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.

Game of the week: Wild at Colorado Game 5, 8:30pm, FSN. The advanced statistics say that the Wild controlled the puck in Game 3 and Game 4 for around 70% of the time; if you take into account only 5-on-5 time, that number jumps up to around 75%. In the two games, Colorado combined to loose 50 shots that weren’t blocked; the Wild, meanwhile, took 111.

It’s been two games of domination, in other words, so much so that the Wild are now topping all of the advanced metrics for the playoffs so far. The one caveat, though, is that in Games 1 and 2, the Wild’s numbers were much, much worse; it’s not too much to say that the Avs were the utterly dominant ones in the first two games.

After two games, it appeared that Mike Yeo was being completely outcoached by Patrick Roy, but in the next two, it was Roy that appeared to be taking a beating. As much as the people using the hashtag #lastchange on Twitter were joking, being allowed to match a checking line with standout Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon appeared to make a great deal of difference. Plus, the Wild were inarguably more physical in the second two games, in a series that’s rapidly making it clear that NHL officials have gone old-school and forgotten what an interference penalty looks like.

So, Game 5. Can the Wild still be physical? Can they somehow avoid having MacKinnon and company play against their worst lines? Will the refereeing crew be as exceptionally bad as every prior crew in this series? Tune in and find out.

What else to watch

7:00 tonight: United vs. Edmonton, Channel 45. Minnesota’s local pro soccer team is televising every home match this year, as David La Vaque so ably covers in this morning’s paper. Perhaps more importantly, though: can United continue its perfect start to the season, and add a third consecutive win to begin the year?

8:30 tonight: Oklahoma City at Memphis, ESPN. OKC is down two games to one and reeling against the Grizzlies, who may be the seventh seed, but whose slow-em-down regular-season strategy led them to 50 wins. A three games-to-one series lead might be insurmountable for the Thunder.

8am tomorrow: Liverpool vs. Chelsea, NBC Sports. Liverpool, once far and away the most dominant team in England, haven’t won a championship for 24 years. A win tomorrow over second-place Chelsea, and they’ll be just one step away. Chelsea, meanwhile, are concentrating on their chance to win the European Cup, and are fielding an under-strength team – but Chelsea’s second team is better than most squads’ first teams.

Noon tomorrow: PGA Zurich Classic, Golf Channel. So far in this tournament, Ben Martin has broken the course record with a 62, then put up a 67 in which he closed his first nine bogey-double bogey. I’m just excited to see what he does next.

NOTE: This appeared at RandBall.

Minnesota teenager Mukwelle Akale is getting ready for a big jump – all the way across the pond. TopDrawerSoccer.com reported on Friday that the 17-year-old, who has been a fixture with the USA Under-18 team this year, will sign a pre-contract with Spanish giants Villareal on Monday. Akale is not allowed to officially sign until his 18th birthday, next January, but this agreement is effectively a pre-agreement to join the club at that time.

According to the report, Akale’s impressive showing at February’s Copa del Atlantico was what clinched the signing. The youngster was named player of the tournament, despite the Americans losing each of their three games. Akale also featured heavily for the USA in friendlies against Canada and Mexico earlier this month, starting both matches and playing around 60 minutes.

Akale is no doubt hoping to have a better experience than Jozy Altidore, the last American to spend significant time at Villareal. The USA national team striker was part of the Villareal setup for three seasons, but spent virtually the entire time on loan. Eventually, he left for Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, and then Sunderland in the Premier League, having made just nine appearances for Villareal and with one goal to his name.

The midfielder has been with Minnesota Thunder Academy in Woodbury for several seasons, but missed much of this year’s season thanks to his trips with the national team. In seven games this year with MTA, he has eight goals.

NOTE: This appeared at SoccerCentric.

When the NASL schedule was released, Minnesota soccer fans were greeted with a familiar list of early-season road games. With the exception of Metrodome home games, United (and its predecessor teams) have generally always opened on the road, owing to the usual terrible April weather in the state.

This season, though, a two-game road trip to open the season seemed especially onerous. With just nine games in the spring season, a two-game slide would be enough to knock a team out of contention for the playoff spot awarded to the first-half winner; United couldn’t afford to start slow, even though they were the only NASL team to play on the road in both of the first two weeks.

