Star Tribune: The Loons now have two South Koreans
Feb 8, 2025
Even after just a few days, it’s tempting to think of Minnesota United’s Korean duo as some kind of unit.
After all, Sang Bin Jeong and Hoyeon Jung are not only just the sixth and seventh South Koreans to play in Major League Soccer, but they are also the first two to play on the same team at the same time. They even have the same surname, though they spell it differently in English.
The similarities might end there.
Star Tribune: Khaled El-Ahmad says Hassani Dotson doesn't want out
Feb 5, 2025
Hassani Dotson asked to be traded, but according to Loons chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be in Minnesota.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s Hassani who says he doesn’t want to be there,” El-Ahmad said on Tuesday, his first media availability following the publicized trade request from Dotson’s camp.
Star Tribune: Hassani Dotson requests a trade - and it's hard on everyone
Jan 27, 2025
Minnesota United was already short of players in its central midfield, and now the Loons must handle the potential loss of another.
The club picked up a contract option for Hassani Dotson at the beginning of the offseason, meaning the 27-year-old midfielder is entering the final season of his deal — a situation that Dotson is clearly unhappy with.
Star Tribune: Why Teemu Pukki is leaving MNUFC
Jan 24, 2025
For Teemu Pukki, this is not how things were supposed to work out.
When Pukki signed with Minnesota United in the summer of 2023, he was supposed to be the final piece in the Loons attack. For a player who had already scored more than 200 times in a near-two-decade-long career, including nearly two dozen goals in the Premier League, MLS was going to be just another stop in a storied career.
Star Tribune: MNUFC negotiating with midfielders Owen Gene, Jeong Ho-yeon on transfer market
Jan 23, 2025
Minnesota United has started the 2025 season carrying over a lot of the depth that it had to end 2024 — except, perhaps, down the center of the field.
“On account of some of the exits we’ve had, we look a little bit light in the middle,” coach Eric Ramsay said.
Star Tribune: MNUFC close to acquiring center back Nicolás Romero
Jan 20, 2025
Minnesota United chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad said at the beginning of the offseason that the team would focus on bringing in younger players, and the Loons may be about to acquire their first.
Star Tribune: MNUFC Training Camp, Week One
Jan 17, 2025
When Minnesota United trains in mid-January, the Loons do so in an inflated dome at the National Sports Center in Blaine. It’s warmer than the outside air — but not exactly warm, especially when the temperature was below zero this week.
Six below zero is a shock to everyone, but for those experiencing their first Minnesota winter, the pain was acute.
“I am trying to get used to it but just simply can’t,” said Argentina native Joaquín Pereyra, via translation from club translator Marleine Calderon. “I try to go out, but I’d rather stay home. [At training] once we start moving, our bodies get warm, but when I wake up in the mornings, it’s so hard to get up.”
Star Tribune: Setting up the beginning of MNUFC preseason
Jan 10, 2025
Ah, early January, when the thoughts of Minnesota sports fans naturally turn to … soccer?
Don’t laugh. As hard as it might be to believe, Minnesota United is about to get its 2025 campaign underway.
Star Tribune: 2025 MNUFC Schedule Released
Dec 20, 2024
Lionel Messi is coming to Minnesota.
Though Minnesota United released its entire 2025 schedule on Thursday afternoon, there’s no use in pretending one game doesn’t stand out: May 10, against Inter Miami, 3:30 p.m. at Allianz Field.
“We’re really excited, just for our fans to potentially have the opportunity to see the greatest player of all time play at Allianz Field,” Loons CEO Shari Ballard said.
Star Tribune: MNUFC's offseason
Dec 11, 2024
Nov. 27: Minnesota United’s offseason may have begun abruptly, after they were knocked out of the playoffs last Sunday, but their time off will be busy.
The expansion draft for San Diego FC, MLS’s 30th team, is Dec. 11. Free agency begins Dec. 12. But the first step in the offseason was Wednesday, the day that Minnesota had to decide on 2025 contract options for a dozen players.
Perhaps not surprisingly for a squad that ended the year as one of the hottest teams in MLS, the Loons are picking up all but a handful of those options.
Dec. 11: Minnesota United FC returned to the playoffs in 2024, but the gap between the Loons and the top of the Western Conference was evident.
If you count their penalty-shootout playoff wins against Real Salt Lake as regulation draws, the Loons won only one game of 14 against the five teams that finished above them in the standings this year.
Chief soccer officer Khaled El-Ahmad has to figure out how to catch the class of the West — LA Galaxy, LAFC and the Seattle Sounders. But El-Ahmad says he knows what the team needs to close that gap: more of the same.