I do not have nearly enough space in print to put together a comprehensive guide to the MLS semifinals, but I did the best I could with the space I have, because the semifinals are when the MLS Cup chase really starts to get interesting.

Plus: one of the best soccer-watching weekends of all.

I covered Gopher soccer’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss against North Carolina. Disappointing night at Robbie Stadium, for sure.

The Hex started this weekend - the U.S., of course, lost to Mexico last night. This week is also the 27th anniversary of the “Shot Heard Round The World” - Paul Caligiuri’s goal in a deciding World Cup qualifier, at Trinidad and Tobago, in 1989. Soccer Insider this week reminisces about that game, and that goal, that altered the course of U.S. Soccer forever.

Minnesota United’s tenure in the NASL is over, and the team is off to the big time. The NASL might have problems, but they’re certainly not alone. Soccer Insider this week looks at the biggest problems that MLS has - mainly, that they focus on survival, not soccer.

Tonight is the last Minnesota Thunder / NSC Minnesota / NSC Minnesota Stars / Minnesota Stars FC / Minnesota United FC game at the National Sports Center. It’s been a heck of a run in Blaine. For the occasion, I couldn’t help but use Soccer Insider to say goodbye to the place that, for me, will always be the home of Minnesota pro soccer.

It’s a little hard for me to explain the genesis of this week’s Soccer Insider column. Basically, I started thinking about a Patrick Reusse column from December 2000, in which Mr. Reusse went to the Xcel Energy Center and started quizzing Wild patrons on their favorite Wild players. Memorably, most of them couldn’t name a single Wild player on the expansion team that season; the only one so named was Darby Hendrickson, a former Gopher standout and Minnesota Mr. Hockey. (Also there was a Czech lady who confidently named Lubomir Sekeras.)

Minnesota’s MLS roster next season will be about that anonymous, for new fans. The team isn’t likely to have a big star to hang its hat on. And so I looked at who might play the Hendrickson role in this week’s Soccer Insider. The column also kind of spilled over into the short takes. The weekend watch guide is here as well.

Minnesota United’s first real live actual MLS event is tomorrow, when it gets together with Atlanta and the two teams “draft” acquisition methods. What could be more MLS than a draft of drafts? Soccer Insider this week tries to explain just what the heck’s going on with the six acquisition methods.

This week in my Soccer Insider column, I looked briefly at the history and importance of Designated Players in MLS - and their importance on-field, not just in selling tickets.

Soccer Insider this week is a plea for the future: let’s remember the past. Minnesota has two decades of uninterrupted pro soccer history that’s not in MLS, and when the MLS era dawns and we start letting the past go, it’d be nice to remember at least a little bit.

Soccer Insider in the Star Tribune was all set to roll this week, but then Kevin Garnett retired and Saturday’s sports section was full to bursting. So, the weekend watch guide is here; the week’s short takes are here. The column will marinate for a week, and run next week, assuming that Joe Mauer doesn’t retire on Friday.