Premier League champions Manchester City will play in Minnesota this summer, taking on Olympiakos at TCF Bank Stadium on August 2nd – but they won’t be the first Premier League team to visit our state this year.

Swansea City, 12th in England’s (and Wales’s) top division this year, will take on Minnesota United at the National Sports Center on July 19, as part of a preseason tour that will see them train for two weeks in Chicago, and play Mexican side Chivas Guadalajara in Milwaukee.

A 7:00pm kickoff is planned, and tickets – which will no doubt be in short supply – will go on sale to United season ticket holders before they are available to the general public.

“To be the first club in Minnesota history to host a match against a team from the Barclay’s Premier League is a thrill and an honor,” said United team president Nick Rogers in a press release.

Said Swansea manager Garry Monk in the same release, “I’ve heard positive things about Minnesota United FC,” said Swansea manager Garry Monk. “They are a great organization with a strong ownership group and are doing exciting things with their club. I know they traveled to England during their preseason, stayed at St. George’s Park and faced clubs like Derby County.”

This is, without a doubt, the biggest exhibition game ever planned for a Minnesota pro soccer team, topping the 2007 matchup with a David Beckham-led Los Angeles Galaxy side, and a 2008 friendly between the Thunder and Burnley, who were at that time in England’s second division. Swansea will be the first Premier League team to visit Minnesota, and Minnesota will be the first NASL club to host a Premier League team.

The match poses an interesting conundrum for United coach Manny Lagos. No doubt most of the team will want a chance to take the field against Swansea, but the team plays Carolina in a regular league game on Thursday night, two days prior to the match. Will Lagos be willing to risk players twice in three days, especially smack dab in the middle of the league season?

Regardless of coaching problems, one thing is for certain: an exciting summer for soccer fans in Minnesota just got a little more exciting.

Update: The below appeared at SoccerCentric.

As David La Vaque wrote this morning, Premier League side Swansea City will play United on July 19 at the National Sports Center in Blaine. Be sure to read that article; he talks to team president Nick Rogers about the connection between this visit and United’s training trip to England, and whether this has any meaning for the future of MLS for the franchise.

A couple of other notes:

*The only two previous exhibitions that are comparable to this game (at least in the modern era – I can’t speak for the Kicks / Strikers era) are two from back when Minnesota’s pro soccer team was called the Thunder. In late 2007, a David Beckham-led Los Angeles Galaxy played the Thunder in the Metrodome. The following summer, Burnley – then in the English second division, though they will be in the Premier League next year – visited for a similar summertime exhibition at the NSC.

The Galaxy match drew more than 20,000 fans, a number that  – given the NSC’s capacity of around 7,500 – this Swansea match can’t hope to approach. In my opinion, though, despite Beckham’s star power, having a Premier League side come to Minnesota is a much, much bigger deal.

The Burnley match in 2008 drew 6,000 or so fans to the NSC; I have no idea what the team announced for attendance, but I was there in the stands. Plus, a good third of those fans were youth teams, in town for the USA Cup soccer tournament.

This match is also during the USA Cup, so I imagine there will be plenty of kids – but I would also be completely shocked if the match didn’t sell out.

*It’s worth noting that this match does not fall into the NASL’s summer break. In fact, United has a game the previous Thursday night, against Carolina at the NSC.

It poses an interesting conundrum for head coach Manny Lagos. I have little doubt that he’ll put the league match first, especially if United fails to win the first half of the season and is still in the playoff race. That said, will he want to risk some of his most important players by playing them twice in three days? Will he be willing to play some of his older veterans in that short time frame? Will the players, all of whom get extremely excited for these types of matches, look past Thursday’s match in anticipation of Saturday?

*There’s no doubt that the most excited person in the metro today is Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse, who announced last month that he is now a hardcore Swansea City fan. Reusse made the decision, having grown sick of the Twins’ bullpen management, after careful thought and consultation with radio partner Judd Zulgad, and now his decision is already paying off.

Tonight, Minnesota United will find out its opponent in the team’s first match of the US Open Cup. The Des Moines Menace and Real Colorado Foxes, two teams from the fourth-division Premier Development League, play tonight in Des Moines. If Des Moines wins, United will travel to Iowa on May 28th; if Colorado wins, Minnesota will host the Foxes on the same day.

