NFL
By: Steve Rogers
The Minnesota United FC, aka the “Loons,” were founded on March 25th, 2015. Bill McGuire owns them. It took two years of construction, but in 2019 they had a home stadium named Allianz Field. It holds 19,400 spectators in the heart of St. Paul / Minneapolis, aka the Twin Cities metro area. They are giving the Minnesota fan base a professional team to cheer for in the fasted growing sport in the country. Their colors are Grey, Sky Blue, and Black. The emblem or crest/shield has a fantastic back story as well.
The six-pointed star stands for the Star of the North.
The Loon is Minnesota’s State Bird. Also, it has eleven feathers, one for each player on the field.
The Badge the Grey color represents the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota.
The Stripe is the Mississippi River, which unites the crest as the blue angled stripe. The crest’s two sides represent the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, and St. Paul.
Their home jerseys are grey, with three sky blue stripes on the right shoulder, three black feathers across the front, and white stripe numbers on the back. They also have an all-black jersey with stripe baby blue numbers. Their road jerseys have two options: baby blue with black stripe numbers. Then they also have an all-white jersey with black stripe numbers.
In the club’s short six-year history, its record is 63 wins, 37 draws, and 71 losses. The Loons have five wins, three draws, and eight losses this year. Giving them 18 points, good for 12th in the western conference. Here’s a fun fact at home games, after wins, the home crowd chants Oasis’s own “Wonderwall.” It started as an ode to the former pro soccer team in Minnesota, the Stars, which it began doing during a playoff run in 2011 and 2012. But now has quickly become one of the best traditions in all American sports. 
Now let’s look at who is taking the Pitch for this Loons team in 2022.
Midfielders
# 17 Robin Lod Height 5’ 11” Weight 181 lbs. date of birth 4/17/1993 (29)
Position Detail Central Midfielder Footedness Left
# 10 Emanuel Reynoso Height 5’ 10” Weight 143 lbs. Date of Birth 11/16/1995 (26)
Position Detail Attacking Midfielder Footedness Left
# 25 Aziel Jackson Height 5’ 9” Weight 154 lbs. Date of Birth 10/25/2001 (20)
Position Detail Unknown
#20 Wil Trapp Height 5’ 8” Weight 152 lbs. Date of Birth 1/15/1993 (29)
Position Detail Defensive Midfielder
# 11 Niko Hansen Height 5’ 10” Weight 170 lbs. Date of Birth 9/14/1994 (27)
Position Detail Unknown
# 31 Hassani Dotson Height 5’ 11” Weight 170 lbs. Date of Birth 8/6/1997 (24)
Position Detail Unknown
# 5 Jacori Hayes Height 5’ 8” Weight 150 lbs. Date of Birth 6/28/1995 (26)
Position Detail Defensive Midfielder
# 23 Adrien Hunou Height 5’ 9” Weight 146 lbs. Date of Birth 1/19/1994 (28)
Position Detail Attacking Midfielder Footedness Right
# 33 Kervin Arriaga Date of Birth 1/5/1998 (24)
# 8 Joseph Rosales Date of Birth 11/6/2000 (21)
Goalkeeper
# 1 Tyler Miller Height 6’ 4” Weight 194 lbs. Date of Birth 3/12/1993
# 13 Eric Dick Height 6’ 5” Weight 205 lbs. Date of Birth 10/3/1994
# 97 Dayne St. Clair Height 6’ 3” Weight 165 lbs. Date of Birth 5/9/1997
# 99 Fred Emmings Height 6; 5” Weight 209 lbs. Date of Birth 2/8/2004 (18)
Birthplace St. Paul, MN USA
Forwards
# 18 Abu Danladi Height 5’ 10” Weight 170 Date of Birth 10/18/1995 (26)
Position Detail Unknown Footedness Right
# 9 Luis Amarilla Height 6’ Weight 161 lbs. Date of Birth 8/25/1995 (26)
Position Detail Striker Footedness Right
# 29 Patrick Weah Height 6’ 1” Weight 185 lbs. Date of Birth 12/3/2003 (18)
# 24 Justin McMaster Height 5’ 10” Weight 163 lbs. Date of Birth 6/30/1999 (22)
# 7 Franco Fragapane Height 5’ 7” Weight 146 lbs. Date of Birth 2/6/1993 (29)
Position Detail Winger Footedness Right
# 21 Bongokuhle Hlongwane Date of Birth 6/30/2000 (22)
# 16 Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi Date of Birth 5/15/2000 (22)
Defender
# 15 Michael Boxall Height 6’ 2” Weight 201 lbs. Date of Birth 8/18/1988 (33)
Position Detail Central Defender Footedness Right
# 91 Oniel Fisher Height 5’ 9” Weight 154 lbs. Date of Birth 11/22/1991 (30)
# 92 Kemar Lawrence Height 5’ 10” Weight 161 lbs. Date of Birth 9/17/1992 (29)
Position Detail Full Back Footedness Left
# 14 Brent Kallman Height 6’ 2” Weight 190 lbs. Date of Birth 10/4/1990 (31)
Position Detail Central Defender
# 4 Callum Montgomery Height 6’ 3” Weight 176 lbs. Date of Birth 5/14/1997 (25)
Position Detail Central Defender
# 19 Romain Metanire Height 5’ 10” Weight 159 lbs. Date of Birth 3/28/1990 (32)
Position Detail Full Back Footedness Right
# 12 Bakaye Dibassy Height 6’ Weight 163 lbs. Date of Birth 8/11/1989 (32)
Position Detail Central Defender Footedness Left
# 36 Nabilai Kibunguchy Height 6’ 3” Weight 187 lbs. Date of Birth 1/5/1998 (24)
In their most recent game out west in L.A. against the Galaxy, they were victorious 3-2. On the strength of Emmanuel Reynoso. As he got things started with the opening goal. Reynoso wasn’t done there as he hit the game-winner as well. With a pair of goals, he was the player of the game. Fullback Kamar Lawrence scored the other goal in between Reynoso’s couple. Next for the MN United FC 6-3-8 is a home game on Sunday 7/3 against Real Salt Lake 8-5-4. Currently, the Loons are in 10th, and RSL is 3rd. It sounds like an easy win for Salt Lake, but not so fast. Over the last five meetings between these clubs, each has one win. The other three games have ended in draws. Look for this to also be a close battle.
This is still a young franchise, and their record doesn’t reflect how good and exciting the level of play has been. They’re in lots of 1 goal games. They are always close, highly competitive, and extremely entertaining. The advanced stats show they play in close games 96% of the time. If you’re a local sports fan or visiting and looking for a new social experience, you owe it to yourself to give the MN United FC Loons at Allianz Field a try. Scarves up, Minnesota! 
