It is very tempting to cast Saturday’s clash between Minnesota United and San Diego FC not only as a battle of the top two teams in the Western Conference standings but also as a referendum on the game of soccer itself.

Read more: Minnesota United’s MLS game at San Diego pits separate approaches

He’s been in the United States less than a week, but it feels like you can already tell that new Minnesota United attacker Dominik Fitz is a veteran.

Conducting what was purportedly his first-ever interview in English, Fitz at one point struggled to find a word, then stopped himself and said, politely, “Next question.”

Veteran move, new guy.

Read more: Minnesota United welcomes attacker Dominik Fitz to the fold

Minnesota United chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad always knew he’d have to field offers for his best players.

Just maybe not quite so soon.

“I thought maybe some of these offers would come after the World Cup,” he said. “It’s just a testament to what [manager] Eric [Ramsay] and the players are doing.”

Read more: MNUFC’s Khaled El-Ahmad is proud of club’s player development

GAME STORY: Minnesota United settles for draw with Portland after Robin Lod’s late equalizer

SIDEBAR: Minnesota United fans honor Annunciation Church shooting victims

Minnesota United has a two-week break in the calendar, but when the Loons do return, they will be coming back for perhaps the most pivotal non-playoff week of their season.

After a game Sept. 13 in San Diego — potentially with the top spot in the Western Conference on the line, depending on San Diego’s result against LAFC late Sunday night — Minnesota plays host to Austin midweek on Sept. 17 in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal.

ANALYSIS: Minnesota United gets a break before crucial two-game set

Minnesota United isn’t technically qualified yet for the MLS Cup playoffs. But after a 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake, they are realistically not only in the playoff field, but also in the driver’s seat to have home-field advantage for a round or two.

Robin Lod and Joaquín Pereyra scored on either side of halftime for Minnesota, adding to an early Real Salt Lake own goal, and Minnesota cruised to a comfortable victory in Utah.

Read more: Loons cruise to 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake

If the summer transfer window were a soccer match, Minnesota United would be a team that only seemed to come alive when the clock hit second-half stoppage time.

Khaled El-Ahmad, the Loons’ chief soccer officer, saved his summer business for the final day of the transfer window, finalizing one signing and zeroing in on several others as the Thursday night deadline approached.

Read more: Minnesota United signs Dominik Fitz, high scorer in the Austrian Bundesliga

EARLIER: MNUFC looking to add players before end of transfer window

Minnesota United’s new “Heritage” jerseys are an obvious homage to the Minnesota Kicks, the 1976-1981 franchise that set the original North American Soccer League (NASL), or at least the Met Stadium parking lots, on fire. Orange and blue, with a throwback logo and wordmark. Everything about the jerseys is 1979.

The team’s “Heritage Celebration” on Saturday night when the Loons take on the Seattle Sounders is about more than just the Kicks, though. Kicks greats like Tony Peszneker and the two Alans, Willey and Merrick, will be in attendance, but so will players and coaches and staff from the succeeding era of Minnesota soccer, the one that runs right up until the present day: the Thunder, who became the Stars, who became the Loons.

Read more: MNUFC celebrates its heritage Saturday against the Sounders

LOONS 1, SEATTLE 0 - GAME STORY: Minnesota United picks up improbable victory over Seattle Sounders

It was widely accepted that Querétaro was not one of Liga MX’s top teams, entering the Leagues Cup. It was still striking, though, how comfortable Minnesota United’s 4-1 win ended up being.

Los Gallos Blancos offered very little in the way of resistance in the first half, and Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Kelvin Yeboah gave the Loons a comfortable lead within the first 20 minutes.

Read more: Minnesota United pick up comfortable Leagues Cup victory over Querétaro

Someday, there may come a time when any coverage of the Leagues Cup, which Minnesota United begins on Wednesday night, doesn’t need to begin with an explanation of the tournament.

Given that this year’s edition is the fourth different format in six editions, though, we may not have yet reached that point.

Read more: MNUFC begins Leagues Cup on Wednesday; will play three Liga MX teams

Minnesota United enters the summer transfer window, which opened Thursday, still in the running for four trophies this season.

The Supporters’ Shield, given to the leaguewide regular-season winner, might be the tallest order, given that Minnesota sits in eighth place. But a defensively oriented team will always have a chance come tournament time, meaning the Loons — who are in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup, start play in the Leagues Cup next week and are all but certain to make the MLS Cup playoffs at the end of the year — might be better positioned than most teams for trophy potential.

Read more: Minnesota United’s Eric Ramsay asks for more as MLS transfer window opens

With forward Sang Bin Jeong’s trade to St. Louis City all but official last week, Minnesota United players said goodbye to their South Korean teammate before a training session Friday.

The Loons presented him with flowers, a pair of jerseys — one handed over by Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Jeong’s best buddy in Minnesota — and a whole lineup of team hugs.

Read more: Minnesota United’s trade of forward Sang Bin Jeong to St. Louis City becomes official

It’s not possible to say Minnesota United goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair is underrated, given that he was voted into next week’s All-Star Game by the fans. And it’s certainly not true, as a fan favorite, that St. Clair is underappreciated.

Maybe a better way of saying it is that, after so many matches in goal, St. Clair has been around for so long that it’s hard for everyone not to take him for granted. Another one-on-one save, another diving stop of a long-range blast: Fans have seen it all before from St. Clair.

Read more: When Minnesota United FC wins, Dayne St. Clair is likely behind it

GAME STORY: Loons miss another opportunity, allow stoppage-time goal in 1-1 tie at Portland

After his team gave up a stoppage-time equalizer to the Portland Timbers, Minnesota United manager Eric Ramsay sounded like every Loons fan who had stayed up late to watch the game Saturday night.

“We have to be really annoyed at ourselves because over the course of the last two games, we’ve probably shown pretty much where we are, and why we are in the table, in the position that we find ourselves currently,” he said via video conference after the game at Providence Park in Portland, Ore. “We are a team that is very, very close to being one of the best, one of the most competitive on a really consistent basis, but we just can’t get over the line.”

Read more: Analysis: Loons continue to struggle applying finishing touches in close games

GAME STORY: Minnesota United loses 1-0 to LAFC

It was a pretty familiar look: back five, forwards mostly sitting back and not pressing, letting the other team have the ball and pass it ineffectively back and forth between the defenders, 60 yards from the goal.

Except this time, it was the visitors blunting Minnesota’s offense, rather than the other way around. The approach served Los Angeles FC well in its 1-0 victory Wednesday over the Loons at Allianz Field.

“It’s kind of funny getting a taste of your own medicine a little bit,” striker Tani Oluwaseyi said.

Read more: Analysis: Minnesota United sees mirror image in loss to Los Angeles FC