A third-round game against Des Moines would be a rematch from last year, when Minnesota hit one of the low points of their season by losing to the Menace 1-0 at home, a game so bad that both head coach Manny Lagos and team president Nick Rogers publicly apologized to fans afterwards.

The real prize remains a win in the third round, as it means that United would be matched up against an MLS side. US Soccer is pairing the teams geographically, meaning that – depending on the teams left at that point – Minnesota would almost certainly play Kansas City, Chicago, or Salt Lake in the fourth round.

It’s worth remembering that, to the guys on the field, games against MLS teams are probably only second in importance to playoff games. This is especially true for American players, who feel a great need to prove themselves against the first-division teams that have turned them down.

MLS, like the NASL, is taking a break during the beginning of the World Cup in June – offering the opportunity for clubs to play US Open Cup games on the open weekends. The fourth round would likely be the weekend of June 14 and 15. If Minnesota is drawn for a home game in the fourth round, it will also give United a chance to play another summertime game, and given that the team’s attendance dramatically increases in the summer month, there’s no doubt that the front office is crossing its collective fingers for this to happen.

*NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric. *

United made three changes to the starting lineup for last Saturday’s game against Indy – two of which were on the wing. Jamie Watson and Omar Daley started the first three games wide in midfield, but come kickoff against Indy, Simone Bracalello **was wide left and **Daniel Mendes was wide right.

Combine this with a slight shift in formation, as Bill MK noted in his tactics post this week, and it gave United a much different look. And it’s hard to argue that it worked: Bracalello set up two goals, one of which Mendes scored.

This is not to dump on Watson and Daley, who provide different qualities than do Bracalello and Mendes. Daley bases much of his game on his speed, while Mendes is more about positioning and passing. On the left, Watson’s strengths lie in making runs off the ball and beginning attacks in the middle third of the field, while Bracalello is much better at taking the ball wide, or driving to the end line and finding space to cross the ball – or cutting inside and shooting.

Following the win, Mendes explained United’s approach on the wing. “We start everybody wide,” he said, noting that this width is the main goal in the team’s system.  “From there, we try to make space for each other. We trained a lot this week in how we can be better in the running to give space to the other player.”

Mendes, who has played as both a winger and a playmaking central midfielder in his career, focused on combining with players in the center and with Kevin Venegas, who was the fullback on the right side. “It’s a little different to play wing than as a number ten, because as number ten we have more space to move left and right and go forward and back to meet the ball,” he said.

For head coach** Manny Lagos**, it was natural to put Mendes out on the wing, in his first start for Minnesota. “He’s played there before, he’s played underneath, he’s played that false nine as well,” said Lagos. “He’s one of those interesting players, where the last seven or eight years of his career, he’s been asked to do a lot of different things for his club in Sweden. He’s very comfortable stepping on the field and giving the team something they need. He made great runs from the outside to in, and probably should have had another goal in the second half. I’m just really pleased with him scoring a goal in his first home game.”

On the left, meanwhile, Bracalello continued his run of early-season success. While he’ll go down on the scoresheet with just one assist (and an own goal) to his credit, it was his counter-attacking runs that created both of United’s first two goals. He is United’s most skilled player with the ball at his feet, which leads to offensive chances even when the opposition appears to have him well covered.

While those two goals were created on the counter-attack, it was Bracalello’s combinations with Miguel Ibarra, who played his usual far-roaming attacking midfield role, that particularly impressed Lagos – who noted that this combination opened up Mendes’s goal.

Overall, Lagos was happy with the changes to the lineup. “We made some changes this week and we got some guys on the field that we felt like would do a good job,” he said. “I thought both sides at times, if they came at us we’d have space to attack on both the left and right flanks. When we were smart about it, we really exploited some areas where the space was left for [the wingers] going forward. Certainly with the personnel changes I was very proud of how Simone came in and influenced the game offensively, and the movement that Miguel made from the center to the left, and Danny filling in and allowing himself to get the space to get the goal, and Venegas getting high on the right. It was all really good movement.”

