The Loons original MLS starting 11: Where are they now?

I’m going to open with a cliche – I remember it like it was yesterday. If I try hard enough, I can scrape together a few details from most of the Loons MLS season openers across the years, but when it comes to the Loons inaugural MLS contest, my memory remains fresh.

There I was, in my basement on a Friday night. After months of obsessing over each player acquisition, each preseason game, each training session Tweet, it was time to put it all on the line. Time for the Loons to officially begin their MLS tenure by seeing if they could do it on a rainy night in Portland. Spoiler alert – they couldn’t. The Providence Park faithful unveiled a Tifo of a larger than life hockey goalie that read “Stick to what yer good at, dontcha’ know.” The ref blew the opening whistle, and Minnesota’s life as an MLS squad began.

Sitting here now, eagerly awaiting our tenth season opener, it’s fun to let a decade of players and lineups wash over me. Remember when we signed Ike Opara and Ozzie Alonso in the same window? Who was that really tall center back from Colorado who never quite made it? How many goals did Amarilla claim he was going to score? There is a lot to reminisce about, surely, but right now it’s time to zone in on the first starting 11 ever deployed. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to see what we threw out there that fateful night, and reflect on how far we’ve come. The team line up in 4-3-3, and I'll start from the back and move forward. Come along.

John Alvbåge (goalkeeper)

John Alvbåge playing for MNUFC during the Loons 2017 "Snowpener" | Photo Courtesy of Minnesota United FC

For some reason the front office seemed committed to finding a sneaky good goalie from afar, rather than just grabbing one of the many serviceable products already clunking around in the league. After an initial target – a Ghanaian I think – came up with a back injury, we settled on Alvbåge, an experienced keeper we got on loan from IFK Gothenburg.

Alvbåge made a total of two starts and three appearances for the Loons, who did not extend the loan, and Adrian Heath ended up handing the reins to MLS veteran Bobby Shuttlesworth after Alvbåge got stretchered off the field in the home opener. Alvbåge, however, made the most of his very short time here by serving as a minor social media celebrity, positing funny Tweets about his travels around MN and the midwest, before going out on another loan to Stabæk in Norway, playing a season in Cypress, and eventually going back to a team in Sweden before retiring in 2022.

Jermaine Taylor (right back)

The Jamaican international was more comfortable at Center back really, but we gave him a try out on the right, probably due to a lack of serviceable options. After all, Taylor had actual MLS experience, with stints in Houston and Portland. This was the only game he played out wide for us. He logged some decent minutes at center back, but Minnesota did not pick up his option at the end of the season. He went on to play for the Austin Bold in the USL Championship and remained there until retiring in 2021. Interestingly, Taylor played his best soccer for Jamaica in the Gold Cup that year, where he won best 11 honors.

Vadim Demidov (center back)

Remember this guy? Minnesota scouted Demidov, Born in Russia but raised mostly in Norway, and decided the wily veteran with La Liga experience was the man to anchor our defense. It. . . didn’t exactly pan out. He played the opening two games, was relegated to the bench, then got one more chance against New England, where he gave up a PK, and just like that our most expensive signing of the year never saw the field again.

Rumor has it, he enjoyed the fruits of his contract regardless, based on the famous social media photo of him resting in a hammock hung between two palm trees. The two most interesting things about his short post Loon’s career are that he played for a year on the same team in Norway as Alvbåge before retiring in 2019, and he eventually consented to a post mortem interview with Jeff Rueter that was must read TV. Was Demidov the worst signing in Loons history, or a slightly over the hill defender who took the fall for a team that scouted poorly and employed a coach not known for his defensive acumen? You be the judge.

Francisco Calvo (center back)

Francisco Calvo playing for Minnesota United against Montréal Impact at TCF Bank Stadium | Photo by Tim McLaughlin

Ah, what a pairing! The has-lost-a-step Russian-Norwegian, and the frisky, but ultimately unreliable Costa Rican. If you made a list of doomed-to-fail CB pairings, this could be at the top. Either one of them might have low key worked out with a different partner, but the two of them together was a recipe for shipping goals. Heath personally reached out to the flashy Calvo to convince him to leave Costa Rican giants Saprissa. Calvo was always dangerous going forward, but he was also quite dangerous going the other way in that he had a knack for head-scratching mistakes in the defensive third. He was eventually traded to Chicago in 2019, played in Turkey, and is currently doing his thing for Al-Ettifaq in the Saudi Pro League.

