MPLS City's Return to the USOC

When the Uncorporate soccer club rolls into town, it brings with it a host of expectations both on and off the field. With a carefully crafted social media strategy, the club has created a fan base around the world. Paired with their innovative approach to merchandise and marketing, those fans can sustain their love and pride of the club by dressing in some of the coolest kits and tshirts in the game. And all that off the field success is being paired with a club stocked with some of the best talent in the country, all from their home state of Minnesota.

Now the Uncorporate machine prepares to take on the largest and longest running domestic soccer competition, the US Open Cup. We sat down with head coach Matt VanBenschoten and club co-founder Dan Hoedeman to discuss the upcoming match and what we can expect when the Crows fly into Chicago.

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It would be stupid if I didn’t ask about the last time MPLS City competed in the USOC, can you discuss what happened?

Dan: Back in 2017, we had qualified for the first round from the open qualifiers--first amateur team from Minnesota to do it near as we can tell--but we moved to the NPSL from the now-defunct PLA and USSF disqualified us from the tournament. You can't change leagues while in the tournament, though that only impacts amateur teams. For example, that same year Minnesota United moved from NASL to MLS and stayed in.

The next year, in 2018, we did the qualifier route as well. I was actually coaching the team for the qualifiers. We were drawn away to Sante Fe Wanderers in Kansas City but they had issues with international clearances for their players and forfeited. Then we were drawn away to Aurora Borealis in Chicago. We went there and won 3-2 in extra time. We really bossed the game, but knockouts are knockouts. Extra intense. And it's really hard to play away at this level, but our boys made it happen.

Then we had to travel to Rochester, NY. It was winter, snowing, we played on a park field, had an unheated bathroom as our "locker room" (but it wasn't open until the game started). Really frustrating because we had an indoor facility and an old NASL stadium lined up as options, but such was the draw. We scored in the first minute I think. Their goalie had an astonishingly good game and they had an excellent forward who hit us twice on the break. We had the run of play, but credit to Rochester. They did what they had to do. No surprise, that goalie ended up in USL Championship, he was fantastic. Anyway, win the game and we would have qualified but we missed out on the 2018 first round.

Did you take any lessons from your previous experience?

Dan: Traveling at this level is really, really hard--especially in the qualifiers or in March when you're dealing with proper amateurs with day jobs (and not college kids). Inevitably, some guys have to work or otherwise can't make it. The travel schedule has to account for their day jobs and not just the perfect travel experience. Pregame and all that happens in inexpensive hotels and often the pre-game kickaround is in the hotel parking lot, that's just how it is at that level. We have learned a lot about how to manage logistics, scheduling, players, and pre-game prep.

It's still a tall ask to win away in general and even moreso at this level, but we won't make the same mistakes we made in 2018.

The club has been very successful in the NPSL, so what does success look like in the USOC?

Dan: This tournament is a little bit of a blank slate because of when it starts. We're building our tournament roster right now and it hinges on who is available. Our college guys are out. We also have guys checking their work schedules too and trying to plan for that. Our team is in flux.

 Our scouting is in flux, too. Who will Chicago FC United play? It won't be their typical USL2 roster. Will they rely on their (very successful) academy? Chicago is full of elite ballers. Will they pull from them? We're not even sure what team we're playing.

It's hard to know what to expect. 

I can tell you that the guys who were there in 2017 when we were kicked out feel like there is unfinished business they have with the tournament. We're keen to get a win and move on. The dream is to face a pro team. Can you imagine us, say, hosting Forward Madison? Or playing Minnesota United at the Allianz? We can. Not saying we expect it! But this tournament is about dreaming a little bit and those are our dreams.

Matt: Success in the Open Cup for us is to make a run into the 2nd or 3rd rounds. It’s incredibly ambitious, but what every person in this club understands is that being part of MPLS City is a sacrifice and a privilege. It’s a bond that few other teams have. When you look around and know that every single person you see next to you is giving something up to be there with you fighting for the same thing, it’s indescribable. We will certainly play teams that are more talented than us, but they won’t have that same passion/dedication that I see on a weekly basis from our players. 

Round 1 you’ll be facing a USL2 side in Chicago FC United. Thoughts?

Matt: It’s definitely an intriguing draw. Chicago FC United has a very good reputation throughout the soccer community and if you look at their results the past few years, they are one of the best USL-2 teams. The biggest wildcard for all of these first round matchups is what non-college players will each team be able to field. Since US soccer made the ruling that all current college players can no longer participate in the Open Cup, it will have a drastic impact on how teams form their rosters.