Tonight, United takes on the New York Cosmos, who have lost two 1-0 games in a row, the franchise’s first losing streak since joining the league midway through 2013. Despite the losses, though, the Cosmos have controlled those games; they attempted 43 shots in the two games combined, against just 12 attempts for their opponents.

In other words, it might be another game in which United’s best chances come from counter-attacks. Given how successful Bracalello and Mendes were in this area last week, perhaps it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the same two in the lineup tonight.

NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric.

The New York Cosmos beat Minnesota United 1-0 on Monday night, but if it wasn’t for two exceptional saves by Minnesota keeper Matt Van Oekel and Cosmos striker Mads Stokkelien missing an open net from two yards away, United would have lost by three or four goals. Marcos Senna scored the game’s only goal for New York, curling a shot inside the far post with the outside of his right boot from 20 yards away, a difficult task that the aging Spanish star made look impossibly easy.

For most of the first half, Minnesota was unable to string two passes together or advance the ball forward. By the time the dust settled at halftime, the Cosmos had attempted seven shots, while United had yet to get a ball to travel even roughly in the direction of the New York goal.

After Senna scored with a half-hour to go, New York retreated defensively, allowing Minnesota to turn the stat-sheet tables a bit. In the final ten minutes of the match, United even had a few chances; Tiago Calvano missed an open header, and Christian Ramirez managed to turn on the penalty spot but hit his shot straight at Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer. Jamie Watson had one final chance for United, but his shot blazed high over the bar.

For the night, United managed just four shots, only two of which bothered the keeper, and the only way they found to consistently advance the ball was via long throws from Brian Kallman.

Minnesota has now played three games against the Cosmos since last summer, and lost all three 1-0. The loss drops United out of first place, behind Fort Lauderdale – their opponent this Saturday – on goal differential. With only two home games remaining in the first half and just four overall before the spring-season title is awarded, Saturday’s matchup is already a must-win game for Minnesota this season.

It’s a trip home that couldn’t come at a better time for United, which – for the first time in 2014 – looked disorganized and unable to play together.

NOTE: This recap appeared first at SoccerCentric.

Minnesota United will be without starting right back Kevin Venegas for a few weeks. The defender broke his jaw in practice while challenging another player for possession during a drill, and will miss 2-4 weeks while his jaw is wired shut.

United does have a ready-made replacement in veteran Brian Kallman, who will presumably step into the starting eleven tonight in New York. Tyler Polak, signed as cover for Justin Davis at left back, will serve as the backup fullback. If either Tiago Calvano or Cristiano Dias gets hurt at center back, Aaron Pitchkolan would likely move from the midfield to center back to cover.

Besides Venegas, the other notable omission from Minnesota’s eighteen-man squad is winger Omar Daley, who did not travel with the team. New signing Richard Garcia also has yet to arrive in Minnesota; he’s encountered some Australian visa snafus. He is expected to arrive this week, though given that he’s only under contract until the summer break and hasn’t agreed to join for the whole season, time is running short for him to make a contribution in a United shirt.

The full squad also features new signing Mackenzie Pridham, who will likely start on the bench as the backup striker.

Here’s the midfielder-heavy full squad:

Van Oekel, Hildebrandt
Davis, Dias, Calvano, Brian Kallman, Tyler Polak
Franks, Pitchkolan, Bracalello, Reed, Ibarra, Watson, Mendes, Jordan, Vicentini
Ramirez, Pridham

A look at the Cosmos

New York is a frustrated team – and not just because they’re mired in their first losing streak since beginning NASL play in July 2013.

Both losses, to San Antonio and Carolina, were 1-0 defeats. In both, the opposition scored in the first 15 minutes, then went into a defensive shell. New York ended the match against San Antonio with nearly 60% of the possession; against Carolina, they ended with nearly 70% of the possession. In the two games combined, the Cosmos had 32 shots that missed the net, and 11 that were saved – while the RailHawks and Scorpions managed just 12 shots combined.

In other words, it’s fair to say that New York dominated, and that their results haven’t reflected the run of play in the game.

The Cosmos will be missing midfielder Sebastian Guenzatti, who was sent off last week against Carolina. For more on the match, including a video interview with Matt Van Oekel, check out David La Vaque’s game preview from today’s paper.

NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric.

NASL commissioner Bill Peterson is, in some ways, paid to be an optimist. In an increasingly crowded market for soccer, Peterson has to try to highlight the good and gloss over the bad about his league, and sometimes, this means that he sounds more like a marketing executive than a commissioner.

That said, he was straightforward and forthright about the league when I caught up with him at halftime of the Minnesota-Indy game – if not exactly verging on cynical about the future of the league.

That lack of pessimism was especially evident on the expansion front, where a bit of gloom might have been expected. Though the NASL added teams in Indy and Ottawa for 2014, and Jacksonville has hit the ground running and is on course for 2015, the presumptive franchises in Oklahoma City and Virginia have have run into problems. The former’s ownership group half-disappeared overnight, for one, and the latter was scheduled to begin play this season, but pulled out so late in the off-season that the league had to sheepishly change its already-announced schedule.

Peterson, though, was bullish about all three. Regarding Jacksonville Armada, the commissioner bordered on enthusiastic. “It’s amazing how much attention they’re getting and how much work they’re doing,” he said. “They’ll do very well with the crowd and the fans and the stadiums and stuff for sure. I think the clubs that have time to get organized and get the staffs on board before they have to play, have a little bit of an advantage.“

He also sounded confident that Virginia, so recently pushed back, would see the field as well. “We’ll have some announcements pretty soon,” he said. “I was there last week, and we’ve reorganized the ownership group; they’re just finalizing some things there. We expect when we get to the [league-wide] June board meeting to be back on board and moving full speed ahead. There’s actually a lot of exciting things happening there that will come out over time when they get finalized.”

The big surprise was that the commissioner seemed positive about Oklahoma City. Both the NASL and third-division USL Pro announced Oklahoma City franchises at virtually the same time, but while the presumptive NASL team has gone dormant, the USL Pro franchise – named OKC Energy FC – began play in April. In late March, Tim McLaughlin, who was scheduled to be joint owner of the NASL franchise, announced that he had effectively switched sides, partnering with the OKC Energy owners instead.

It was all very confusing, even for the commissioner. “We had an owner who decided he didn’t want to be an owner any more, before they’ve ever played their first game,” he said. “I’ve been around professional sports for 25 years; I’ve never heard or seen anything like that. I think it caught all of us off guard.”

That said, the other half of the NASL franchise ownership group remains in place, and Peterson was still optimistic about the future of the franchise. “We have a group there that was part of the original ownership group, that is very committed, “ he said. “It’s just a matter of them getting reorganized and really sorting out where they’re going to play. It’s a very strong group, they’ve got a lot of sports experience, and when they hit the ground running in the next couple of weeks they’ll go quickly.”

The surprise is that, despite the problems with Virginia and Oklahoma City, the commissioner seemed confident that both would be on the field next season. “Both Virginia and Oklahoma City we’re still looking at 2015, “ he said. “I feel pretty good about Oklahoma City. Virginia, if they get a couple of things done in the next few weeks, they’ll also be there. They’re all committed, they all get it. We want to make sure when the teams launch now, that they’re prepared, and that they have had a fair chance to put a roster together, and get connected with the areas that they’re in too.“

Peterson also spoke about the league’s broadcast problems. The NASL announced a pay-for-subscription service for 2014, but had to back off and offer the spring season for free, after transmission problems blacked out two games in one single week.

As you can imagine, this led to some frustration for Peterson. “Anytime something doesn’t work perfectly, you’ll find me disappointed,” he said. “Last week we had some unfortunate glitches, one of which is still unexplained. So that’s very disappointing. We make a commitment to our fans, and we spent a lot of time in the offseason upgrading these broadcasts and broadcast teams and spending a lot of time working on these streams, so when it doesn’t work and nobody can explain why, you’ll find me frustrated. I spent about every waking moment on it this week.”

Peterson reported that, in an attempt to combat the problems, the league had hired an outside expert in every market to try to manage the transmission problems, rather than depend on the teams themselves and the streaming partner to troubleshoot issues. Said the commissioner, “If there is a problem, we have somebody on board that’s our person. We didn’t have that before. We were relying on people locally, and people with the streaming partner, and we weren’t happy with it last week so we’ve changed it.”

