NOTE: This appeared first at SoccerCentric.

Saturday’s game is against FC Edmonton – which is a very different team than the one that Minnesota fans saw last season. For a scouting report, I went to Steven Sandor, who not only does the color commentary for FC Edmonton matches, but edits the11.ca, perhaps the best blog on the internet for all Canadian soccer news, including Edmonton news.

He was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions about the Eddies, who have a new coach, a host of new players – and are angling for a new stadium, as well.

1) How has bringing Colin Miller in as coach changed things?

When Miller came in, no one got a benefit of the doubt. He deemed everyone on the club a “trialist,” and basically ran practices like an open tryout. In the end, he ended up cutting the team’s lone member of the 2012 NASL Best XI, Paul Hamilton, out of camp. Colin said over and over that he inherited a last place team, and he wasn’t going to be complacent. It’s a total clearing of the deck. If the Eddies stay with the form of the last couple of weeks, they should only start three players (Shaun Saiko, forward Michael Cox and keeper Lance Parker) who were with the club last season.

2) Edmonton scored the fewest goals in the league last year. Where are the goals going to come from this year?

We have already seen a massive change in the number of chances Edmonton is creating. Really, this team should have six points from the first two games, but they have shown an uncanny knack for hitting goalposts and crossbars. They’re creating more sustained pressure, and bringing more midfield help for the forwards. They have also gone to what is a more traditional 4-4-1-1, rather than the 4-3-3 which has, frankly, been a failure across North America (you can’t foist 4-3-3 on players who haven’t been playing the system since they were kids). That change is a big reason for the success. In keeping things simple, they are really making themselves more effective.

3) The Eddies brought in a number of new signings. Who should Minnesota fans watch out for?

Well, there’s a good chance that Robert Garrett, a Northern Irish international who just came here on loan this week, will play. He’s a midfield spark plug. And he’s played with Daryl Fordyce, FCE’s recesssed forward, since they were eight years of age. Daryl came over here earlier in the year, along with Albert Watson, the defender who is now Edmonton’s team captain. All three played at Linfield FC in Belfast. Watson is out with a knee injury, but Fordyce has been very good through two games. There’s a joke out there that Linfield is now FCE’s feeder club.

4) What’s the current stadium situation in Edmonton?

It’s very simple. The city council has seen the plans. But, like most places, the idea of giving pro sports teams blank cheques to build stadiums is a dying trend. So, instead of “build it and they will come,” the mayor and council has told owner Tom Fath that they like the plans for this 8,000-12,000 seat stadium that can be built in phases, but they will only green-light it after looking at this coming season’s attendance. If they see the numbers, they will entertain the idea. If attendance for FCE games – and likely Canada’s friendly at Commonwealth Stadium on May 28 – is disappointing, then the city won’t spend the money. It’s now a case of “if they come, we will build it.”

5) Edmonton attendance hasn’t been great the past two seasons. Is this a make-or-break year for the team?

You have to discount last year’s attendance. Because of the issues with permits and such, the renovation to Clarke Stadium wasn’t completed and FCE had to call a 1,200-seat stadium home. So, you can look at it two ways — that the team had a small attendance number, or that it sold out every game (actually, more than 100 per cent capacity) last season. You can only sell the seats you have. So, with the renovation finally underway, and Clarke moving to 4,000 seats for this year, really 2013 is the first season in which we can fairly judge the Edmonton soccer market. It should be a good place to have a team – the average household income here is about US $90,000 a year, or about $40,000 higher than the average American household income. This is one of the wealthiest cities in North America.

The majority of Minnesota United FC’s Opening Day lineup was made up of players who were part of the Minnesota Stars’ 2012 playoff run, but one player in the middle of the field, Neil Hlavaty, was missing. This Saturday, he’ll be back patrolling the center of the Metrodome turf.

It’s just that he’ll be wearing the other team’s colors while he does it.

Hlavaty, 26, was one of the original Minnesota Stars, signing with the club in 2010 after post-college stints in Sweden and Poland. He was a mainstay on the 2011 and 2012 teams, starting almost every game in a defensive role in central midfield, and scoring a handful of goals along the way.

After the season was over, though, he was a free agent, and was drawing interest from a number of teams. Rather than wait out the uncertainty in Minnesota with a new owner coming in, he chose to decide his future early on in the offseason and sign with FC Edmonton, who he said showed interest “directly after the final whistle.”

