Minnesota United’s 2022 season came to a crashing end last night, with the Loons losing a penalty shootout to FC Dallas in the first round of the playoffs. Next season is a long time away, but still, it’s time to think about the offseason - and it starts with knowing who’ll be back next year.

Here’s a snapshot of the Loons’ roster situation for 2023. I’ve compiled this list from various sources, and will update if more information comes out.

UPDATES OCTOBER 24:

• Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press has an update on Wil Trapp’s contract situation.
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune clarified Romain Métanire’s situation.

Goalkeeper

Has a contract: Dayne St. Clair

Team has an option: Tyler Miller

The team almost certainly has an option: Fred Emmings

Out of contract: Eric Dick

Defender

Has a contract: Michael Boxall, Bakaye Dibassy (will begin season on IR), Brent Kallman, Kemar Lawrence, Alan Benítez, Devin Padelford

Team has an option: Oniel Fisher, Nabi Kibunguchy

The team probably has an option, but I can’t say for sure: DJ Taylor, Callum Montgomery

Status totally unclear Out of contract: Romain Métanire

Midfield

Has a contract: Hassani Dotson, Kervin Arriaga, Wil Trapp

Has Schrödinger’s Contract (it was reported his option would automatically pick up if certain criteria were met, but I’ve also been told that this is nonsense; team definitely has an option though): Wil Trapp

Loan ending, team has an option to buy: Joseph Rosales, Jonathan González

Team has an option: Jacori Hayes

Forward

Has a contract: Emanuel Reynoso, Franco Fragapane, Luis Amarilla, Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Patrick Weah, Mender García

Has a contract and maybe should be listed with the midfielders now: Robin Lod

Team has an option: Niko Hansen, Justin McMaster, Aziel Jackson, Abu Danladi, Tani Oluwaseyi

MLS is a pretty unbalanced league. Each team plays 26 games against its own conference, and just eight against the other conference - but the standings only show the overall picture. With that in mind, I’ve calculated the conference-only standings for MLS - and it’s got some interesting notes about what we might expect come playoff time.

Here are the standings. Conference record comes first, then overall. MLS tiebreakers are number of wins, then goal difference.

WESTERN

Some takeaways:

• LAFC had by far the best record of any team against the opposite conference, with 22 points in eight games. When you remove the games against the East, though, LAFC doesn’t look like the dominant all-conquering squad that the overall standings say they are.
• Austin drops all the way out of the playoffs in the conference-only standings, as do the Galaxy.
• Portland missed the playoffs because the Timbers managed only seven points against the East. In fact, all three Cascadia teams managed seven points or fewer in their cross-conference matchups.

EASTERN

Takeaways:

• Part of the reason for doing this was to find out which conference did better against the other this year. I’m here to report that the West won 40 games against the East, the East won 40 games against the West, and there were 32 draws. However, the East scored 157 goals to the West’s 156. Therefore, by a margin of one goal, the Eastern Conference is obviously the superior conference.
• Congratulations to Montréal, the Eastern Conference champions (in this alternate universe)!
• Poor Columbus. Not only did they choke away a playoff berth this year, but now we know that if it hadn’t been for their failures against the Western Conference, they still might have made the playoffs.
• D.C. United had the worst overall record and the worst intra-conference record this season, but San Jose had a worse inter-conference record. So there you go, D.C., that’s the silver lining.

At any rate, congratulations to your 2022 MLS Supporters’ Shield conference champions, Montréal and LAFC.

Minnesota United clinched its fourth playoff berth in four years on Sunday night, and I was at Allianz Field to try to capture the spirit of the thing for Sota Soccer.

The Loons are one of four teams to make the playoffs each of the past four seasons. Adrian Heath is one of two coaches to make the playoffs in each of the past four seasons. The Loons’ overall record - four appearances in their six MLS seasons - is tied for sixth in the league in playoff appearances in that span.

Is that enough stats to show that I think this is a pretty good accomplishment?

The Loons are collapsing, and the team’s effort went missing last week against San Jose. For Sota Soccer, I wrote about how it’s up to the players - nothing else - to get themselves out of this spiral.

I’m not ready yet to talk about the bigger implications of this weekend’s game, but I do know that if the Loons lose on Sunday, it would be awfully hard to argue against major changes with the team.

At Sota Soccer, I wrote about some suggestions for MLS’s alignment in 2023.

I can’t decide which is my favorite, but I do think that a two-conference league has grown a little unwieldy. I think my pick would be an NBA/MLB-style six-division setup, even though my map works out pretty poorly for the Loons - though this might just be because I enjoy wild changes in MLS.

After four losses and a draw in five games, there’s only one thing people want to know about the Loons: What the heck is wrong? I tried to answer this at Sota Soccer.

The short version: their defense is horrendously injured, their goalkeeping is average, and they don’t have enough depth to deal with injuries and suspensions up front.

Expected goals have been kinder to MNUFC lately than actual goals. In fact, according to xG, this has been one of Minnesota’s best stretches of the season.

Writing an article that’s solely based on stats is always a little bit dicey; there are always more numbers that paint a different picture than the one you imagine. That said, I think it’s interesting to contrast the past four games with MNUFC’s earlier losing streaks.

For Sota Soccer, I wrote about how you and I might panic after MNUFC lost two 3-0 games in a row - but that’s not really how the players on the field feel.

I’ve noticed this before. I’m prone to asking questions on the theme of “do you feel like you are on a rollercoaster that has lost its brakes and also you just noticed all the other passengers are alligators,” but that’s not really how pro athletes feel. They’re not overconfident, exactly, they just don’t see the value in worrying about what could go wrong; they’ll always trust themselves to bounce back.

For Sota Soccer, I wrote about Brent Kallman’s (injury-forced) return to the starting lineup, and about how the defender is a link to Minnesota soccer’s past.

It’s rough on Kallman, whose first two full games in this particular lineup stint were 3-0 losses. He needs to get back to full fitness soon, and knows it.

For Sota Soccer, I wrote about MNUFC attendance.

I’ve written about attendance a couple of times this year already and I swear I’m done - but I’m also done wondering how many people care about MNUFC.