The San Antonio Scorpions won the NASL regular-season title in 2012, scoring the most goals in the league and allowing the fewest along the way. The team opens their own soccer-specific stadium next week. They’re backed by a fairly serious ownership group, one that wants to someday play in the top division in America.

So why are several of the team’s best players in Minnesota in 2013? Former Scorpions Daryl Sattler and Aaron Pitchkolan point to one deciding factor: head coach Manny Lagos.

Said Sattler, “I loved the organization there [in San Antonio]. But after talking to Manny, and seeing what this organization was putting together, I was excited about making the move. I just felt something special here.”

“We had similar playing experiences – he kind of bounced around the MLS, played with a couple of teams in the lower divisions,” said Pitchkolan. “We had a bunch of good conversations, and he really made me feel comfortable. And talking with the new owners and everything, it was really just an exciting opportunity that I couldn’t pass up.”

Pitchkolan, a defensive midfielder, is ready to get a game against his old club. “They’ve got quite a few new players, and I know quite a few players – I think it’s going to be fun. I’ve talked to a couple of guys who I’m friends with.”

Sattler, meanwhile, thinks it’s all fun and games – but only until he steps across the white lines. “I have a lot of good friends there, I’m friends with the coaches and people in the organization, but now they’re the opponents,” he said. “It’s a good thing. At the end of the day, you cross the lines, it’s a war, it’s a battle.”

“I’ve got a new group now. We’re looking for a W at home.”

SCORPIONS NOTES

* San Antonio returns only eight players from 2012 – but several of their best are back. Captain Kevin Harmse and NASL Best XI selection Walter Ramirez return to anchor the midfield, and the ever-dangerous Hans Dennisen leads the attack, albeit without the now-in-Minnesota Pablo Campos as his partner.

* The Scorpions have also added to their squad. Pat Phelan, who made 80 appearances for the New England Revolution in MLS between 2008 and 2011, returns to the USA after a 2012 sojourn to Finland, ostensibly to replace Pitchkolan in the defensive midfield role. San Antonio has also added a passel of players from Eastern Europe, including Serbian Nikola Vasilic, who will likely start at forward alongside Dennisen.

* Though Sattler played virtually every match for San Antonio in 2012, it’s worth remembering that Pat Hannigan was originally set to be first choice before injury derailed his 2012. Hannigan is back between the pipes for San Antonio this season.

UNITED NOTES

* Despite his move to Minnesota, Campos is suspended for this game – a two-match ban stemming from the NASL semifinals last season, in which he earned a straight red card for headbutting United’s Kyle Altman. Really, you have to respect Campos’s power; San Antonio was the favorite to go through to the championship round until that moment, and now United is without the services of their best forward in the season opener, and it’s a very rare moment of madness that can cause problems for two different franchises in two different seasons.

* Several trial players still remain in United’s camp. Forward Joe Lapira, midfielder Luis Heitor-Piffer, and keeper Peter McKeown are still with the team, and defender Brent Kallman has returned to Creighton to complete his senior year of college, but is still on the club’s radar. Midfielder Sean de Silva, who has represented Trinidad and Tobago at the U-17, U-20, and U-23 levels, is also training with the team for two weeks.

* Speaking of Lapira, he sported a tremendous bushy red beard for most of the preseason, but a source tells me that he’s shaved it off in favor of a handlebar mustache. “Think Yosemite Sam,” says the source. Lapira will be in competition with defender Connor Tobin for “Best Cookie Duster” honors at tonight’s game.

NOTE: This appeared first at SoccerCentric.

The Minnesota United FC season opener is Saturday night, 7pm vs. the San Antonio Scorpions.

If you didn’t know that already, there’s a pretty good chance you’re just joining us. Not to worry; I’m here to bring you up to speed. Here’s the ten things you need to know before Saturday night, from most basic to most specific:

1. You might have heard of the Minnesota Thunder, or the Minnesota Stars. United is the same franchise (basically); as always, they’re still in the second division of American soccer, now called the North American Soccer League. The team took on the moniker “Minnesota United FC” earlier this year, in part to erase the “Stars” reference that most of us still associate with hockey, in part because “United” is unequivocally the name of a soccer team and the team is taking itself seriously.

2. United’s new logo has a loon on it, so some of the team’s supporters are referring to the team as the “Loons.”

3. The NASL has split its schedule into two halves this year. The winners of each half of the season will meet for the league title, the Soccer Bowl, in November. If one team wins both seasons, they’ll play the team with the second-most points over the full season.

4. United will play its first five home games in the Metrodome in the spring season, then move outside to the National Sports Center in Blaine for the remaining home game of the spring, and for all seven fall home games. The team is hoping to approach and surpass last year’s Metrodome home opener crowd, which was 8,600 fans, during its stint in the Dome this year.

