After months of conceptualizing, grumpy-cat tweeting, and finalizing, Minneapolis City SC took another step toward turning the idea into a reality on Thursday evening. The team revealed their home and road kits for their inaugural season at an event at Kieran’s Pub.
The event was billed as starting at 6:00 PM. People drifted in as the downtown traffic let them, with around forty people getting situated in the bar’s Titanic Lounge. Despite a social media plan which centers around memes, calling out subtweets, and following fan opinion, the event was far from exclusively being a 21-35 demographic set.
The team’s official podcast hosted the main event, with Chairman Dan Hoederman given the honor of introducing the four players modeling the new uniforms. Sticking true to the original concept which was laid out in February, the team will feature white, black, and pink as their main colors. The home kits have a white torso and black sleeves, while the road shirts swap out the white for a neon pink. (Despite being on the record as being anti-pink, head coach Keith Kiecker was not in attendance for further comment.) Meanwhile, the goalie shirts will alternate between black shirts at home and Carolina blue on the road.
This also marked the first public appearance of multiple confirmed players. The four in attendance (goalkeeper Duncan Werling, fullback Brian Chapman, midfielder Nate Engel, and goalkeeper Matt Elder) have a range of experience, playing collegiately at UCLA (Werling, starting next fall) and University of Wisconsin-Superior (the other three), as well as the other three featuring for the Minnesota TwinStars. Chapman said he looked forward to the “great potential of playing in a team in such a strong league,” specifically citing the change to make the US Open Cup. “Making the Open Cup would attract a wider audience and turn heads from the national soccer scene. With the talent on this team, I think we’re capable of that.
Associate head coach Jeremy Iwaszkowiec, meanwhile, cited the potential of a strong attack. “We aren’t going to sit back. We’re going to attack right away and try to catch teams off-guard. Keith and I both believe in a possession-based offense while pushing up the field and creating chances.” Iwaszkowiec played collegiately at Clemson University, featuring as an attacking midfielder behind striker (and current Minnesota United assistant coach) Ian Fuller.
Iwaszkowiec admitted that the roster may not be a finished product in time for the opening kick. “We have a target set for June 1st to have our core established. The college combine isn’t until May 14th, and our first game is that next week. Between having guys finishing school outside of Minnesota and other commitments in the spring, we’ll be pulling players until the last minute.”
For now, however, the team can finally rest assured that the players (whoever they may be) will have sharply designed jerseys. The club worked with Impact to design and print the kits. Impact is more of a major player in the rugby scene, while being fairly new to soccer jersey designs. That said, their jerseys can be purchased by fans for a reasonable price tag of $55.00 online. With one month until opening kick, the launch was just another step in the right direction for the new club.
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