When Bongokuhle Hlongwane first arrived at Minnesota United, most of us just wondered how to pronounce the South African attacker’s name.

Nearly three seasons later, Minnesota fans have grown accustomed to the pronunciation; for the record, the team’s media guide lists it as “Bong-go-HOOK-leh Hluh-ONG-wah-neh, but most just call him “Bongi”. As the Loons enter Wednesday’s game at Real Salt Lake, though, there are now other topics to consider.

Read more: Bongokuhle Hlongwane has been a goal-scoring machine for Minnesota United

I’ve posted the MLS conference-only standings before, and there’s a simple reason: the MLS schedule is silly.

What you have in MLS is two leagues, Western and Eastern, each playing a full round-robin (with a bit more added out West, to make the schedule work) - plus a number of exhibition games against the other league / division.

It’s quite obvious that mixing all of these games together, when it comes to playoff seeding and qualification, is nonsense. It’s highly dependent on which teams from the other conference land on your schedule.

There are still a couple of games to go in the season, but let’s look at the playoff picture, if we remove cross-conference games.

WESTERN

Out west, the playoff teams don’t change, and - par for the course for the West this year - there’s a pretty jumbled mess of teams behind the Galaxy. That said, this does show how strong Vancouver and Houston have been against the West this year, and how much Seattle has struggled.

The Sounders managed to get five of the worst eight teams in the East on their schedule this year, including three of the bottom four - and their one game against a decent Eastern team was the game against Columbus, when the Crew had to play a defender in goal for more than half the match. And so Seattle rolled up five out-of-conference wins and might host a first-round playoff series.

Minnesota, on the flip side, had one of the hardest cross-conference slates. They had to play two of the East’s top three, plus road games against three other playoff teams in the East - as well as a road game against Atlanta, which might still make the playoffs. They managed three wins in those four road games, an impressive haul - but they also blew a stoppage-time lead against D.C. at home, and turned three points into zero, which means this is partly their own fault.

EASTERN

At the top, Miami and Columbus are still looking good, but FC Cincinnati less so - they’d be back in the pack without their wins against the West, including against San Jose and St. Louis (and, as a credit to them, also Colorado and Minnesota).

At the playoff line, Atlanta and Nashville can feel a bit hard done by. Atlanta only got one non-playoff team from the West on their schedule this year, and had to play both Los Angeles teams and Real Salt Lake; the Five Stripes got only two points in those six games, and are currently outside the playoff picture.

Nashville also had to play both L.A. teams… but got just one point from games against Austin and San Jose, and so can blame only themselves.

Toronto, meanwhile, avoided the top three from the west, and got to play three of the bottom five, beating Dallas and Austin to jump up the standings (though they also shot themselves in the foot by losing at home to Sporting KC).

Overall, Inter Miami and the LA Galaxy won’t split the Supporters’ Shield. But what I’m telling you is this: maybe they should! It’d make more sense!

Every pro soccer player has to overcome adversity along the way, but 17-year-old Darius Randell — born in Liberia and immigrated to Minnesota — had to overcome one of the most difficult obstacles of all.

His mom.

Analysis: Darius Randell, 17, is a reason for Minnesota United FC to hope

Minnesota United has tried all season to get younger. The team’s summer shopping spree brought in six players, none of them old enough to remember when the years on the calendar started with the numbers 1 and 9.

Michael Boxall, though, is always going to be an exception. Tuesday, MNUFC announced that they’d signed their captain to a contract extension through 2025, with a team option for 2026 — immediately following what might have been Boxall’s best game of the season, last Saturday against Sporting Kansas City.

Analysis: Minnesota United had its reasons for signing Michael Boxall to extension

Minnesota United striker Kelvin Yeboah has brought a lot to the team in the five games since his arrival. Goals, absolutely; the Italian already has scored five. Energy, definitely; Yeboah has started every game, played 90 minutes in four of them, and manager Eric Ramsay has lauded him even more for his defensive effort than for his scoring.

But there’s something else that Yeboah brings, and will have a chance to display again on Saturday, when the Loons host the Colorado Rapids. In hockey, we’d probably call it “sandpaper.” In baseball, maybe just the term “grit” would suffice.

For Minnesotans? Well, we’d probably just call it “interesting.”

Analysis: Kelvin Yeboah brings goals and needed edge to MNUFC

Game Coverage

Minnesota 2, St. Louis City 1: Pioneer Press

Loons go on the road and spoil another St. Louis City home game with win

FC Cincinnati 2, Minnesota 1: Star Tribune

Minnesota United falls into early hole in 2-1 loss to FC Cincinnati

Analysis: Minnesota United’s struggles at home continue

Minnesota 2, Sporting Kansas City 1: Pioneer Press

Loons capture first away win at Sporting Kansas City in eight years

Minnesota United might have played nearly eight full seasons in MLS, but when it comes to youth development, the Loons are still figuring things out.

