Minnesota United FC’s first game of the season is eighteen days away, and we’re still not too sure who will even be on the team. Will Emanuel Reynoso ever show up? Will Pachuca center back Miguel Tapias join Minnesota now, or in the summer? (Morning update: Miguel Tapias is here!) Who are Adrian Heath’s “one to two more signings” on the attacking end of the field?

I assumed we’d be able to see the Loons play at the Coachella Valley Invitational, which starts this weekend, but as it turns out, we can’t. Even then, though, it’s preseason, so who knows what will happen; Minnesota might play three different lineups, each for a half-hour, and we’ll be reduced to trying to piece them together from a ten-photo slideshow posted on Instagram. A reminder of the schedule:

• Saturday, February 11, 3pm CT against New York RB
• Wednesday, February 15, 2pm CT against San Jose Earthquakes
• Saturday, February 18, noon CT against Vancouver Whitecaps

The venerable Matt Doyle of MLSSoccer.com posted his swing at the MNUFC depth chart (along with every other team in the Western Conference). With this in mind, here is another guess at what the MNUFC depth chart looks like right now - including only players who have arrived in training camp and are not injured, so no Tapias and no Reynoso, and no Bakaye Dibassy or Mikael Marques. I have tried to make sure that every player on the roster is listed at least once, though some may be listed multiple times.

Also, I need to caveat this by saying that I am not at training, so this is based purely on quotes from media availabilities and my own sense of where guys fit into the lineup and my sense of what Adrian Heath is likely to do. 100% speculation and 0% information! But that’s what preseason is for, isn’t it?

GK: Dayne St. Clair, Clint Irwin, Eric Dick, Fred Emmings

LB: Kemar Lawrence, Ryen Jiba, Devin Padelford

LCB: Miguel Tapias, Brent Kallman, Kervin Arriaga

RCB: Michael Boxall, Doneil Henry, Zarek Valentin

RB: DJ Taylor, Zarek Valentin, Alan Benítez, Hassani Dotson

DM: Wil Trapp, Kervin Arriaga, Hassani Dotson

CM: Robin Lod, Kervin Arriaga, Joseph Rosales, Hassani Dotson

AM: Robin Lod, Cameron Dunbar

LW: Franco Fragapane, Mender García, Cameron Dunbar, Patrick Weah

RW: Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Robin Lod, Cameron Dunbar, Patrick Weah

ST: Luis Amarilla, Mender García, Robin Lod, Tani Oluwaseyi

Some caveats here. First, I feel like it’s important to note that Hassani Dotson is still returning from injury, which is why I’ve put him on the bottom of the depth chart at several positions; he’s yet to start playing full contact in scrimmages, so he may not be ready to go for the beginning of the season.

Second, I realize that Robin Lod cannot start in both central midfield and at the number 10 role, but for now, I think he might be first-choice in either position. Assuming he is not injured, he will play somewhere on Opening Day, and I would not be entirely surprised to see him in any of the five most attacking roles in the lineup.

Third, I listed Cameron Dunbar all over the place, only because he played a bunch of different places for LA Galaxy II last season, and so there’s no telling where he’ll end up. I also put Patrick Weah as a backup wing rather than at striker, only because I think he’d be the fifth-choice striker right now. Similarly, with Tani Oluwaseyi, he may be able to play across the front line, but since MNUFC2 deployed him at striker last year, that’s where I put him.

My main takeaway from this exercise was to note how much the team’s defensive depth has improved, assuming Tapias arrives soon and Marques is as exciting as suggested. The Loons played most of last year with three recognized MLS-quality center backs on the roster; this year, if Bakaye Dibassy returns before the end of the season, they could have six (plus fill-ins like Valentin and Arriaga). Minnesota’s fullback depth was tested immediately last year; this year they enter the season with three right backs and two left backs, plus a prospect in Padelford, before you even reach the necessity of having Dotson play fullback.

Up front is a different story. This is the same attack that finished last year with four goals in their final seven games, two of which were scored by Kallman and now-departed midfielder Jonathan González - one that’s now missing Reynoso, its best creator. Perhaps a healthy Hlongwane will be the key, or perhaps the new attacking signings - whoever they may be - can make the difference, but right now, looking at this rundown, you have to worry: where are goals going to come from?

