The Rise To Prominence For Minnesota United

This season, Major League Soccer has taken so many different twists and turns that we’re at the point now where it’s kind of hard to keep track. Some teams have fallen off the wagon whereas others have been able to rise up through the ranks, defying an awful lot of expectations along the way.

The Eastern Conference has been a bit more ‘wide open’ in terms of the teams competing at the top, but in the Western Conference, the early part of the season was kind of dominated by the two Los Angeles clubs. Both LAFC and LA Galaxy had been able to fend off challengers from the rest of the conference, and it looked like a virtual certainty that they’d be progressing forward into the playoffs as the top two.

Here comes United

Alas, as reported by ESPN and Soccer America, there’s a bit of a resistance going on right now: and it is being led by Minnesota United.

When you think of Minnesota in the context of sports, we’re pretty confident in saying that soccer isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. While they have a solid lineage in the midwest of producing top stars, we’re talking about the clubs specifically.

While the initial team may have been in existence since back in 2010, this incarnation has only really been around since back in 2017 when they began play in the MLS. While they looked like a solid enough outfit, they didn’t come across as a team that would challenge for a good few years.

Now, though, Minnesota are in second place in the West and are doing incredibly well in the US Open Cup. They just seem to have been able to piece things together really nicely over the course of the last few weeks, to the point where they resemble a club that have some really great foundations to build on.

Building blocks

Sports wise, Minnesota is one of the best destinations in the country due to everything from their infrastructure all the way through to their avid fans. This season they’ve needed those fans to get them through some tricky games, and with there not being all too long to go until the playoffs get underway, the momentum that they’re carrying forward with them could be absolutely crucial.

The two Los Angeles sides aren’t quite going to be sweating it out just yet, because when it comes to having clutch match winners, they seem to have a slender advantage.

But we’re talking about the bigger picture, here, which is where the confidence is coming from within United’s ranks. They aren’t expected to go on and do massive things between now and the time the MLS Cup champion is crowned, even after their success in the league. That, in itself, should tell you all that you need to know about how much they’re being undervalued underappreciated.

Now, all we can do is sit back and take a look at how things unfold as this race continues to heat up (not literally).