Minnesota United started their Coachella pre-season strong with a 6-0 win over Sporting KC this past Sunday. The match kicked off swiftly with a goal by Tani Oluwaseyi in the 10th minute, followed by a goal off of a deflection by Joaquin Pereyra in the 12th.
The Loons looked sharp throughout the first half with crisp passing and good movement off the ball, leading to another goal by Josef Rosales in the 18th minute. Not six minutes later, Tani would get his brace, bringing the lead to 4-0. Minnesota would score two more goals to make the final tally 6-0.
As much as this performance looks great on paper, we must remember this was a pre-season fixture; Sporting was not fielding their starters, while the Loons elected to field their likely starting XI come MLS Opening Day.
Even so, I think there are some things we can glean from this match, despite it being a nearly meaningless result in the grand scheme of this 2025 campaign. Won’t you humor me, as I try to make some assertions based on 90 minutes of pre-season soccer?
Let’s go sicko mode.
Surprise, surprise, the 5-man backline has returned
Surprising literally no one, Minnesota United ran a 5-3-2 formation, with Bongi taking every opportunity at that right-back position to push up the field to join the attack. Meanwhile, Rosales is more likely to engage in combination play with Pereyra on that left side, which paid dividends in this match. If their chemistry on that left side has taken a step up from last year, that will be a truly lethal attack, and with Bongi pushing up that right side at every opportunity, it gives everyone a ton of options.
On the other hand, this back five gives the Loons a solid foundation at defense. It’s much harder to break down and allows them to keep a wide but compact shape. If the Loons can stay disciplined in this formation, we might be seeing a fair amount of clean sheets this season. The backline was hardly tested in the first half and was almost fully replaced by younger players toward the end, so I can’t take much away from this performance besides a pretty solid showing.
Through balls over the top
This could be me just not remembering correctly, but I do not recall seeing as many attempts at long balls over the top from the backline as I saw in this match. There seemed to be a focus on targeting Tani and to assert that as a dangerous option. Yeboah was also targeted, and with his skill on the ball that means that both our strikers have a legitimate threat off of long balls.
If our distribution from the back line to our forwards is going to be a consistent threat, it will open up options in the attack. Last year it seemed the bulk of our offense came off of counter-attacking off a turnover. From what little we’ve seen, there was more of an effort from the backline to distribute directly to the forwards, which is a departure from last year. Dare I say an improvement.
Injection of pace into a slow run of play
This happened only once in this match, but it did catch my eye, so bear with me. Toward the end of the first half, the Loons were awarded a goal kick. There seemed to be some sort of set play off of it, which honestly isn’t something we’re used to seeing. A center-back was standing next to Dayne St. Clair, causing a moment of confusion as to who was taking the goal kick. Dayne ended up taking it, shooting a laser at the right touchline which was knocked down, but was quickly played forward into space.
The play didn’t turn into anything meaningful, but the effort to inject pace into a game that had stagnated somewhat was a real standout. The Loons played many matches last year that felt slow and stagnant at large points, and this could be Ramsay and company’s effort to keep the pace of play up throughout the match. Set plays like this could be a great way to keep the pressure up.
Midfield congestion
The final thing that stood out to me was how congested the midfield felt in attack. I didn’t see any cause for concern in the defensive performance, but neither Trapp nor Dotson showed much promise in being able to carry the ball through midfield to fluidly connect with our attack. Most of the success on offense came from backline distribution, which is great, but it would be wonderful to see things happening from the midfield as well.
Again, this was one pre-season match. We can hardly get anything that meaningful out of one pre-season match, but the performance we saw was very promising coming from someone who watched every minute of every match last year. It is clear to me that this coaching staff knows what they’re doing. They have a vision for how they want this team to play, and it’s plain to see when you watch the team. I am extremely excited to see what this team has in store for us this season.
Their next pre-season fixture is this coming Wednesday, February 12 against LA Galaxy.