Dan: Top to bottom, Chicago are a great organization in a city full of top players. Again, not sure what their team will look like given the time of year, but facing a top opponent is the point of the tournament. They're a top opponent.

How will you approach the match?

Matt: To be blunt, our approach is to prepare well and go win. There’s a history with MPLS City and the Open Cup. Given who we are and our propensity to ruffle feathers (no pun intended), we have to prove it on the field otherwise no one will take you seriously. It’s arguably the biggest game we’ve had as a club in our small history, therefore we’ll be preparing as such.

Do you feel like you have something to prove in this match?

Street art from last year’s MPLS City-coordinated visit from Dutch street artists, Kamp Seedorf

Dan: At our best, we're this traveling circus that likes to play soccer. We just want to have fun and play good teams. Our attitude is not that we have anything to prove.

That said, Minnesota isn't a big soccer state, this is our first run in the cup proper, we all remember 2017... We're punching up against Chicago. We're used to that, though, to punching above our weight-on-field and off. It's part of the fun.

You'll be playing in an MLS stadium, excited about that experience?

Dan: It's fantastic to play at a stadium of that quality.

We played our 2017 qualifier against Oakland County at the National Sports Center when Minnesota United had just moved out of it but before it had been converted. Playing on an NASL-qualify surface is something the guys all enjoy. And our fans loved being back at the NSC, it was nostalgic. But this is going to be a level up, and it's a dream scenario. We spend a lot of time playing in high school stadiums, so are we excited about playing in an MLS stadium? Hard to express how excited we actually are.

Any thoughts on the change to the USOC schedule by shifting round 1 matchups earlier? How will it affect your roster/potential players?

Matt: In years past this would have had a much bigger impact on us. As we’ve evolved as a club, we’ve had to rely less and less on college players or guys who are out of town. In year 5 we now have a solid core of very talented players who are all local guys. Players like Max Stiegwardt, Shae Bottum, Myles Norville and Justin Oliver (just to name a few) have all spent time in and around MLS/USL teams. So we know we have the pedigree to compete at a very high level.

Overall, what do you think about the USOC? Should it be more important to the average American soccer fan?

Dan: I have had a bumpy relationship with the U.S. Open Cup over the years, but I love it. I wish it was bigger, I think it has March Madness potential. It definitely has potential to encourage the growth of lower division clubs. I actually think that the structural changes made this year are positive. I wish it didn't start quite so early, but that's a Minnesota weather issue, not a college player issue. The calendar time between rounds, the ESPN+ deal, the number of "tier four" teams still in the tournament, and when the pro and MLS teams come into the tournament are all moves I've liked. If nothing else, USSF paying attention to and trying to improve the cup is a big thing. I like that it seems to matter to the Federation.

Personally, I like the lower divisions and the underdog stories. I always watch the early rounds of March Madness but haven't seen the Final Four games in maybe 15 years. Part of that is my alma mater does not threaten to make the Final Four, but the other part is the games matter in a different way earlier and I love that David vs Goliath thing. I can watch a league game whenever I want. This is something different.

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MPLS City heads to Chicago to take on Chicago FC United March 24th in their first round US Open Cup match. Follow them on twitter for updates and information.

- Dan Vaughn

Club of the Year Nominee: Minneapolis City SC

Sometimes we take things for granted. Not because they aren’t important, but because they become such a part of our everyday routine that they blend into the background: your favorite pair of shoes, the pillow that you’ve used enough to fit perfectly to your head, the handle of your front door. The things that just fit. The things that work. They are the things that make life normal when things are great, and make life bearable when things are falling apart. We rely on these things to the point that we ignore their craftsmanship, excellence, and perfection. Why? Because we see it every day, like a security guard standing next to a Van Gogh, it loses its meaning. But every once in a while, maybe we should stop and admire the beauty of that thing we take for granted.

If you open the back of a 19th century watch, you can watch the tiny gears click back and forth, the interlocking switches and pulls, the mechanism that tirelessly pulls the hands around the dial, doing its job without complaint or protest. The machine works not because it was easy to construct, though it might lead an uninformed person to think that. It’s actually the opposite, it takes hours of planning, years of practice, and centuries of accumulated knowledge to construct that tiny watch you hold in your hand. