Coming in to its inaugural season, Minneapolis City boasted an active social media presence and the support of one of the larger adult soccer clubs in the Twin Cities. Off the field, City looked to be well positioned to make a splash in the Premier League of America. On the field, however, was the bigger question mark.
As early as February, head coach Keith Kiecker was predicting his team would not suffer for lack of talent. However, his biggest challenge would be integrating Minnesotan talent returning from out-of-state college programs at different points in the summer.
The Crows’ season got off to a strong start, drawing Milwaukee Bavarians away in their competitive debut, and following that with back-to-back wins at home over Croatian Eagles and Minnesota United Reserves. Then, a Friday-Saturday road swing to Cedar Rapids and Milwaukee—to face the Rampage and play a rematch with Croatians—saw the Crows wither under the travel and summer heat, earning only a single point from the two contests.
It was assumed a home game against the last place, and at the time winless Madison 56ers, would provide City with the opportunity to get its season back on track. However, an own goal led to a disappointing 1-1 draw.
City was forced to travel to Madison for its last game with a bare minimum 11 players, plus club chairman Dan Hoedeman serving as its emergency goalkeeper.
Facing a lengthy list of injured players, as well as some of the struggles that come with running a semi-pro non-league team, City was forced to travel to Madison for its last game with a bare minimum 11 players, plus club chairman Dan Hoedeman serving as its emergency goalkeeper.
Surprisingly, City won. On a 90-degree afternoon, using no substitutes, the Crows twice rallied back from down a goal and grabbed a 3-2 victory, returning to Minneapolis still in control of their own fate ahead of their final three regular season games.
Having had two weeks to recover and regroup, City will close out its regular season schedule in the Twin Cities, playing games against the first and second place Bavarians and Rampage at home before travelling across town to face Minnesota United Reserves in a local derby.
The PLA announced yesterday that only the top two teams from each of its two divisions would qualify for the league tournament at the end of the month. At present, City is level on games played, points, and goal differential with Cedar Rapids. The Rampage sit in second place thanks to a 12-to-10 advantage in goals for—the tie breaker after goal differential.
West Division Standings
| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GD | Points |
| Milwaukee Bavarians | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Cedar Rapids Rampage | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Minneapolis City | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| MNUFC Reserves | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 8 |
| Croatian Eagles | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 6 |
| Madison 56ers | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -9 | 5 |
City go into their final stretch in a three-team race for the top two spots in the West, though the Reserves still have an outside chance at reaching the league tournament if results go their way. City, Bavarians, and the Rampage are set to play a de facto round robin, facing one another over each team’s next two matches. Counting the Reserves among the remaining contenders, the division’s top four teams are set to play against each other five times between now and July 24th.
Remaining Regular-Season Schedule
| Game 7 | Game 8 | Game 9 | Game 10 | |
| Milwaukee Bavarians | 7/9 Away Minneapolis |
7/10 Away Cedar Rapids |
7/13 Home Croatians |
7/22 Away Madison |
| Cedar Rapids Rampage | — | 7/10 Home Bavarians |
7/17 Away Minneapolis |
7/22 Away MNUFC |
| Minneapolis City | — | 7/9 Home Bavarians |
7/17 Home Cedar Rapids |
7/24 Away MNUFC |
| MNUFC Reserves | — | 7/16 Away Madison |
7/22 Home Cedar Rapids |
7/24 Home Minneapolis |
From Famine to Feast
The mood at City is presently a good one, as a number of players have returned to training and the Crows should have a full roster to select from for the first time in weeks.
“The week off has been really beneficial for everybody,” said Kiecker. “I think we’ve got more than a full roster—hopefully—going into the next three or four weeks.”
“You go from hardly having enough guys to build a team… It feels like we’re going to have too many,” added associate head coach Jeremy Iwaszkowiec. “We’re going to have to be really strategic and tactical, because there’s a good group of dudes, and only so many spots.”
Dynamic winger Isaac “Goose” Friendt—an Andover native who has committed to play at Indiana entering his freshman year this fall—is one of the previously injured Grumpy Cats who have returned to full training and are available for selection on Saturday.
“Goose is back healthy and Sam Forsgren is now in the fold. Jeremy and I are going to have a difficult task—as well as [goalkeeper coach] Adam Pribyl—trying to figure out not even who our top 18 are, but who our top 11 are, ” stated Kiecker. “Sam Forsgren shows up from Northwestern, gets on the bus, goes to Madison, and has two goals. It’s tough to argue that he can’t be on the pitch.”
With the summer heat, and varying field conditions at Les Barnard Field—City’s home ground—figuring out which combination of players work best with one another has been a learning process for Kiecker and Iwaszkowiec.
“A lot of times it feels like we’re playing three opponents: the weather, the field, and then the actual opponent,” said Iwaszkowiec. “Trying to make tactical adjustments and strategies based on those three things has been sort of tricky, and a bit of learning process for us. But we’re going to have a full, strong, intelligent roster that should be able to adjust to whatever the variables are quite well.”
“We’ve been trying to evolve on our own pitch. It’s been tough, because the conditions for the last couple games have been bad,” continued Kiecker. “The first two games, it was pouring rain, and wet. The last two games it has been hot, solid ground, and bumpy. It’s pretty evident, with that pitch, you can’t play up the gut. We’re going to be focusing on making sure the guys know how to switch the ball out wide, get our outside backs into the attack, and then go from there.”
The End in Sight
The Crows are set for what could be a thrilling run in, playing the three teams around them at the top of the West division standings. Without the handicap of long van rides, and now having a full squad to bolster its chances, how City’s young roster will react to the pressure of chasing a berth in the semifinals is a question that will be answered over the next three weekends.
“It felt like one of the unintended consequences of some of the issues we had going down to Madison, was that the pressure sort of went away,” stated Iwaszkowiec. “There was no pressure, and the guys played pretty free and fun. We’re hoping that carries over.”
As to whether this Saturday’s contest against the first-place Bavarians is the biggest of City’s three remaining games, Kiecker declined to acknowledge.
“It’s cliché, but I’m just looking at our next game. I made the mistake of looking too far into the future a couple weeks ago and it kind of bit me in the butt,” Kicker said. “Now I’m just looking at practice, and sorting things out from a manager’s perspective. Like Jeremy said, let’s keep that pressure off. Let them have fun.”
Minneapolis City host Milwaukee Bavarians at 4:00 PM this Saturday, at South High School’s Les Barnard Field in Minneapolis.
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