5. United, which was owned by the league in 2011 and 2012, was purchased by local businessman Bill McGuire this spring, and for the first time in years, has some financial backing. The most apparent sign of this was an offseason filled with player signings, including 2011 NASL MVP Etienne Barbara and 2012 NASL MVP Pablo Campos, a forward pairing unrivaled in the league. The team also signed Daryl Sattler, who was the starting goalkeeper for San Antonio in 2012, a year in which the Scorpions won the regular-season title; Aaron Pitchkolan, a defensive midfielder who some thought was the key on that same San Antonio team; Max Griffin, the league Rookie of the Year in 2010 in midfield; and Bryan Arguez, an attacking midfielder who has represented the United States at the U-17, U-20, and U-23 levels.

6. Minnesota’s strength in 2012 was its defense – and the whole unit returns intact in 2013. Keeper Matt Van Oekel and the back four of Justin Davis, Connor Tobin, Kyle Altman, and Brian Kallman were a key factor in Minnesota’s run to the league title game, and center back Cristiano Dias and jack-of-all-trades defender Kevin Friedland return in support. Midfielder Kevin Venegas has also impressed as a backup fullback in the preseason, giving United a wealth of options in defense.

7. Apart from the new signings mentioned earlier, the team brought back Miguel Ibarra in midfield, a budding star with incredibly quick feet who never stops running. Lucas Rodriguez returns as well, ostensibly to fill his usual role on the left side of midfield, along with Simone Bracalello, who can play either up front or in in an attacking role as a midfielder. 25-year-old central midfielder Michael Reed has also impressed in preseason training, and could see significant minutes.

8. In addition to the league competition, United will compete in the US Open Cup, a knockout tournament for all American soccer teams. Last year, Minnesota beat Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake, and the team’s players – most of whom want to play someday in MLS – are desperate for another chance to make a name for themselves by knocking off additional MLS teams. United enters the competition on May 21.

9. Expectations, both from the club and from the fans, are very high. Every team talks about winning championships this time of year, but from the people I’ve talked to, anything less for Minnesota will be seen as a failure. Barbara and Campos are expected to address the team’s biggest struggle from last year, which was scoring goals, and overall United has the deepest squad we’ve seen in years.

10. And finally: I think there may be the perception among Minnesota soccer fans that United is on par with the St. Paul Saints in baseball – a fun day out, but not something to be taken entirely seriously. If that’s your idea, please disabuse yourself of that notion. It’s true that NASL teams don’t have the same resources and facilities of MLS, but the gulf between the talent in the two leagues has never been narrower. Minnesota beat the Chicago Fire last Friday, 1-0 away, and though the Fire may be terrible, they played their first team. It’s good soccer in the NASL, and it’s worth your attention – not just as mild entertainment while you sit in the stands with a beverage, but as something to be taken seriously.

If you’re interested in doing that, you’ll find coverage of the team here at SoccerCentric. But if you still need to be convinced, just go to a game – maybe even the one on Saturday night.

When Minnesota announced that it had signed the past two North American Soccer League leading scorers, fans might have rushed to the league website to find out just how many goals the team would be getting. There atop the 2012 scoring leaderboard was Pablo Campos, who scored 20 goals in San Antonio. Nowhere to be found, though, was Etienne Barbara, the other half of the dynamic duo; the striker didn’t play in the NASL in 2012.

Barbara scored 20 goals for the NASL’s Carolina Railhawks in 2011, and hoped that the season would be a springboard to success in Major League Soccer. But he endured a frustrating offseason issue with the strange “discovery rights” system in MLS, as Montreal neither wanted to pay him nor allow him to sign with another team. And when he finally did secure a move to Vancouver, to reunite with Carolina head coach Martin Rennie, he ended up beset by injuries, and made only two appearances.

If you think his frustration with the MLS system has subsided, think again. “One thing that I prefer in NASL is that at least they don’t treat you just like a piece of merchandise,” he says. “Because that’s what MLS is. First you cannot negotiate your contract, you have to sign for four years. And then they can tell you to go home after six months. So that doesn’t make sense. That’s very disrespectful for a player. At least in NASL, they treat you better.”

As someone who’s been on both sides of the divide between the two leagues, he’s also able to compare the two to each other – and he thinks they’re not that far apart. “Obviously in MLS they have a lot better facilities, a lot more accessibility to higher end stuff,” he says. “But hopefully the level of the NASL will grow, especially now that teams like Minnesota has a private owner and the New York Cosmos are in the league. We’re expecting the level to go up.”

“If [the NASL] really wants to push for high-end stuff, I believe that it can match up with the MLS. Most of the difference in MLS is made by the designated players [overseas or higher-paid stars, of which each team can have only a limited number]. You take out most of the DP players – I mean, we beat the Chicago Fire. That shows that even though we have not started the season, and they started their full team, we can still match their style of play.”

Barbara is also excited to resume playing with Campos. The two scored 32 goals put together in Carolina in 2011, so they’re quite familiar with each other – something that even Barbara can’t quite explain. ” That’s a very good question,” he says thoughtfully. “I guess he has what I don’t have, and I have what he doesn’t have. He’s a tall target player. I try to be more mobile around him. We understand what kind of runs we like for each other and what kind of runs we try to give for each other. We combine very good together – I don’t know how it happens.”

