So When Are the Loons, Like GOOD?

The age old question of when to properly hype your team

Minnesota United Football Club, the soccer team I like a bit, is in third place of the Supporter’s Shield standings (PPG) with a third of the season gone. Yes, let’s take a moment with that sentence. They are also playing the most exciting soccer in my 15 years of being a fan.

So it makes me wonder: why they aren’t getting the plaudits? When the realtors over at Major League Soccer Soccer dot com rave about teams, it’s Miami, RSL, Cincinnati, and… LAFC? What gives? No love?

Now, I’ve been pretty clear that I think complaining about how national media, particularly the league media, cover the team is lame-o. The people who stopwatch Andrew Wiebe to see how many seconds their team got on the podcast need to not just touch grass, but eat grass. But my question is two-fold: what will catch the narrative machine’s attention and … are the Loons really that good?

Are you watching the games or just looking at the stats?

One major problem with MLS right now is Apple TV’s scheduling. Almost all of the week’s games kick off in the same time slots. The only other games I watch are the late games after the Loons’ game lets out. Then I catch up with the weekend via Apple TV’s great Wrap Up show (Note: I was bummed that Kevin Egan replaced Jillian Sakovitz, but I’ve warmed up to him. And I find Sacha Kljestan, Bradley Wright-Phillips, and Andrew Wiebe to be genuinely fun to watch).

Here’s the problem: because this show is recorded immediately after the absolutely insanely packed Saturday night schedule, these guys have barely watched any of the games. They’re just able to respond to the top-line headlines and the highlights. There are of course more in-depth media that come out later, but none in a nice little TV package. And, you guys, I get one day off a week, I just want to lay on my futon and get spoon-fed some soccer on a Sunday.

Have Loons produced a 5-1 drubbing of a conference rival? No. But they did absolutely run roughshod over Atlanta for 80 minutes and LA Galaxy for 60 minutes. They didn’t just outplay them, they made them look absolutely overcooked-ramen limp. Not in a sexy way, they just shut them down. Earlier in the season, they absolutely bare-bottom spanked LAFC and Charlotte (the latter being less impressive).

Most of what I find Loons to be doing well just isn’t very sexy and unlike the cocaine futbol of the early season, it’s not really highlight reel stuff. Four games in a row with a set-piece goal is cool, but not often highlight-worthy. And so yeah, I get it that it isn’t catching the same attention as Chicho Arango reaching god-level.

In fact, I am still hard pressed to hand you a player to raise a banner as a star. Tani Oluwaseyi has been fantastic so far, but only in a “where the hell did this guy come from” way and not yet in an Chicho, Cucho, Lucho, Messi way. Joseph Rosales has been a revelation, but again, is he in “best wing back in the league” territory yet? Lod is cementing his all-time-legendary-Loon status, but only in the way he makes soccer look so non-nonchalant.

The Loons are a damned good team without a star (except perhaps Eric Ramsay?). So what will it take to be taken seriously and catch attention? I suspect they could go into the final week of the season, fighting for the supporters shield, and everyone would still be “I mean, they’re just not Miami!” That is, unless one of these players starts particularly standing out or they start not just dominating, but start pressing their boot into their opponents. (boyo if the finishing of the last three games improved just a bit, they’d be there).

But When Will I Think They’re There?

The fact is, the Loons are better than their individual parts. Forgive the Heath-Era mention (just one), but for the last 7 years we did have some great times. But through each of these great runs you can point to a single player on a heater (or the Darwin+Molino stint): think Lod as a false 9, Bongi last year, Reynoso. But we never had a team making its sum better than its parts.

The Ramsay era is defined by players—who would have otherwise been Heath “Remember That Guys”—playing actual minutes. Not just playing, but doing remarkably well: Carlos Harvey put in a solid shift, Padelford is now the best homegrown we’ve ever had, and Caden Clark is getting chances to slowly work back to his NYRB level.

And in that newfound collective growth, you see players who were just fine in the past, suddenly putting in world-killing shifts. Just where the hell was this Joseph Rosales? We had seen him play a few games, but never did we see him playing with Liberace flamboyance. Fans were literally ooh-ing and ahh-ing on Saturday night. Kervin Arriaga was previously a really hit or miss midfielder and now he is a rock solid defender with a long boot and a meaty goal-scoring forehead. I saw some promise in some of our under-used players, but never did I imagine some of these guys to glow-up like this was Disney.

So yes, we’re feeling the love and the dynamism, but back to the question: when will we say, yes, they’re really good? After all, what happens when they have a couple bad nights and morale takes a hit? Is this still a honeymoon period for Ramsay’s boys?

The next two away matches of LAFC and Colorado are pretty good tests and I think if they won both we might feel more confident in our suspicions. But I also think at some point we really do need a player to start standing out. I think in order for us to be a top notch team, we need Pukki to get on his bike or Bongi to regain form or Lod to really put up numbers (or maybe it will be one of these “Remember that guy?” candidates that goes big). Maybe that would be in the form of a summer DP signing (surely not a striker… a LW? a time machine for Ozzie Alonso 8 years ago?).

I think as long as we’re riding the teamwork vibe, I might always be suspicious until the second before we win MLS Cup. Every player on the team will have 5 goals a piece and they’ll take turns trading MOTM. My little anarchist bookshop Loons, sharing meals and labor.

We’re not to the point where I think I know what this team is about, but I think the last week has pushed me closer to understanding Ramsay-ball and understanding what this team could be (especially if they start finishing).