“I just wanted to get my offseason and my next move sorted out right away,” he said. “The NASL and soccer in general is a cruel business, and when you spend every offseason not knowing what your next move is… I just wanted to spend a Christmas and my birthday [December 27] with my mind at ease. I haven’t had that in my career a lot, and it’s something I was looking forward to having.”

“I knew there were changes ahead. It was around the same time all the negotiations were happening, and I had talked to Manny and I had talked to Carl [United head coach Lagos and assistant coach Craig, respectively], and I expressed to them what I wanted to do, and there was a lot of uncertainty about what was going to happen with their side of the management – they didn’t really know that yet. I was at a point, not necessarily at a deadline, but I wanted to enjoy my offseason.”

Hlavaty said he had no regrets whatsoever about the move, and is excited about what it can do for his career. “It was difficult moving to a new spot, but I’m settled in nicely now,” he said. “The change is good for my game, and doing new things in training and new routines is always good. I don’t want to remain comfortable, because any time you’re standing still, you’re not getting better. I think it’s already paid off for me individually at least, and as a team I think we’ll start to see results really soon.”

The midfielder has also been wearing the captain’s armband for the Eddies so far this year while captain Albert Watson is out injured, another thing he thinks is good for his career. “It’s changed my game a little bit,” he said. “I think I was always a leader on the field, but now it’s a bit different off the field, handling some of the younger players, and just trying to teach guys more, and help guys out more in certain situations. I think it helps me remain a little calmer on the field. It’s a good step for me.”

Edmonton has just one point from its first two matches, and after this Saturday, they’ll already be a quarter of the way through the NASL spring season – but Hlavaty isn’t worried yet. “We’ve been playing well and we have been unlucky not to get results – almost getting wins in Carolina and Florida,” he said. ” I have nothing but positivity heading to Minnesota, and not that there’s pressure to get a win, but we all know that we can do it. ”

“A draw is always good away from home. However, coming off a loss and getting zero points – three points will put you back in the top of the table. That’s pretty much our main goal. We’ll go in and try to handle business, and if it’s not three points, we’ll be pretty upset. If it’s one, we’ll take it, but three points is the goal.”

Twelve Minnesota United FC players, plus head coach Manny Lagos and assistant coach Carl Craig, have joined up with Athlete Ally as ambassadors for the group, which works to “raise awareness and end homophobia in sports.” In addition, every player, coach, and staff member at the club has signed the group’s pledge, which reads as follows:

I pledge to lead my athletic community to respect and welcome all persons, regardless of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Beginning right now, I will do my part to promote the best of athletics by making all players feel respected on and off the field.

United is the first team to support the group on a organization-wide basis – and for the moment, more than a third of the 30 athlete ambassadors are United players.

Team president Nick Rogers, who is on the group’s advisory board, told the New York Times, “Athlete Ally is not advocating a viewpoint; it is just saying that on the field of play the only thing that matters is the competition. That resonated with the guys.”

The players to sign on as ambassadors are player/coach Kevin Friedland, captain Kyle Altman, Pablo Campos, Etienne Barbara, Miguel Ibarra, Justin Davis, Brian Kallman, Simone Bracalello, Max Griffin, Connor Tobin, Travis Wall, and Kentaro Takada.

While the pledge of support seems self-evident, it remains true that the sport of soccer has had its issues. Just last night, San Jose forward Alan Gordon was caught on camera using an anti-gay slur, one for which he will be suspended by MLS, and in February former US Men’s National Team midfielder Robbie Rogers walked away from soccer after coming out of the closet, saying that he was afraid of coming out at every club he’d been a part of.

Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings is also an ambassador for Athlete Ally, and Minnesota Wild players Cal Clutterbuck and Jason Pominville are among the local hockey players who have voiced support for the You Can Play project.

When Minnesota United FC forward Nate Polak started feeling pain in his shoulder area after the first week of the pre-season, he figured that it was nothing to worry about.

“I thought I was just sleeping on it wrong, or something,” he said.

But when it started to swell and bruise, and the veins started to pop out, he had to go to the trainers, and then to the team doctor. An ultrasound discovered that Polak had a blood clot in his shoulder – also known as thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which a nerve or blood vessel in the region of the clavicle is compressed, leading to clots.

For Polak, it meant a week in the hospital at the University of Minnesota, followed by a week in the Mayo Clinic, as two sets of doctors tried to break up the clot via various procedures. “That was rough,” said Polak.

“I guess my first thought was ‘When am I going to get back to playing again, and how’s this going to affect the rest of my season?’,” he said. “I was just really worried about that. But it became a health issue – I kind of needed to worry about my health first. It was a scary moment. Nothing I’d ever expect to happen.”

The 23-year-old, who joined Minnesota partway through last season after graduating from Hastings College, is currently on blood-thinning medication to try to lessen the clotting. He says he’s feeling good, though, and the next step is to wait for surgery – a rib resection, where the rib in the area is removed in order to reduce the compression on the vein.

Coincidentally, Polak is the second local athlete to deal with this problem this spring. Twins minor-leaguer Deolis Guerra was hospitalized during spring training with the same issue, and had a rib removed in mid-March.

Once the surgery is done, Polak says his recovery time will be quick. “I’ll be able to do fitness and touches on the ball,” he said, “but the only thing in question right now is how long I’ll be on blood thinners afterwards.”

He won’t be able to train with the team until the whole thing has run its course, however – it’s just not workable while he’s on blood thinners. Said Polak, “Taking a knock during training, or something like that, would be serious.”

The team is not expecting him back at any point in the first half of the season, putting a hole in the team’s forward depth. It’s certainly tough on Polak, especially during a game like last Saturday’s, in which the team was short up front. “I was really wishing I could have helped,” he said.

In part one of our interview, I asked Minnesota United team president Nick Rogers a lot of questions about ticket sales. That final transaction, however, is in some ways the outcome of part two: promotion and marketing.

In the weeks leading up to the home opener, there were more than a few United fans who worried about the team’s advertising – specifically, that they hadn’t been seeing much of it. Rogers admits that the team’s rebranding, which took place barely a month prior to Opening Day, put a damper on the club’s ability to advertise.

“With paid marketing, you have to put together ads, you have to get scripts for radio reads, you have to get voice-over talent to do those and producers to make them,” he said. “You have to have an actual marketing plan and buy media space that these creative assets are going to go into, and that all takes time, and it took a little longer than we would have liked, than we would have hoped for. Really, the paid stuff only hit a week before our game.”

That said, though, Rogers says that the team now has advertising going in every channel you can think of, and hopes to have a consistent presence throughout the season.

Really, the team’s goal is to make themselves appear more of a major-league team. Rogers, though, knows that doesn’t happen overnight – and he knows that the team will have to earn that status in the minds of fans, sponsors, and media.

“It comes down to the players, and explaining to people that the players are serious talents from around the world,” he said. “Some of them – not all of them, but some of them – make a lot of money doing what they’re doing. It’s earning the respect of the local media, to treat it like it’s a pro sport. Hopefully we can get people to pay attention when, for example, we beat the Chicago Fire, or when we beat Real Salt Lake in the US Open Cup. I think we have to go out and prove it, that we are a legitimate pro sports team, and then follow it up with some resources behind that from a PR perspective to say – pay attention, we’re doing interesting things here.”

He also refers to the team’s efforts on the day-to-day operations side as a different approach than in past years. “It’s the difference between planning for a decade and planning for the next six months,” said Rogers. “If you’re planning for the next decade, you’ll probably go out and buy a house. Given all the other costs involved, that might make more sense. If you’re planning for the next six months, maybe you’re paying a premium to rent something. It might cost more, but you just have to get through the next six months. We’re trying to bring a longer-term view to what we’re doing, and it means doing things differently in a lot of places.”

It’s not just talk. The team has moved their merchandising operations in-house, rather than outsourcing those as part of a trade deal – and United merchandise flew off the shelves at the home opener. The club also hired a full-time video coordinator, formerly of the University of Georgia athletic department, to oversee and professionalize the team’s video operations. “We want it to look like ESPN3,” said Rogers. So far, so good; the match broadcast earned rave reviews on Saturday.

Rogers might able to sum up the team’s goals in one sentence. “We’re trying to put this on in a way that we’re not just saying this is a professional club – you can see the evidence,” he said.

For the future, the team has a few plans on the burners. They’ve had discussions with potential broadcast partners about getting matches on TV, something that could help promote the club. They’ve also discussed jersey sponsorships, though they’re still looking for what Rogers deems the right fit for the team. “If you’re just trying to get through to next season, you will take whoever will give you whatever [amount of money] you can get,” he said. “We want it to be the right fit for what our brand is, for the story we’re trying to tell – and financially, too, obviously.”