Peterson also spoke about several other topics.

• On the second year of Minnesota United, and especially the ownership: “They’re obviously doing a great job. They’ve gotten themselves organized on the field; that’s a good-looking team. The most important part is to get that piece sorted out. They’ve very committed, they’re working very hard, they’re putting a lot of pieces in. If you look at this club, where they were a year ago on and off the field and where they are today, it’s a world of difference. We’re very happy with our progress, and very happy with their efforts. There’s a lot of work to do, but we’ll just keep going.”

• On the fact that the New York Cosmos get more outside media attention that all of the rest of the league’s teams put together: “It’s just a fact, isn’t it. The Cosmos, they bring that legacy with them. But now they have the challenge of continuing to go forward, and they take that very seriously… but you see what is happening around the league. This is not a one-team league. It’s going to be very competitive, and they realize that, and teams like this realize that they can go out there and beat them. It’s great, that there is this Cosmos legacy, and we embrace that and enjoy it. At the same time, they have to go out and build their club like every other team. It’s a challenge in New York City. It’s a big place. There’s a lot going on, not dissimilar to here [the Twin Cities].”

• On how the league can fight the perception that it’s a one-team league: “Just look at the standings [laughs]. We’ve seen a lot of progress on the field and off the field. The clubs did amazing job of upgrading their rosters in the offseason. We’re only in week four, but you see the table, you see a new team on top now. It’s really too early to predict what the results are going to be in any given week. I think all of the clubs made a lot of progress building their fan bases and building their sponsorship bases. There’s still work to be done there, but that’s all you can do. You’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, you’ve got to work seven days a week and become ingrained in your community. There’s a lot of success stories. Tampa Bay’s done an incredible job, Atlanta’s done an great job, they’ve done a great job here. Just keep working at it, but it’s coming. We’re excited.”

• On the future of the NASL video service: “We want to start focusing on how we provide more entertainment for the fans. We’re starting to look at archive stuff from the first go-round of NASL, we’re trying to create some other content, some shows, goals of the week and stuff, so it becomes a vibrant place for the fans. That’s ultimately the goal.”

• On why the league moved its offices to New York: “It’s just more efficient for us, to get more work done. When you’re in this business, whether it’s broadcasters, or sponsors, or agencies that represent both, or just other people in the sports industry, you find them a lot more frequently in New York. We’ve got a small group there, we’re growing and we’re doing a lot of work, and a lot of that work was happening in New York. It just made sense to become a little more efficient to be based there.”

*NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric. *

Noted temporary Canadian John Sharkman joined us for this week’s podcast. We actually had a serious talk about the NFL Draft, then a serious talk about The Big Lebowski.

Minnesota United may be perfect in 2014, having won four out of four matches – but they aren’t done adding to their squad. Monday, they announced that Australian international striker Richard Garcia has signed for the remainder of the spring season.

Garcia, who will be 33 in September, has an enormous amount of experience; he played in the 2010 World Cup with Australia, and spent a dozen seasons playing in England – most notably for five seasons with Hull City in the Premier League, where he scored eight times in 114 appearances.

Most recently, Garcia had played two years in his native Australia, where he teamed up with current United center back Tiago Calvano at Sydney FC. The A-League season, which begins in mid-October, concluded yesterday, though Sydney FC was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, two weeks ago.

The club refused to disclose the terms or length of the contract, though if Garcia returns in the fall, he will be with Minnesota through the mid-November conclusion of the NASL season. In other words, we’ll know by the beginning of the second half of the season whether Garcia will be part of the team for more than five games.

Garcia has yet to arrive in Minnesota, but the requisite visas are being resolved, and he should be in town later this week. He could potentially be in the squad for Monday’s game at New York, though it could be a long shot given everything that has to happen to get him here from the other side of the world.

The 32-year-old has played as both a winger and a striker in his career. Assuming he doesn’t just slot in on the wing, United could deploy him in a number of different roles, though their greatest need could be in the center of midfield. His arrival could see the team return to a more traditional 4-4-2 look, and play both he and Christian Ramirez as forwards. Should Minnesota stick with a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-1-1, he could slot in more centrally and play as a playmaking midfielder.

NOTE: This also appeared at SoccerCentric.

Our old friend Mike Rand and longtime RandBall contributor Rocket – our first podcast donor – joined us this week for an excellent episode.

Rocket made us talk sports. It was weird.

Watch the replay of Minnesota’s game against Edmonton from Saturday. It won’t be long before Miguel Ibarra, #10 in gray, zooms into your picture from points unknown. Start focusing on him. He’s in central midfield – no, wait, he’s on the right wing. Now he’s tracking back deeper in the midfield. Now he’s harrying a defender, who until recently thought he might collect a wayward ball with no pressure whatsoever.

Eventually, you think to yourself: Geez, that guy is always running.

The 24-year-old midfielder is listed, with odd precision, on the team’s website as 5’6”, 145.2 lbs, making him the smallest player on United’s roster. He is fast, but not a burner; quick, but not blindingly so. He is not a notably great passer, yet, and in the rare cases when he does shoot, his finishing needs work.

But that workrate. He can run all day.

“His energy and his attitude and his selflessness to work hard to really put teams on their heels is so important, particularly when we’re not using the ball as well as we could,” said United head coach Manny Lagos. “He’s got a lung capacity that’s amazing. That’s the thing about soccer players; you can be big and strong or you can be small and quick. Miguel has this ability to make these long hard runs, and recover so quickly to do it again. It’s really impressive and unique, and I think that’s why that energy comes out on the field.”

In some ways, that workrate was the key to the 4-2-3-1 formation that United deployed against Edmonton. With the wingers pushing for width, Ibarra was left with acres of space in the middle of the field to try to run into.

He’s still likely to pop up in odd positions – How come he’s actually outside of Jamie Watson right now? – but that freedom gives him the opportunity to use his energy to prod the United attack forward.

That energy is also useful as a defensive weapon. The second half of games in the NASL often turn into a series of offensive volleys; the games become less about tactics and moving the ball, and more about committing players forward to stress the defense through sheer numbers.

For Lagos, Ibarra’s energy kept Edmonton away from that, and the coach was particularly impressed by that facet of his game. “In the second half when they wanted to push it and get a goal back, he showed some energy and made some runs that they really couldn’t go forward the same way, since he was there to counter,” he said.

That role as an attacking midfielder is quickly becoming one of Ibarra’s favorites – and he was especially enthusiastic after a 1-0 win, the team’s third in a row. “As of right now, I think that’s my position,” he said. “I think I’m doing a great job. I’m just working my [redacted] off, and I’m going to keep doing it and doing it.”

Ibarra was also quick to credit his relationship with center forward Christian Ramirez. The two, who both attended college in the Irvine, CA area, have quickly become inseparable both on and off the field. “He checks, I go in behind, or he checks, I give him the ball, he peels off and I come in. We just have that understanding going right now and it’s working well,” said Ibarra.

Perhaps fittingly, Ibarra used a California-related comparison, when describing the two of them. “Right now, it’s what I would call a Kobe-Shaq [type of relationship],” he said. “It’s working really well right now.”

2014 is a big year for Ibarra; it’s time for the third-year veteran to grow into that playmaking role. He has shown flashes of ability in that role, for certain, but those flashes have been rare. His goal against Ottawa in week two, for example, was an excellent finish – but his one goal in 2014 equals his entire 2013 output.

Lagos says that he has Ibarra working specifically on his finishing and both his offensive and defensive positioning, in the hopes of turning him into a complete attacking playmaker. “I think he would even tell you that he needs to become a player that is not just using his energy to solve problems,” said Lagos. “[He needs to work on] his passing, his touches, and then finding ways that he can be a little more in position to get shots.”

In other words, the coach wants him to translate that energy into something beyond just the ability to run for 90 straight minutes. “He’s an offensive player; he’s using that selfless energy to help other players, and I think he also has to use it to find himself in good scoring positions,” said Lagos.  “He’s grown every year he’s been with us, and I think he’s going to continue to do that.

“I think [his best] is still to come, to be honest. I think he’s that young, that his best stuff is going to be as he matures and decides how he wants to dictate the game using all of those abilities that he has.“

NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric.