Following Minnesota United’s 3-0 loss to Atlanta on Thursday night, defender Justin Davis rated his frustration at 11 on a ten-point scale. “It [the team’s morale] can only go up, I guess,” he said. “I think this is pretty much rock bottom, with [Atlanta] winning the league right here.”

Head coach Manny Lagos was equally frustrated. “It’s easy to say that the team hasn’t been good enough and the unit hasn’t been good enough to win games in this league,” he said. “There’s no doubt that we haven’t been pulling ourselves in the right direction as a unit. There’s no doubt we’ve given up a lot of goals defensively, and have been pretty predictable offensively. That’s definitely going the wrong direction.”

The only saving grace for Minnesota is that the first half of the NASL season is now old news. The team that collapsed down the stretch in the first half is history; now they can begin what is effectively their second preseason.

“A lot of it’s probably a little bit mental, a little bit on the field,” said defender / assistant coach Kevin Friedland. ” We’ve got a lot of new players and it takes time, we’ve got to figure everything out. If you look at the history of our club, we’re a team that’s gelled later in the season, and I think that’s due to getting more familiar with each other. And I think with a lot of the injuries – I don’t want to make excuses, but a lot of the injuries we’ve had and the roster turnover we’ve had, we’re trying to find our identity.”

When it comes to the very end of the season, Friedland is right on the money; the team finished both 2011 and 2012 with extended playoff runs. However, according to some numbers that local soccer guru Brian Quarstad sent along, when it comes to the season itself, Friedland’s not completely correct.

In 2011, Minnesota had 22 points and had lost only three times at the midway point of the year (14 games); in 2012, they had 23 points, and had lost just twice. In both years, they had a positive goal difference in the first half. This year, in 12 games, United managed just 14 points, lost half their matches, and allowed five more goals than they scored.

The worrying thing is that in both years, Minnesota faded down the stretch. In 2011, they took 14 points from 14 games; in 2012, they got just 12, also in 14 games. In both years, playoff runs covered up some cracks – but that’s a luxury they don’t have this year.

Defender and vice-captain Brian Kallman had perhaps the best plan for how to turn things around. “We just have to come back and put the work in at practice every day to try to be the best player on the field any given day. We have to put the work in, so that the player next to you works just as hard, if not harder. That’s how you build a good strong team: everyone on the team competing for a starting spot, every day – like it’s for our job, which it is.”

For the moment, the team has stepped away from soccer. Beginning Thursday, they’ll return, with Wednesday the 17th, the first exhibition of the second preseason, marked on their calendars.

It’s the team’s first step towards August 3, the beginning of the fall season. By the time Thursday rolls around, Minnesota needs to clear the first-half cobwebs from their heads, and set their sights on the only thing that can make this year anything other than a disappointment: a second-half title and a place in the championship.

Twenty minutes after Atlanta had finished off its 3-0 win over Minnesota United in Blaine last night, a roar went up from inside of the National Sports Center tunnel. It came from the Silverbacks, who entered the night needing both a win and a Carolina loss to claim the NASL first-half championship. The San Antonio-Carolina game started twenty minutes after Minnesota’s game, but the roar was confirmation that the Scorpions had finished off a 2-0 home win, giving the first-half title to Atlanta. The Silverbacks charged out of the tunnel to celebrate on the field, wearing commemorative T-shirts and chanting in the goalmouth at the Airport End.

It wouldn’t have been the first time a visiting team celebrated in an empty opposing stadium – except that the stadium was by no means empty. With a Fourth of July fireworks show beginning at 10pm, most of the crowd had stuck around, and most of the Minnesota players were still behind the goal, signing autographs. Atlanta’s dash out for an on-field celebration rankled, to say the least.

United vice-captain Brian Kallman made no bones about his displeasure. “It’s ticking me off, hearing Atlanta sitting right in our stadium, saying ‘Championes’,” he said. “You haven’t won [anything] yet. You won the first season. We’re going to win the second season, we’re going to play you in the finals at your place, and we’re going to beat you. And then I’m going to be cheering that in front of all your fans, right in front of your whole team, being even more disrespectful than you were to us.”

Suddenly, the opening game of the fall season – between Atlanta and Minnesota, right back in Blaine, on August 3 – looks like a serious grudge match.

Reaction from the Atlanta sideline

Not surprisingly, Silverbacks coach Brian Haynes was over the moon about his team grabbing the first-half title on the season’s final day. “That was unbelievable, this is incredible,” he said. “To know that we did our best and the guys gave everything they had to get the results that we got in that game, I’m just thankful.”

It’s a huge turnaround for Atlanta, accomplished in a short period of time. The Silverbacks were far and away the league’s worst team in 2011, and were headed the same way in 2012, leading to the entire coaching staff being fired in early July. Former US Men’s National Team standout Eric Wynalda took over as technical director, and hired Haynes this season as coach – a move that already appears to have paid off.

Said Haynes, “He [Wynalda] came up with a plan for what we were going to try to do, and he brought me in, he gave me some players, and I brought in a couple here and there. Basically, I call it – what’s that yellow brick road story, the Dorothy story. Some of the guys didn’t have hearts. Some of the guys didn’t have the courage and everything, and that’s what we tried to put in them. The one thing we did is we brought in some guys with character. We weeded out the ones that we didn’t think were going to make it. We had a specific way we were going to do things.”

“It’s a bunch of guys that believe in each other and fight for each other. I’m proud of them. We’ve done the business on the road, I think we’ve only lost one game on the road, and that speaks character.”

The structure of the NASL this year, with the first-half champion winning the right to host November’s championship game, made me wonder all along whether the first-half champion would rest on its laurels for the second half. Haynes, however, didn’t think that would be a problem. “Now they’ve got something to prove,” he said, referring to his team. “Before they didn’t. They were in last place last year. Now they got something to prove. People are going to be coming after us, we’ve got to be ready.”

I guess Blaine’s not that far, after all

Maybe United should have fireworks after every game. Faced with a Thursday night game, in Blaine, on a holiday on which families traditionally go out of town or celebrate otherwise, Minnesota drew 6,507 people – one of the largest crowds they’ve had at the National Sports Center in a very long time.

It was Minnesota’s second-largest crowd of the year, behind only the season opener at the Metrodome. It was also nearly 2,000 more people than the team drew for last year’s championship match in Blaine.

I talked to one old-timer, who could remember 10,000 fans packing into the NSC for the Minnesota Thunder’s 1999 A-League championship match. At least going by Thursday’s numbers, United is on the way back to rebuilding that kind of crowd.

This has been a disappointing first-half season for Minnesota United, which needs a tie or a win tonight against Atlanta to avoid finishing sixth in a seven-team league. It’s a place that nobody associated with the club expected to be, and that includes head coach Manny Lagos. “I think it’s definitely frustrating because we definitely should have done much better,” he said.

His one saving thought, though, is that no matter how bad the first half has been, the season as a whole is still just half over. “The last couple of weeks have been trying for the club, and frustrating,” said Lagos. “I wish we could get back at it right away again.”

Atlanta comes into tonight’s game with an outside chance of stealing the NASL title, but Lagos insists his team isn’t thinking about playing spoiler. “I look at the game being so important for us to bounce back from the lethargy that we showed in Edmonton,” he said. “I’m not really thinking that much about Atlanta and their chances; I’m thinking about getting this team back on track for the second half of the season… [The game] doesn’t mean anything for the second half [in the standings], but it’s important that we step on the field and respond in a way that I think is appropriate, that I think that the club has in the past responded. ”

Looking back at Edmonton, looking forward to tonight

Going into Sunday’s game in Edmonton, Minnesota still had a chance of staying in the title race, which made it all the more surprising when the team came out completely flat. Within 24 minutes, United was losing 2-0, and their chances were effectively gone.

Lagos, when asked if he was surprised by this, chose a different word. “I would say a little more disappointed,” he said.

The United head coach offered a couple of different theories as to what went wrong. “I think the heat was overwhelming the first 20 or 25 minutes,” he said. “Mentally, maybe we haven’t been as strong as we need to be, and the game against Carolina really took a lot out of the team. From what we put into [that game], what it meant to us, and to lose the way we did – it’s never easy to come back from that type of loss. I fully expected we would [come back], but it’s not easy. Combine that with the kind of heat we were dealing with in Edmonton, and let’s be honest – it was a poor game for us, and I think a disappointing one that really kind of exposed that we need to get better in a lot of areas.”

The one bright spot might have been the play of Miguel Ibarra, who came off the bench for the first time this season in Edmonton, and scored his first goal of the year. That’s something we’ll see again tonight, in an extended version, as Lagos said he’d bring both Ibarra and Simone Bracalello in off the bench against Atlanta.

The injury report hasn’t changed much from Sunday. Aaron Pitchkolan will miss out again, along with Connor Tobin. Both will me aiming for the summer exhibitions for their returns, the first of which is July 17. Midfielder Bryan Arguez, who did not play Sunday in Edmonton, is also questionable for tonight’s game with Atlanta.

Back to Blaine

This is Minnesota’s first game of the season at their home field at the National Sports Center in Blaine. They’ll kick off at 7pm, with the game to be followed by some Fourth of July fireworks.

The team announced on Twitter yesterday, and confirmed via text, that the Reserved section of the stadium (basically, the two sections of seats with chair backs) is sold out tonight. I can’t remember that happening for a long time, so that’s an accomplishment. We’ll see whether that translates into a large overall attendance for tonight’s game.

Minnesota United plays Atlanta on Thursday, their final game of the NASL spring season. The Silverbacks still have a shot at the first-half title, but United doesn’t; the best Minnesota can finish is third, the worst sixth (where they currently sit).

With no title on the line, then, Minnesota can focus less on the end of the spring season, and more on their captain’s retirement. Center back Kyle Altman is playing his final soccer game, before beginning medical school in San Antonio this month. David La Vaque reviewed Altman’s career on page C1 today, a fitting tribute to the player that has led the club for the past two and a half seasons.

Altman is dealing with an ankle / foot injury, suffered two Saturdays ago in Carolina, but I would say the chances of him not playing Thursday night are roughly 0%. The captain won’t miss his final game, even if he has to strap on a prosthetic leg to get out there.

How the NASL title scenarios shape up

NASL eliminated all but the championship game from their playoffs this year – but thanks to league parity, the season’s final week has a couple of de facto playoffs.

Three teams – Carolina, Atlanta, and San Antonio – have a chance to take home the spring title, which comes with the right to host the Soccer Bowl, the season’s championship game. Atlanta is is in Minnesota, and Carolina travels to San Antonio – where the first-half trophy will be on hand. Here’s how the scenarios shake out:

1. If Carolina wins, they win the league title.
2. If Carolina draws with San Antonio, they win the league title UNLESS Atlanta beats Minnesota by five goals (or beats Minnesota by four goals, and scores at least three goals more than Carolina does)
3. If San Antonio beats Carolina, Atlanta can win the title by beating Minnesota.
4. If Atlanta draws or loses at Minnesota, San Antonio can win the championship, but only if they beat Carolina by at least three goals.

In other words, Carolina is the only team that controls its own destiny; they can even win the title with a two-goal loss. They also have the advantage of starting a half-hour later, as their game is at 7:30pm while Minnesota and Atlanta play at 7:00; depending on the result in Minnesota, Carolina could have a chance to throttle back for the final half-hour.

Speaking of throttling back, Atlanta coach Brian Haynes is certainly hoping that Minnesota does some throttling back of its own. Speaking to Neil Morris of Indy Week following his team’s 1-1 draw with Carolina last week, he said, “When I look at Minnesota, I’m not coming down on them, but… I don’t think they have as many weapons as the RailHawks, for example. I’m hoping that they get beat by Edmonton tomorrow, and they don’t feel like playing and when we go to Minnesota they’ll be nice to us and give us a win.”

Minnesota United came into Sunday’s game with Edmonton knowing that a win – and, preferably, a two- or three-goal win – was the only way they could stay in the running for the NASL spring championship.

That’s why their performance in a 3-1 loss to Edmonton was all the more baffling; United went down 2-0 inside the first 24 minutes of the game, before they’d hardly even had a scoring chance themselves. They did manage to climb within 2-1 in the second half, Miguel Ibarra scoring his first goal of the year to cut the deficit, but defender Justin Davis conceded a late penalty with a needless foul in the area, and former Minnesota midfielder Neil Hlavaty slammed the kick home to make the final 3-1.

In a game that Minnesota knew they needed to score early and often, it took them 40 minutes to get a chance on goal from open play. In a season in which United expected to challenge for the title, they now sit in sixth place out of seven teams, with nothing left to play for against Atlanta next week except pride.

It was a set piece that did United in once again, early on. In the 11th minute, Hlavaty’s original corner was sent right back to him, but his second try floated over every Minnesota defender, where Mallan Roberts rose above the flat-footed defense to head home his first goal of the year.

13 minutes later, Hlavaty was once again the creator, skipping through the Minnesota defense on the left side of the field and picking out Shaun Saiko on the right wing. Saiko steadied the ball, then chipped it into the middle of the field, where striker Daryl Fordyce was completely unmarked, rushing in and right in front of goal. It was a simple finish, giving Minnesota keeper Matt Van Oekel no chance once again.

Pablo Campos did wrangle a couple of shots near the end of the half, but apart from the last five minutes of the first, Minnesota had no real scoring chances in the half. Ibarra’s introduction as a substitute midway through the second half added a little spark to the Minnesota attack, but even once he’d scored, Minnesota never really looked like they would get the two additional goals they needed to keep hope alive.

When Davis shouldered aside striker Michael Cox in the area in the 85th minute, Hlavaty made sure that his penalty would be the final nail in the coffin for his former team.

There’s no doubt that there’s plenty of frustration in the Minnesota camp, from fans, players, and coaches alike. In a season that promised so much, with one game to go, United is back in sixth place – right where they finished both 2011 and 2012.

Though they have one final game against Atlanta, next Thursday night, they will already be confronting the question that they’ll be asking themselves all summer: what went wrong?