Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Minnesota United FC

Another Orlando City game is upon us as the Lions look to get the ball rolling in league play after a slightly uneven start to the season. This Saturday sees OCSC welcome Minnesota United to town in what could be new manager Eric Ramsay’s first game in charge. A visit from the Loons means I spoke with Bridget McDowell of Northland Soccer Journal, and she was kind enough to help give us a primer on MNUFC.

Minnesota brought in a number of players during the off-season. Who has made the biggest impression through the first couple of games?

Most of the players brought in over the off-season will figure in as developing depth pieces but Caden Clark is the marquee signing of year. He was one of those “we could have had him” players who fans are really rooting for, in part because he is a Minnesota native. He proved to the world that he’s the real deal when he went to Europe and he did not disappoint when he subbed in to the Loons’ first game (2-1 win at Austin). Clark was solid in his first start at home (Week 2 vs Columbus), providing a real offensive spark on the wing. He complements Tani Oluwaseyi well. Oluwaseyi is back from loan and getting his first real first-team minutes, so we’re excited to see how they develop both individually and within the squad.

While things will likely change now that Eric Ramsay has been named the new head coach, what sort of style has the team been playing up to this point in the season?

Interim coach Cameron Knowles (MNUFC2 head coach) and new CSO Khaled El-Ahmad have been pushing a high-press, up-tempo attack that is new to this club. Knowles rolled out a 4-3-3 through preseason and in each of the first two matches, a big change from Adrian Heath’s 4-2-3-1. So far, it has highlighted this squad’s strengths, and while the first two starting XIs were nearly the same as we saw at the end of 2023, it looked like a completely different team in all the right ways. That is as much El-Ahmad’s doing as Knowles’ so I would expect we continue to see the trend under Ramsay, even if some of the faces change and in-game tactics evolve into his own.

It can be difficult to say so early in the season, but what are your expectations for the Loons this year?‘

This club is very difficult to judge at this stage — every season has been a rollercoaster. However, all of the uncertainty in this off-season has brought out an identity we’ve only seen glimpses of in the past. If the squad can continue to bust out full-team performances for a full 90 minutes week after week, as we’ve seen from a very small sampling thus far, MNUFC can once again reach the Western Conference playoffs and put up a good fight. Given all of the changes and early hopes, anything less would feel like an unsuccessful season.

Are there any players unavailable for selection due to injury, suspension, etc.? What is your projected starting lineup and score prediction?

At the time of this writing, the indications are that Robin Lod, Emanuel Reynoso, and Francisco Fragapane remain unavailable for Saturday due to injury, as was the case vs. Columbus this past weekend. Bongi Hlongwane has been reintegrating into full training through the week, so he should be available off the bench, but I am expecting the same XI from Week 2: (L-R) Dayne St. Clair; Joseph Rosales, Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall, D.J. Taylor; Alejandro Bran, Wil Trapp, Hassani Dotson; Caden Clark, Teemu Pukki, Sang Bin Jeong.

I normally throw a positive spin into my score predictions for cross-conference matches, but given the history of this matchup and Orlando’s momentum thus far (perhaps especially because of the hiccup vs. Miami), I’ll go with a chippy 2-1 Orlando win. If the Loons can fly home healthy, that will be almost as good as taking three points.

Thank you again to Bridget for the insight into Minnesota United. Vamos Orlando!