Justin Davis (right back)

Davis deserves special mention as the only player from Minnesota’s NASL squad to break into the first starting 11. He mostly managed to hold his own too, if memory serves, but he lost his starting spot when Minnesota acquired a left back with legitimate MLS experience in Marc Burch. Davis made eight appearances for the Loons that year, and went on to play for the USL version of Nashville SC before retiring in 2019.

Collen Warner (midfield)

Warner, who the Loons picked up from Houston via the expansion draft, seemed like a reasonable guy to throw out there against Portland. The MLS journeyman had experience across four MLS teams, a decent first touch, and wasn’t going to try anything fancy. He had his moments as Loon and managed to hang around the fringes of the starting lineup for most of the year. He stuck around for one more season before a stint in Denmark and then came back to the MLS to play for the Rapids before retiring in 2022.

Rasmus Schüller (midfield)

Rasmus Schüller playing for Minnesota United against FC Dallas at TCF Bank Stadium | Photo by Tim McLaughlin

Schüller was supposed to be one of Minnesota’s marquee signings. Director of scouting Amos Mcgee felt that northern Europe was an untapped market, and Schüller, a Finnish international, was the most highly pedigreed of the players they brought in from Scandinavia – yeah, Finland isn’t technically Scandinavia, but for soccer purposes it is. Schüller struggled enough early in that first season that they decided to loan him back to HJK in Finland before bringing him back again for the 2018 season. Schüller left Minnesota after the 2019 season for a tour of duty through clubs in Scandinavia. He currently plays for Vendeyssel Forende, a second-division club in Denmark.

Mohammed Saeid (midfield)

The third part of a midfield triumvirate designed to thwart attacks and shuttle the ball to the attackers, Saeid was the classic easy-pass, low-risk defensive midfielder. Minnesota picked up Saied, born in Sweden to Eritrean parents, via the expansion draft from Columbus, where he was among the league leaders in pass percentage. He seemed like another solid enough piece to help build a new team, but his tenure in Minnesota was short – he became part of the trade package that sent him and Josh Gatt to Colorado for Sam Cronin and Burch in April. He left the MLS in 2018 to return to Scandinavia, where he retired in 2024 after stints in Sweden and Denmark.

Bashkim Kadrii (left wing)

Man, I forgot his name for a minute, even though I could picture him. I remember being excited about this guy’s upside. He was coming off a knee injury, but Youtube highlight reels showed some long range bangers and he had made an appearance for Denmark. We got him on loan from FC Copenhagen, and I kind of thought maybe we were getting a steal, and that Amos was right about treasures to be bound in Scandinavia. He wasn’t – at least not in this case. Kadrii had his moments, but he never flourished as a Loon. He went back to play in Denmark and had a stint in Saudi Arabia before going back to Denmark and retiring after the 2024 season.

Johan Venegas (center forward)

It says a lot about Heath’s sensibilities that after selecting the reliable and established right back Chris Duvall in the first pick of the expansion draft, he quickly turned around and traded him to Montreal for this languid, temperamental Costa Rican striker. Venegas was hot and cold for Montreal, but he had notched some big moments with the Costa Rican national team, including a goal against the US in a game that earned Jurgen Klinsmann his walking papers. Venegas scored only two goals as a Loon, probably dribbled more than he should have, and seemed to have an inflated sense of his own abilities. He left the MLS after that season to go back to Costa Rica, where he seems to be more appreciated, and currently plays for top flight Cartaginese.

Kevin Molino (right wing)

Kevin Molino playing for Minnesota United against LA Galaxy | Photo by Tim McLaughlin

Heath’s big move for that opening year was to find a way to reunite with Molino, who he coached back in Orlando. He convinced the front office to throw enough money at Orlando to get Molino up north, and it was money well spent. The Trinidadian was a bright spot in that tough opening season, and put in several productive years in Minnesota. He tore an ACL in 2018 – the second ACL tear of his career – but came back to create plenty of highlight moments. One of my favorites was his sublime lofted pass that landed on the foot of a charging Mason Toye, who slotted it home for the game winner in the Open Cup semis. To my despair, “Hot Boi” left in 2021 to join a stacked Columbus Crew team. Apparently he is still lacing up his boots in Trinidad for Defence Force F.C.

That’s our original starting 11, in all their glory. Let’s not worry ourselves about the game’s result – a 5-1 drubbing. Instead, let’s just pay homage to the OG MLS Loons..

The original opening day starters by the numbers -

Still playing: 4