“The Other End (Of the Loons Telescope)”
During the MLS season, fans can become obsessed with the details: players, scorelines, stats, tactics, etc. It’s good to step back and take a look at the bigger picture. On Friday, October 18 before Minnesota United FC hosted St. Louis City SC, Northern Soccer Journal’s Matthew Johnson had the chance to get a different perspective from Minnesota United FC CEO Shari Ballard.
“Everything’s Different Now”
On letting go of Adrian Heath and other staff, Ballard explained that changes “are always difficult. And in this case it was, it was 10 times more difficult because you care a lot about the people, and they’ve contributed so much.”
What wasn’t difficult for Shari Ballard was separating Heath’s two functions: Sporting Director and Head Coach. Ballard explained, “The first question was what structure we wanted to have with respect to our sporting department.That one I didn’t feel like it was that hard to make. My view is that those roles, the sporting director (or general manager) and coaching roles, are really different roles. They’re both very full-time jobs, and they both require people who are 100% focused on doing that.”
Ballard elaborated, “Honestly, the most important thing was getting the right people in the roles, and I think in particular in sports, in between the coach and the GM, you have to have people that that sort of philosophically have the same view of what they’re trying to do and share values. But the coach, the coach gets paid to win now; the GM gets paid to help win now, but also to have a longer-term view of the roster and what we’re trying to do. And so when that’s set up right, there is a healthy sort of tension between those two roles that you really do need, but you need the people to be able to navigate that well, in a way that we perform well and that they perform well.”
To summarize the leadership changes on the sporting side of MNUFC, Ballard beamed “We’re very, very fortunate that both Khaled [El-Ahmad] as our GM and sporting director, and Eric [Ramsay], along with Dennis [Lawrance] and Cam [Knowles], we’re just very fortunate, they all said ‘yes.’ It’s a year later: and in some ways it seems like it’s been a decade, and in other ways it seems like just yesterday. But I’m very, very pleased with the way the year is going, and excited to have all those folks on the staff.”
“Winning the War”
Looking ahead, Shari Ballard is excited for 2024 MLS Cup playoffs, but as with the hiring of a new staff, she takes the longer view.
“We play Saturday for our last game. We’ll be in the playoffs. I’m pleased with the progress. I really like the I like the people. I like the way they’re working together. I like the way they represent the culture, the community. I like winning. And so we still have a lot of our goals in front of us. Our objective this year was to get things set, to go forward, to get the right people in the roles, to make the playoffs. We’ve done that now. We want to make a run in the playoffs. But our overall — I mean, we’ve been very clear — our objective is to win an MLS Cup. So, I’m pleased with sort of the progress, but I’m not happy with the outcome yet.”
Looking Over My … Fanny
St. Louis City SC joined MLS competition in 2023 as an expansion team. As such, St. Louis and Minnesota United FC have only met four times: home/away in both 2023 and 2024.
- April 1, 2023: St. Louis 0-1 MNUFC
- September 23, 2023: MNUFC 1-2 St. Louis
- September 14, 2024: St. Louis 1-3 MNUFC
- October 19, 2024: MNUFC 4-1 St. Louis
Yes, MNUFC have won three of the four matchups. However, Dark Clouds supporter Adam Wells noticed a trend in this brief history. Wells started following Minnesota United in 2019 and pointed out that MNUFC have won every time there is a fanny pack give-away.
Is this more correlation or causation? Well, my logic professor would remind me: cum hoc ergo propter hoc is a fallacy. However, we need more data. Will there be more fanny packs in future meetups with St. Louis?
“I Could Get Used to This”
For those of us who have been long-time fans or have covered the team for a while, we can forget what it’s like to discover local soccer for the first time. After the Minnesota beat St. Louis 4-1 to end the regular season, NSJ’s Matthew Johnson had the chance to meet Nikki from Eagan, a first-time fan.
M: How did your evening start?
N: I met my friend Jen at Black Hart bar, and we did the drum march to the stadium, which was amazing. And then we met at the loon statue and did the whole hurrah there of chanting and singing and jumping around, and it was amazing.
M: And how did this compare to other sporting events you’ve attended?
N: I’ve been to Vikings games. I’ve been to Twins games. I’ve been to Lambeau to see a Packers game. [Allianz Field was] slightly on par with Lambeau, but unique in its own right. The fan base is nothing like anything that I’ve experienced, and it was super welcoming and very inclusive.
M: What did you think about the experience watching the game itself?
N: It was amazing, learning all the different rules and terms about the pitch, and asking my friend Jen about the the cards and fouls. We were joking about how when they would get a corner kick, they reminded me of like Nutcracker men, when they line up in a row and jump out. Watching their footwork and also just the teamwork on the field, them knowing where each other were, it was astounding — like just their whole understanding of where everybody was without even looking, it was really cool to watch.
M: Did you stay for singing “Wonderwall”?
N: Absolutely we did. We stayed and watched some of the players and the coach do their whole walk around on the pitch at the end. And the players would go get their kids, and then watch the kids hit soccer balls, and then the whole cheering area [Wonderwall supporters section], cheering for the kids, yeah, it was awesome. [I’ve] never seen anything like that family dynamic at the end of the game. It was really endearing.
M: What did you do post-game?
N: We came back to Black Hart. This was my first drag show: great entertainment, highly recommend.
Last 10:
1: Loons (7-2-1)
2: Galaxy (7-3-0)
3: Seattle (6-2-2)
4: Houston (5-3-2)
5: LAFC (5-3-2)
6: RSL (4-3-3)
7: Rapids (4-6-0)
8: Portland (2-3-5)
9: Caps (2-5-3)— Paulie and Georgi’s Seattle freakin’ Sounders (@SorryImAnonymo1) October 24, 2024
What About … Loons
First-time fan Nikki spoke above about the impressive teamwork “knowing where each other were.” NSJ also noticed this and asked Ramsay about the noticeable improvement in one- and two-touch passing.
Ramsay rapidly replied, “A combination of everything: it’s connections; it’s stability of the connections. It’s the team finding good rhythm; it’s the team being well positioned, with players benefiting from some consistency, for sure.”
All season, Ramsay has downplayed possession stats. Rather, when the players have possession, he is looking for quality, not quantity:
“[Tonight] is a great example of what I want this team to look like. We’re not desperate to have loads and loads of the ball. I don’t feel like that’s our makeup. We want to use it well when we’ve got it, and we did today in that sense, in the short connections — but also, obviously, we’re a real threat in taking the space the opposition gives you behind the back line very quickly. And [we] strike the balance well between that control and that measured approach in the middle of the pitch, but also taking our opportunities to speed up and attack with good rhythm.”
It is difficult to argue with Ramsay’s methods as Loons have gone 7-2-1 (W-L-D) in their last 10 matches. They allowed just seven goals in that 10-match stretch, which included 4 consecutive clean sheets.
The bracket is locked and loaded for Round 1 of the Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs 🔒 pic.twitter.com/FLLXyL4GD0
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 24, 2024
Whether you are a long-time fan or new to the Loons, stay with Northland Soccer Journal for our playoff coverage before the season is “Long Gone Buddy.” The Loons take flight to Sandy, UT. On Tuesday, they begin a best-of-three Western Conference quarterfinal round against Real Salt Lake. So, ‘Til Tuesday then…
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Northland Soccer Journal thanks our Patrons for supporting our coverage.
If you would like to support independent soccer media, subscribe to NSJ on Patreon.