Maybe it’s just the accumulation of time that does it. The two have filmed a goofy promo video together and are rooming together for this year’s season, and Barbara thinks that helps their game. “This is why we spend time together and everything, because we always try to stay on the same page,” he says. “That’s a bonus for us, to be able to do that, you know?”

Now, it’s mostly a question of getting back to full fitness. The 30-year-old admits that his game has suffered from his lack of playing time in the past year, and knows that with the new league structure, he can’t afford to start slowly. Says Barbara, “I am now playing [in Minnesota], but… I don’t believe it’s fair that the team that comes sixth in the overall league [as Minnesota did in 2011 and 2012] has a shot at the championship. Now we’re facing a structure that every point counts and you cannot say, ah, I’m just going to be with the first six and I’ll push it for the championship. Every point counts. Everything on the table is very important. ”

And as far as judging success, he’s using a rather simple criteria. “We have an owner that has invested this kind of money, and he wants to see results”, he says. “And when he is happy, we are all happy. So we try to make him happy.”

In Miguel Ibarra‘s first season in Minnesota last year, it quickly became obvious that he more or less defied positional description. He started virtually every game on the right side of the midfield, but as each game progressed, he’d suddenly start turning up on the left side of the attack, or tucked in behind the forwards.

According to the 23-year-old, having no position is his best position.

“I’ve always played like free – so not really in a position, I’m just floating around,” he says. “That’s just the style of play that I play, and [head coach] Manny [Lagos] likes how I play when I do that.”

It led to four goals for Ibarra in 2012, with plenty of chances created along the way – something slightly rare for a team that had trouble getting on the scoresheet. Now, with strikers Pablo Campos and Etienne Barbara entering the equation, Ibarra feels like things will be easier on him. He says, “It changes a lot, actually. Two big targets, two big forwards who score goals. I can run off them, and I don’t have a lot of workload on myself.”

With the options up front, it sounds like the team will be letting Ibarra assume his favored role – not right midfield, or central midfield, but something along the lines of “offensive creator.” Says Ibarra, “This year they’re giving me the role of being right behind the forwards. I can go either way, so I don’t really have to have a decision this time, so it’s kind of working out. That formation is going to work out better this year.”

He’s plenty confident in how it’s working so far, too. Speaking about the team’s 1-0 win in Chicago, he says, “We played really well, one of our best games we played this preseason. We fought hard. They had chances and they didn’t finish them, we had one and we finished it and we came out with the win. I think it’s a good start right before our home opener.”

Ibarra spent part of his off-season on trial with San Jose in Major League Soccer, and from the sounds of it, a move to the team was more or less scuttled by outside factors – rumored to include the screwy MLS system of “discovery claims,” in which teams can place claims on unsigned players without anyone knowing about it. “[San Jose] wanted to sign me, but there were other little things that were stopping them from doing it,”  Ibarra says matter-of-factly. “I like it here in Minnesota. It’s not disappointing. I just look at it as a chance to keep working harder and I’ll eventually get there.”

It’s a good attitude to have, for a young player. Optimism may not be Ibarra’s problem, either. When asked about his expectations for the season, he sets the bar as high as possible for United. “I think we can win both seasons,” he says.

It’s one of the few positions he’s willing to take.

United 1, Chicago 0: Miguel Ibarra scored the game’s only goal, as United beat Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire 1-0 on Friday morning. The win wraps up the team’s preseason slate, which saw them beat the Chicago Fire, Bridges FC, and Creighton University, while dropping matches to Missouri-Kansas City and Sporting KC.

As for the Chicago win, don’t think for a minute that it doesn’t mean something for these guys to beat an MLS side. Even in preseason. Even in an exhibition. Chicago didn’t put out a half-strength side – eight of their starting eleven were in the team the previous Sunday, when the Fire lost 4-1 to Chivas. Those guys – especially the ones who are trying to make the MLS leap – want very badly to show off in a game like this.

The win is an also excellent boost for a Minnesota team that knows it needs to get early momentum for the season. A championship and a title-match loss have covered it up a bit, but Minnesota’s coming off two straight seasons of finishing sixth in an eight-team league. The new NASL format, with one spring champion and another fall champion, mean that the days of backing into the playoffs are over, and clearly that’s been a theme of the preseason. Every player I’ve talked to has spoken about the league format and how it necessitates a fast start in April.

Come on and take one: United will announce today that they’ve worked out a deal with Metro Transit for free bus and train rides to all five Metrodome games. For more, click here.

Blessed are the jersey-makers: United assistant coach / defender / everything else Kevin Friedland tweeted a couple of pictures of a jersey press, along with the message, “Over 300 presses and a whole lot more to go.” The team won’t have its super-cool new-logo jerseys until the fall season, but for those who can’t wait, it sounds like there will be team gear ready to go for the spring.

No fan too young: Saturday, Etienne Barbara and Miguel Ibarra were at Mercado Central on Lake Street, engaging in some team promotion at its most basic – shaking hands and, apparently, kissing babies. (Gotta hook these fans young.)