Eight years ago, they started their academy with 13- and 14-year-olds, with the idea of having the academy grow along with the team. The pandemic’s onset and other factors caused a rethink, one that eventually resulted in the club shutting down the program entirely before restarting it.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Other recent links

Pioneer Press game story: Loons 3, St. Louis City 1

Star Tribune: St. Louis pregame coverage, as MNUFC begins stretch of six games in 22 days

Star Tribune: How will the Loons use new Designated Player Joaquín Pereyra?

Game Story: Minnesota 2, San Jose 1

Analysis

Minnesota United began the year with one striker, Teemu Pukki, who was one of the team’s high-paid designated players. The Loons have since added another DP forward, Kelvin Yeboah, plus one of Major League Soccer’s breakout young players up front, Tani Oluwaseyi.

Saturday night, the Loons were reminded: When it comes to the options up front, don’t forget about Bongokuhle Hlongwane.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Striker is soccer’s glamour position. It’s the forwards who score the goals and sell the jerseys, and it takes something pretty special for players at any other position to break through to that level of fan popularity.

Minnesota United played two strikers last week against Seattle, with a three-man midfield behind them. As the Loons travel to San Jose on Saturday to take on the last-place Earthquakes, it’s easy to focus on the glamour up front. It’s just not where the Loons themselves are necessarily focused.

Read the rest at startribune.com…

Other links, all by me, for the Minnesota Star Tribune

For Minnesota United, it’s like a whole new season - that lasts nine games

Six new Loons to know, as Minnesota kicks off their final stretch of the season

Seattle 3, Minnesota 2: Game story

Analysis: Sang Bin Jeong is back at right back, thanks to his versatility

Set pieces still baffle Minnesota United. Here’s what they’re doing to work on them.

Minnesota Aurora launch new community ownership drive, looking for 7,000 new owners

Minnesota United FC has had a bit of a break for the past couple of weeks, so I’ve had a bit of a break as well.

With transfer news, Olympic soccer, and Minnesota Aurora news, though, I have written a few things… so here are those links.

Transfer news

Loons sign Matus Kmet
Caden Clark traded to Montréal
Three players loaned out to make roster space

Summarizing MNUFC’s transfer window

Minnesota United made a big bet in the offseason, hiring Khaled El-Ahmad to be the team’s new chief soccer officer and sporting director — by any measure, a hire from outside the usual MLS pipeline.

After his first summer transfer window in charge, one thing is clear: El-Ahmad is doubling down, and betting big on himself.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Minnesota Aurora drops out of running for NWSL franchise

Minnesota Aurora FC has been plenty successful, both on and off the field, in its short history. Unfortunately, when it comes to making a step up from the “pre-professional” USL W League to the NWSL, the country’s top women’s professional league, that success takes a back seat to what really makes the soccer world go round: money.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

The USA men’s Olympic soccer team lost in the quarterfinals. Does it mean anything?

Given the way that men’s soccer at the Olympics works, it’s pretty easy to make the case that the United States’ exit in the quarterfinals doesn’t mean much. That said, it doesn’t mean nothing, either.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Game Story: Minnesota 1, Necaxa 0

Analysis

North American soccer fans have gone a lifetime without seeing a goalkeeping performance like Dayne St. Clair’s. St. Clair set a Minnesota United and Leagues Cup record Tuesday against Necaxa, making 16 saves in a shutout.

Technically, he didn’t tie the MLS record for saves in a game because it wasn’t a league game, but at least he won. Maxime Crepeau set the MLS record in a game his Vancouver Whitecaps lost, not in a clean sheet like St. Clair’s game.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Tuesday night, Minnesota United plays against Necaxa from Liga MX. It’s a rare chance for the Loons to play against an opponent that fans don’t know much about — and it comes at a time when Minnesota is remaking its squad.

The Loons have now officially made two signings in the summer transfer window. Monday, they added center back Jefferson Diaz after officially signing forward Kelvin Yeboah over the weekend.

They are also close to completing a deal for Slovakian right back Matúš Kmeť, according to a source.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…

Game Story: Seattle 2, Minnesota 0

Analysis

Minnesota’s 10th loss in 10 games in Seattle might not have had many silver linings, but at least more help is on the way.

On Saturday, the Loons made their expected signing of forward Kelvin Yeboah official, adding a third designated player to the roster. Yeboah, who was on the books at Genoa in Italy but most recently played for Standard Liège in Belgium, is signed through 2027 with a team option in 2028.

Read the rest at StarTribune.com…