It wouldn’t take too much to prove that Emanuel Reynoso is Minnesota United’s best player, which makes him maybe the team’s most important player. Which is why there’s been one question that’s animated the whole preseason for MNUFC, which continues to dominate the headlines: where’s Rey?

This stopped being merely a distraction for the team about two weeks ago. As impossible as it sounds, the Loons have been in training for nearly a month now. They’ve been in Florida for two weeks, getting their preseason fitness ready. They’ve got ten days to go until their first broadcasted preseason match. They’ve got 24 days until they open the MLS season in Dallas. And they still have no idea when Reynoso will arrive.

One of the following things has to be true:

One, the reason that Reynoso is not in Florida right now is that he cannot leave Argentina due to his legal troubles.

Two, the reason that he hasn’t arrived is that he has other personal issues or family issues, and the club is standing by him as he works through difficulty of some kind at home.

Three, for some reason - he wants a transfer? He wants (another) new contract? He hates preseason training? - he simply has not yet seen fit to get on a plane and get himself to the United States.

Here’s what manager Adrian Heath had to say at a press conference on Monday:

We’re probably a bit more hopeful in the next few days. I spoke to Rey today and it feels as though hopefully we can sort this out and get him back here. He’s got one or two issues he needs to sort out at home…. At the end of the day, we just want to get Rey here, we want him to get himself here and start getting some work into him. We’ve still got another just about a month, so we can get some work into him.

This doesn’t sound like he’s currently in a situation where he cannot leave Argentina. The club’s original statement, more than two weeks ago, was as follows:

Emanuel Reynoso is currently home in Argentina. At this time, we understand that he is dealing with personal matters. We will provide an update when we have more to share.

Again, to me, that rules out option one - but the other two are still bad, and one is worse than the other.

Either way, Reynoso is now almost a month behind with preseason preparations. The Loons are lucky in the sense that Reynoso has worked with almost all the offensive players that are currently in camp, so it’s not an experience problem - it’s a fitness problem. Minnesota can ill afford to start the season with its best player at half speed.

The more worrisome possibility, however, is that Rey hasn’t arrived yet for any number of other possible reasons, and without speculating any further on what those reasons could possibly be, I think those would make things even harder for the Loons. If the team’s best player doesn’t want to be here, that’s bad news on both the player’s side and on the team’s side.

Whatever the reasons, for now, the likely plan would be for Robin Lod, the Loons’ utility player, to fill in for Reynoso in that role.

“It doesn’t matter where we play him [Lod], we nearly have man of the match performances out of him regardless of where we play him,” said Heath. “I thought he was one of the best players on the field the other day against Philly, and he was in sort of central midfield… We’re fortunate that we have a player that has numerous positions that he can play very, very well in. I don’t want to tie him down now [and pick a position for him], because that would be foolish, because he has so much more to offer than that.”

Minnesota may not have a like-for-like replacement for Reynoso - who would? - but, in Lod, they do have a player that’s slotted in literally everywhere in the Loons’ attack over the past few years. And right now, that might be the only solution they’ve got.

It’s kind of hard to believe, but Minnesota United’s preseason training begins in just three days. The Loons will be at the National Sports Center in Blaine on Friday, assuming that they all can fight through the snowdrifts to get there. They’re doing a week in Minnesota, two in Florida, another week here, and then heading to California for what’s been dubbed the Coachella Valley Invitational, where they’re currently scheduled to play three games:

• Saturday, February 11, 3pm CT against New York RB
• Wednesday, February 15, 2pm CT against San Jose Earthquakes
• Saturday, February 18, noon CT against Vancouver Whitecaps

With this in mind, here’s a look at what the Loons have done this offseason, just to refresh your memory.

STILL HERE

In contract news, the team picked up the options for d-mid Wil Trapp, fullback DJ Taylor, and young striker prospect Tani Oluwaseyi. They also re-signed midfieler Joseph Rosales and depth goalkeeper Eric Dick.

INCOMING

The Loons traded $75,000 in cap space to the LA Galaxy for 20-year-old forward Cameron Dunbar, who has played mostly in the USL Championship. (They also traded a third-round pick, which went unused.)

In new signings, the Loons inked a pair of veterans, signing backup goalkeeper Clint Irwin (133 MLS starts) and backup fullback Zarek Valentin (170 MLS starts). They also claimed center back Doneil Henry off waivers from Toronto, giving them another backup defender with MLS experience.