In the event, though, no one need have worried. After a 2-0 win at San Antonio, and a 2-1 last-gasp victory in Ottawa, United sits tied atop the NASL standings with New York. The odd number of games in the first half means that this has hardly provided Minnesota with an advantage – they still have three road games remaining, against four home games – but things could have been so much worse.

A look north of the border

Edmonton, Saturday night’s opponent, began 2014 in their usual style – by which I mean they drew 1-1 with Tampa Bay. (11 of Edmonton’s 26 matches last year finished 1-1, including five in a row at one point.) They changed things up with a 1-0 home loss to New York last week, though, and are ahead of just the league’s two zero-point teams, Atlanta and Ottawa.

The ‘Montons (as the local du Nord Futbol Show calls them) also are coming off a midweek match; they played Ottawa on Wednesday in the first leg of a Canadian Championship match. (For the un-informed: the five Canadian MLS and NASL teams play a tournament to not only determine the championship of Canada, but to determine the nation’s entrant into the CONCACAF Champions League.) This was – perhaps expectedly – a draw; at least it was 0-0 instead of 1-1.

Edmonton divested itself of talented malcontent Shaun Saiko in the offseason, and lost midfielder Chris Nurse as well. Their problem, however, has always been in scoring goals, and they’ve made several moves to try to combat that; they’ve brought in the 6’3″ Frank Jonke as a target forward, and English League 2 veteran Ritchie Jones to play behind him as an attacking midfielder. Former Atlanta striker Horace James has also joined to play on the right wing, with Daryl Fordyce returning this year in a role on the left side. Former Minnesota midfielder Neil Hlavaty returns in a defensive-midfield role, and **Albert Watson **is also back to lead the Edmonton back line.

The Eddies, from Edmonton, also signed a player named Eddie Edward. I’m pretty sure this was a “Kids in the Hall” sketch.

Field looking good for Saturday night

Despite earlier assurances, I still had some concern about the National Sports Center field. Grass has yet to begin growing in earnest in most places in Minnesota, and it was legitimate to wonder if the Blaine field would be mostly green-painted dirt.

NSC spokesman Barclay Kruse reports, however, that the field is in excellent condition, and is already noticeably greener. He sent along the below pictures, which were taken before the midweek rains and today’s sun; no doubt things will be looking even better by game time tomorrow night.

Slight changes at NSC for 2014

Apart from the field, the stadium is in similar shape to last year. One change, though, is that the bleachers on the north end of the field – the Building End – have been removed, and moved to the south “Airport End” of the field. (NOTE: These End names are works in progress. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.)

The beer garden on the north end will be expanded, with the removal of the bleachers; in fact, the team’s cheapest season ticket allows you to stand in the beer garden all year for $100, if you so desire. The beer garden itself will again be sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, and I’m told the beers available will be Bud, Bud Light, Shock Top Lemon, and Goose Island (possibly the 312 Pale Ale offering from the now-A/B-owned brewery.)

Match details

Gates open at 5:30 tomorrow night, with the game at 7pm. The first 5,000 fans will get a Star Tribune schedule poster. For those who can’t make it to Blaine, the game, along with all of the team’s home games this year, is on KSTC Channel 45.

No one from United dares speculate on the size of tomorrow night’s crowd, possibly because they are afraid of jinxing things. Here’s a few numbers for you, and you may judge them as you will:

• Last season, United drew 6,754 to their home opener against San Antonio.
• United’s biggest crowd at the National Sports Center last year was for their July 4 game against Atlanta, in front of 6,507.
• Last year’s home game against Edmonton – also in late April – drew 4,135 to the Metrodome.
• Indy leads the league in attendance, averaging 10,910 fans through two home dates.
• New York (7,906), San Antonio (7,381) and Tampa Bay (7,003) also drew more than seven thousand fans to their home openers.
• On the flip side, Carolina drew just 4,007, and Fort Lauderdale brought up the rear at 3,105.

Paul Douglas’s Star Tribune forecast calls for a high temperature of 58 on Saturday, with clouds and a chance of some post-game rain.

NOTE: This also appeared at SoccerCentric.

Our old friend Holly Manthei was on the podcast this week. We talked a lot about beer and a little about sports, and if you can sit through the foofaraw long enough, you’ll get the great story of what happened to her third-place medal from the 1995 World Cup, too.