city's fourth professional sports team, joining the Minnesota Wild, the St. Paul Saints, and Minnesota Whitecaps), at Allianz Field in the Midway neighborhood starting in the spring of 2019. 19,400 capacity Allianz Field in Saint Paul, Minnesota Minnesota United FC's ownership is led by Bill McGuire, former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, and includes other Minnesota sports owners: the Pohlad family, owners of the Twins; former Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor; former Wild investor Glen Nelson, and his daughter Wendy Carlson Nelson of the Carlson hospitality company. Club Honours None...... They finished as Runners-Up in the US Open Cup in 2019 (The USA equivalent of the English FA Cup) but that's about it. Their highest placing in their conference is 4th twice (2019, 2020) and overall standings 7th (2019). They reached the Semi-Finals of the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2020 where they were beaten 3-2 by the Seattle Sounders after conceding an equaliser in the 89th minute and a game-winner in the 93rd minute. **Coming Up Next: The Squad**