In the MLS SuperDraft, Minnesota selected fullback Ryen Jiba, who played last season for third-division Union Omaha, and winger Emmanuel Iwe, who played last year for MNUFC2.

OUTGOING

Meanwhile, they declined options for Abu Danladi, Jacori Hayes, Niko Hansen, Oniel Fisher, Nabi Kibunguchy, Justin McMaster, Tyler Miller, Romain Métanire, and Callum Montgomery.

Also, the loan deal for midfielder Jonathan González ended, but the club is still hopeful of bringing him back for another season.

CONTROVERSY

This offseason’s controversy looks a lot like last season’s. Intrepid Pioneer Press reporter Andy Greder reported that Emanuel Reynoso may go on trial after all for an alleged assault last winter. We should know more in the coming days, but for now, Reynoso’s status is again in limbo, heading into the preseason.

ROSTER (28)

Goalkeeper: Dayne St. Clair, Clint Irwin, Eric Dick, Fred Emmings (Homegrown)

Defender: Michael Boxall, Bakaye Dibassy (will begin season on IR), DJ Taylor, Brent Kallman, Kemar Lawrence, Doneil Henry, Zarek Valentin, Ryen Jiba* (*not signed yet), Alan Benítez, Devin Padelford (HG)

Defensive Midfield: Hassani Dotson, Kervin Arriaga, Wil Trapp, Joseph Rosales

Attacking Midfield: Emanuel Reynoso, Robin Lod

Forward: Franco Fragapane, Luis Amarilla, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Ménder García, Tani Oluwaseyi, Patrick Weah (HG), Cameron Dunbar (HG), Emmanuel Iwe* (*not signed yet)

The 2023 MLS SuperDraft is tonight, and if you want to know why it’s in 2022, the answer is: shut your face! MLS doesn’t want to hear it! (The real reason is that they already had the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, last January, and they can’t very well have two, so this year’s is the “2023 MLS SuperDraft” even if it’s being held in December 2022.)

If you’re not familiar with how things usually shake out in the MLS draft, here is a brief summary of the types of players that are drafted each year:

Round 1 (picks 1-10): You will probably end up hearing about this guy, even if he’s not on your team.

Round 1 (picks 11-29): This guy will almost certainly sign a contract for your team, and may even play games for it someday.

Round 2: This guy will sign with your team’s lower-league affiliate, probably in MLS NEXT Pro, and you may hear about him once or twice.

Round 3: This guy may or may not exist in corporeal form.

Round 4: (no longer exists)

(Hilariously, there is still one fourth-round pick this year, because Colorado traded it to Portland three years ago, back when fourth-round picks still existed. I hope Portland passes.)

MNUFC has two picks this year, number 19 and number 48. They traded their third-rounder to the LA Galaxy for Cameron Dunbar, earlier this off-season,I think mostly because MNUFC wanted to hop off the draft call early.

It’s not like the Galaxy are going to use pick 77. Los Angeles hasn’t made a pick past the second round in years, given that they exist in the biggest soccer hotbed in America. In 2019 they passed three times in the third round.

Minnesota United’s draft history can be broken down into two buckets. First, there was the 2019 draft, which goes down as one of the single best draft classes any team has ever pulled off in a year.

That year, the Loons drafted goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair with the seventh pick, fullback Chase Gasper with the 15th, and plucked Hassani Dotson out of Oregon State with the 31st pick in the second round. Just the fact that all three became week-in, week-out starters for the Loons is a major win.

Scroll down to the “contributions by drafted players” portion of this American Soccer Analysis post, and you’ll see that in terms of minutes from the last five drafts, the Loons are second in the league - almost entirely thanks to those three players.

As for the rest, well, here’s a ranking of the Loons’ other draft picks.

1 - Mason Toye (#7 overall, 2018). Six goals in 2019, seemingly a breakout year, got him traded to Montreal the following season; he’s got nine goals there so far, in three seasons, and he’s still just 24 years old.

2 - Abu Danladi (#1 overall, 2017). Scored eight goals his rookie season; has scored eight goals in five seasons combined since then. Returned to Minnesota last year after two years in Nashville, but had a disappointing season, and is looking for work. Only drops down to number two because he was the first overall pick, but produced comparatively little.

3 - Wyatt Omsberg (#15 overall, 2018). Omsberg started four games for the Loons in 2018, and one in 2019, at center back. He also came on as a late defensive sub three times in 2018. The Loons let him go after 2019, to the Chicago Fire, where he’s started 23 times over the past three seasons. Given the Loons’ struggles for center back depth, they probably wish they could have him back now, except that they wouldn’t have had anywhere to play him until they finally got a second team last season.

4 - Nabi Kibunguchy (#18 overall, 2021). Made five appearances for the Loons last season, and 16 starts for Minnesota United 2, as both a center back and a defensive midfielder. Loons declined his option after the season.

5 - Justin McMaster (#17 overall, 2021). Seven MLS appearances in 2021, on the wing, totaling 127 minutes; made 17 starts for Minnesota United 2 last season. MNUFC also declined his option after the season.

6 - Carter Manley (#23 overall, 2018). Two starts and five total appearances in 2018 and 2019, as a defender.

7 - Tani Oluwaseyi (#17 overall, 2022). Missed much of the season with injury last year, but did make ten appearances and five starts for Minnesota United 2, scoring twice. Jury is very much still out on him, but probably needs a run of starts to demonstrate what he can do as a forward.

8 - Noah Billingsley (#18 overall, 2020). One appearance, for six minutes, in 2020.

9 (tie) - Nine guys who you have never heard of unless you spend too much time staring at the Loons draft history, like me. None of them ever played for the Loons, including 2017 first-round goalkeeper Alec Ferrell.

Ultimately, Loons have had eleven first-round draft picks in six years. Only four - Danladi, Toye, St. Clair, and Gasper - have made lasting contributions for the Loons; Omsberg has also proved useful, albeit for Chicago. The other six - all pick #17 or lower - have yet to make a dent in MLS.

They’ve also made nine picks in the second round or lower; Dotson is the only one to even play a game for the first or second team, or - if I’m remembering correctly - even sign a contract.

Getting future contributors with picks #19 and #48 can be done, it’s not impossible - but it’s also not that likely. Anything outside the top 10-15 players is like the sixth round in football or hockey or baseball (or, for that matter, the second round in the NBA) - a lot of hope, but not much expectation.

MLS announced its 2023 schedule today. The season begins February 25 and ends October 20, with a break between July 15 and August 20 for the mid-season Leagues Cup with Liga MX (schedule yet to be announced). Here’s some takeaways, from a Minnesota United perspective:

• The season opener is February 25, at Dallas; the home opener is March 11, against the New York Red Bulls, in a night game (which should be silly and frozen).
• They have three “national TV” games - home against Seattle on FOX (8/27), plus home against Dallas (4/30) and away against LAFC (10/4) on FS1.
• Nashville is back in the Eastern Conference, and Chicago stayed in the East, so at least the map makes sense. With 15 teams in the East and 14 in the West, MLS basically has two leagues with occasional crossover games; the Loons will play seven games against the Eastern Conference this year, but 27 against the Western Conference.
• The Loons’ extra conference game is at Sporting Kansas City, which is horrible for them because they lose 4-0 every time they play in Kansas (playoffs excepted).
• The Loons don’t play March 4, the odd team out in the 29-team league.
• Minnesota will play during the March FIFA international window (home against Vancouver, March 25) and the June window (at Montreal, June 10), but the entire league will break for the windows in September and October. All four of Minnesota’s July games, which take place between July 1 and July 15, will fall into the span of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
• The crossover games are against NYRB, Orlando City, at Chicago, Toronto, at Montreal, New England, and at New York City FC. Apart from Orlando City, there’s a certain NHL flavor to that crossover schedule.
• The Loons did not win the “home game against Inter Miami after the summer transfer window” lottery, with those spots going to LAFC and St. Louis City.

According to a report from FOX Sports México, CONCACAF - especially the United States, México, and Canada - is headed back to the Copa América. The tournament, which would be hosted in the USA just like 2016, is scheduled just 18 months from now, in the summer of 2024. It’s a great thing for the North American teams in CONCACAF, but it also makes a lot of sense for the South American powers in CONMEBOL - both in two years time, and in the future.

From a United States perspective, obviously this is welcome news. As the USMNT aims to be even more competitive at the 2026 World Cup, it’s very clear that the team needs more high-level, high-pressure games - and that means more than just playing five or six more finals against México or Costa Rica or Canada. With the advent of the Nations League, CONCACAF competitions are starting to feel a bit dime-a-dozen; next summer, just like in 2021, there will be both a Nations League final and a Gold Cup. There’s only so much that can be learned from a few more games against El Salvador and Grenada, just to pick on two.

The USA, Canada, and México don’t even have to go through the crucible of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying next time around. All three have automatic bids since they’re hosting the tournament, and with the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams, it might be a moot point anyway; henceforth the top six squads from CONCACAF will qualify for the tournament. It seems hard to imagine any of the top three or four in CONCACAF ever missing out on one of those slots.

There’s also a certain amount of motivated reasoning, from the perspective of United States-based fan like me; obviously, it’s hugely exciting for the United States to not only host the World Cup in 2026, but also what is likely the third-biggest men’s tournament in international soccer, in 2024.

From the perspective of the South American confederation, though, I’m not sure this is a bad thing either. Certainly, it feels different than 2016, when CONMEBOL took great pains to insist that the “Copa América Centenario” was merely a “commemorative” tournament, and not a real Copa América. That year felt a bit like an exhibition tournament - Argentina and Brazil being trotted across the United States like a traveling vaudeville show.

This would be an actual edition of the Copa América, not a special commemorative version, and it comes as CONMEBOL seems to be realizing that - as is happening to everyone, everywhere in the soccer world - its lunch is being eaten by the rapacious Europeans.

There once was a time when South America could legitimately view itself as the counterweight to Europe, in the soccer world. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Copa Libertadores winner from South America played the European Cup winner, in a match that often degenerated into an all-out brawl. From the very beginning, the winners could legitimately claim to be the world champions; Real Madrid, which beat Peñarol in 1960, certainly claimed that title, and victories by Pelé’s Santos teams in 1962 and 1963 were seen as confirmation that Santos was the world’s best team.

Though the Intercontinental Cup lived on until 2004 (for the final quarter-century, as a one-off game played in Japan), and is recognized as the predecessor to today’s FIFA-sponsored Club World Cup (itself of questionable validity), it’s pretty hard to argue that South America is still on Europe’s level.

Oh, Brazil and Argentina are still plenty successful at the World Cup, but other than that, the game has gone entirely European. The five biggest leagues in Europe dwarf the rest of the Earth. The Champions League is the de facto world championship of club football. It’s been two decades since a South American team won the World Cup; three of the past four World Cup finals have been all-UEFA affairs. In 2018, all four semi-finalists at the World Cup were from Europe.

22 of the 26 Argentina players at this year’s World Cup play in those Big Five leagues, with two more in Portugal. So do 22 of the 26 players in the Brazil team. The two powerhouses can boast just four players who play their club soccer in South America - a testament to where the money lies in the soccer world. Go down any roster in the tournament, and you’ll find the same thing; the more hugely talented the team, the more of its players will be in England and Spain and Germany and Italy and France.

What’s a continent to do, other than sit back and watch Europe take over ever more of the soccer world?

If I’m CONMEBOL, this is when I notice that the United States and México have more people, put together, than the entirety of South America. That Canada, with a fifth of the population, has an economy larger than Brazil’s.

Perhaps they’re worried about being swamped by their northern neighbors… but they’ve already been capsized by Europe, and nobody’s breaking into that club. North America, meanwhile, is willing to band together with South America. We’re already seeing the USA and Canada and México team up to an unprecedented degree - not only with the joint bid for the World Cup, but with more and more competition at the club level between the three countries. Why not cooperate with South America too? Why not attempt, on whatever level, to serve as that missing counterweight against European soccer hegemony?

It starts with 2024, but CONMEBOL and CONCACAF should make the change to the Copa América format permanent - and then look for other ways to work together for the good of pan-American soccer.

I suppose it’s not surprising, but more and more I realize that my sports memories are old-guy memories.

For example, I always liked how the NHL named its conferences and divisions. It was fun and different, and it made me feel like part of a club to know who was in the Adams and Patrick and Smythe and Norris divisions, and which divisions were Campbell and which were Prince of Wales.

It’s been 29 years since they changed those names.

It’s been 28 years since the Minnesota Twins were in the American League West. It’s been the same amount of time since the Green Bay Packers stopped playing games at Milwaukee County Stadium, where the two sidelines were separated by a piece of tape at the 50-yard line. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t played at Maple Leaf Gardens for 22 seasons.

These things have passed on from the way things are, to the way things used to be, to distant memories of the past. They are the sounds of a modem, or dial tones on phones, or the giant book of maps that was your only navigational aid on cross-country road trips.

As the World Cup approaches, it’s become more and more clear to me that my history with the U.S. Men’s National Team is similarly ancient.

My first World Cup was 1990, in the sense that it’s the first one I remember knowing about. About all I knew was the names of a few of the players; I remember assuming that Paul Caligiuri was the team’s star, since he was the one that scored the goal to beat Trinidad and Tobago, sending the USA to the World Cup.

The games were on TNT, but I don’t remember watching any of them. I don’t remember watching any soccer games at all until 1994, when – thanks to the godless communists at Sports Illustrated and SI for Kids, the first news organizations I can remember treating soccer like a real thing – I was heatedly excited for the World Cup.

I remember watching the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in the overheated Silverdome. I remember the 2-1 win against Colombia, watching on the TV in the kitchen at my grandparents’ house, and understanding that the USA had done something impossible, while not really knowing what. I remember watching the knockout-round loss to Brazil at my other grandparents’ house, and being really unhappy, and not understanding even a little bit how little chance the USA was supposed to have against Brazil.

I suspect today’s preteens are more informed about the World Cup than I was, in 1994. They know Neymar and Mbappè but, more than that, they know about PSG; I had absolutely no concept of club soccer. It was not information that was readily available.

Again, this is an old-guy story, but I can’t really describe what little information about soccer I had, in 1994, in western Minnesota. Apart from the World Cup, the one time I can remember soccer being mentioned in SI for Kids was a profile of Tatu, who starred for the Dallas Sidekicks of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Soccer barely got a mention in Sports Illustrated. On the rare occasion it was mentioned in the newspaper, it was mostly for a columnist to kick sand in its face. It rarely appeared on SportsCenter, and never in the four-minute sports block on CNN Headline News, and never in the sports block on local news. And that was pretty much it for sports news sources.

I think there were about eight soccer balls in the whole town. We owned one, and school owned six, and there must have been one other weirdo in town that owned one.

The soccer revolution hadn’t reached small-town Minnesota in the 1990s, at least not my small town. We didn’t have camps or teams or rec leagues. We hardly ever played it in gym class. I remember when a friend moved from Maine to our small town, he knew how to pass the ball and how to stop it and how to put his foot on the top of the ball and make it dance away from people; we looked at him like he was an alien from another planet.

This is how I experienced soccer before I went to college. The 1998 World Cup was covered more, and yet almost entirely escaped me; I don’t remember watching a single game or reading a single story about it, though to be fair, I was too busy with adolescent drama to notice much that wasn’t actually taking place in my own brain.

So the 1990 World Cup was my first World Cup, and the 1994 World Cup was also my first World Cup, but the 2002 World Cup – now that was really, truly, my World Cup.

I happened to be working nights that summer, so the fact that the games from Korea and Japan were on in the middle of the night didn’t really bother me, certainly not when the USA played Mexico, in a game that – if I recall correctly – started at 1:30 a.m. I watched, in my living room, with the sound off so as not to wake my roommates, on a TV that required us to use a hockey stick to change channels.

All I remember was Brian McBride scoring early, and Landon Donovan doubling the lead in the second half, and each time, finding myself out of my spot on the couch, sprinting around the apartment, screaming silently into the sky, and what I remember from those moments was thinking about how I really could use more of that sort of thing.

It was then, 20 years ago, that my soccer fandom was finally a workable thing. By then I had the internet and the ability to purchase Fox Sports World on cable, and I was off and running.

And so now I have a whole other collection of old-guy sports memories. I realized this week that the absolute youngest people who remember the 1994 World Cup, like me, are about 35 years old now. Anybody who is old enough to remember 2002, and also is old enough to have stayed up for 1a.m. matches, is about the same age.

That next season, 2002-2003, was the first season I watched the Premier League; it was so long ago that it was called the Premiership then. It was just the 11th year of the Premier League. The lower divisions in England were still called the First, Second, and Third Divisions; I remember watching their playoff finals over Memorial Day Weekend.

Want an old-guy memory? I had to tape the FA Cup Final that year. With a VCR.

From there, my memories of the USMNT get less and less ancient. After 2002, we could do things like watch CONCACAF qualifying matches on TV. We could be supremely disappointed when the 2006 team looked completely lost. In 2010, when the U.S. beat Algeria, we could rush to YouTube and watch this video, over and over and over again.

And 2014’s memories seem like yesterday. John Brooks against Ghana. Nearly beating Portugal again, just like 2002. Belgium and Tim Howard and Wondo (oh, Wondo) and, of all people, Julian Green scoring.

Every four years becomes every eight years, sometimes, so I’m not taking this one for granted. I may be an old guy now, but I’m still excited for the next chapter, which begins next week.

MNUFC made its offseason roster decisions on Monday. Here’s a look at the updated roster as the Loons head into the 2023 offseason.

Goalkeeper: Dayne St. Clair, Fred Emmings (Homegrown), Eric Dick* (expected)

Defender: Michael Boxall, Bakaye Dibassy (will begin season on IR), DJ Taylor, Brent Kallman, Kemar Lawrence, Alan Benítez, Devin Padelford (HG)

Defensive Midfield: Hassani Dotson, Kervin Arriaga, Wil Trapp, Joseph Rosales* (expected)

Attacking Midfield: Emanuel Reynoso, Robin Lod

Forward: Franco Fragapane, Luis Amarilla, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Ménder García, Tani Oluwaseyi, Patrick Weah (HG), Cameron Dunbar (HG)

21 of 30 roster spots currently taken, 2 expected as well.

Free agency begins Wednesday. The re-entry draft is on Thursday, for players who aren’t free-agency eligible; last season, MNUFC selected Eric Dick in that draft.

Midfielder Joseph Rosales’s loan deal has ended, but he’s expected to return. Dick is out of contract as well, but is also expected to return for 2023.

The official story from MNUFC also notes that the club is in negotations with goalkeeper Tyler Miller, whose option they declined, and midfielder Jonathan González, whose loan deal is over.

The most pressing need for the Loons this offseason is center back, where they’ll begin the season without stalwart Bakaye Dibassy. Michael Boxall and Brent Kallman are the only other two recognized center backs on the roster, as the offseason begins.

I keep thinking about Gareth Bale’s match-tying goal in Saturday’s MLS Cup, and how it shows how far MLS has come in just a few years.

Bale scored in the 128th minute – the 128th minute! – to tie the match, after Philadelphia’s Jack Elliott had scored in the 124th minute to take the lead. By the time Bale’s celebration had finished, it was already clear that the match was the best match in MLS history. Given the stage, given the situation, given the wild swings.

To sum up: LAFC took the lead twice, including with ten minutes to go in the second half, but Philadelphia equalized both times. The Union got the upper hand when LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau was sent off in the second half, on the same play where he also shattered his leg, and took advantage with Elliott’s goal.

Even the penalty shootout was memorable; the Union missed all three of their attempts, including two saves from LAFC’s backup goalkeeper John McCarthy. How is that a thing?

But that Bale goal has to go down as one of the most famous goals in MLS history. It reminded me of one of the previous most famous goals in league history: Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first goal for the LA Galaxy, in 2018.

I was writing a book about MLS at the time, and Zlatan’s goal immediately became the centerpiece of the first chapter, only because it summed up so much about what MLS was like. Here you had one of the most famous players in all of world soccer, one who by any measure was into the twilight years of his career, coming to MLS with maximum bluster (there’d already been an ad in the Los Angeles Times that simply said, “Dear Los Angeles, you’re welcome. – Zlatan”).

It was a local rivalry that had acquired a great nickname – El Tráfico – despite having absolutely no history (it was only LAFC’s third regular season match, ever). It was in the soccer capital of the United States. It was a match between MLS’s old flagship franchise and a team that, even then, was clearly going to be in the vanguard of the new wave.

Old MLS vs. new MLS, with a famous European star bringing the hype; it was the entire 23-year history of MLS, all in one match.

And here was Zlatan. He hadn’t played since December. He’d arrived in the United States about three days before. He’d been on the field six minutes. But he latched onto a bouncing header in midfield and volleyed it over the keeper, stranded in no man’s land, and then John Strong was yelling. COME ON! COME ONNN!

Saturday, Strong didn’t have time for near as much yelling, so surprising was Bale’s goal. All he got out was a Martin Tyler-esque “BAAAAAAAALE!”

So why, you’re asking, is this an example of how far MLS has come?

Earlier this summer, LAFC made two huge, stunning signings, of utterly famous European players. Bale, the Welshman, was lately of Real Madrid, and – fallings-out with the club aside – had scored in the Champions League final for them. Giorgio Chiellini, the enthusiastic Italian warrior, had won four thousand trophies at Juventus and had, eleven months earlier, just been lifting the European Championship trophy with Italy.

Four years prior, Ibrahimovic had – with barely any training – strolled onto the field and scored the equalizer and the winner, for a team that desperately needed him and the star power that he provided.

In 2022, Bale and Chiellini… didn’t play that much? Chiellini dealt with injuries, making just nine starts. Bale was even less effective, starting only twice, and turning into the biggest-name second-half sub in the league.

He didn’t even see the field until extra time against Philadelphia, entering in the 97th minute for a gassed Carlos Vela.

LAFC didn’t win the Double because of their European imports. They won it because they got a tune out of Ilie, a free agent from Sporting Kansas City, and traded for Crepeau (from Vancouver) to shore up their disastrous goalkeeping, and pried Ryan Hollingshead out of FC Dallas and Kellyn Acosta out of the Colorado Rapids.

On the other side of the ball, Philadelphia had a bunch of guys who they’d developed through their second team, and a guy from Hungary, and another one from Norway. Oh, and one American by way of the German second division.

LAFC has some Colombian guys, and an Ecuadorian guy, and one from the French second division, none of them particularly expensive. They do have Vela, their one big star from Mexico.

Ever since David Beckham first landed in America as the very first Designated Player in MLS history, the die was cast: the biggest name, for the biggest amount of money, that the club could possibly afford. That was what it took to make a splash, to make a difference.

But now, you look around and you don’t see huge names making the same difference. Toronto missed the playoffs despite signing Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi in the middle of the year. Chicago got Xherdan Shaqiri, but still stinks. Inter Miami missed the playoffs even though they signed 167% of their allotted designated players.

Instead, you’ve got LAFC building a solid team from top to bottom. Seattle won the CONCACAF Champions League not by throwing money everywhere, but by building an excellent roster, acquiring talent through all sorts of avenues.

Frankly, Zlatan’s arrival in 2018 was exciting, but at the time things did feel a little bit hopeless for clubs that weren’t getting Ibrahimovices. Atlanta United was spending huge money on coaches and young, exciting players from South America. LAFC had Vela.

Philadelphia and LAFC’s outstanding seasons should give the rest of the league hope. Getting the right players, from inside the league and out, and developing young players through reserve teams – these are things that any team can do. It’s not about big names; it’s about the right players.

I had an enjoyable time writing about Minnesota United in 2022. I started the year writing overly-detailed posts about the Minnesota United preseason, but before the season began, I was invited to write for Sota Soccer, which was just then launching. I did some game coverage and a lot of match previews, but mostly I just wrote columns. Here are the five things I had the most fun writing all year:

March 2: Welcome to Soccer, Angry Twins Fans!: Remember when Opening Day was canceled? Anyway, the potential for a lost baseball season didn’t actually come to pass, as baseball ownership - having proved that they were serious about ruining things for no reason - pretty quickly agreed to a deal with the players, and the games went ahead with a slightly later start date. But for a few days, it looked like it might be the Summer of Soccer in America, with baseball determined to shoot itself in the foot.

July 11: Cameron Knowles and MNUFC2 are still building something: For me, this was pure fun, writing a magazine-style blog about a random MNUFC2 game. There’s a recap, there’s some info about who played well, but it’s not a game story. I like writing this kind of thing because the internet is the only place it could possibly be published.

July 22: Everton, MNUFC, and the misery of fandom. Usually what’s happening on the field is the most interesting thing, but when Everton came to St. Paul (and walked out 4-0 losers), it was hard not to write about the angry people on social media.

August 18: The Joy of Emmanuel Reynoso: Again, this was so fun to write, and I can’t imagine an outlet publishing it other than the internet. If I had to pick, I think this is my favorite column of the year.

September 2: Brent Kallman steps again to the fore: Brent Kallman returned to the starting lineup when Bakaye Dibassy, which gave me a chance to write about the Loons’ longest-serving player, their one local link in the starting eleven.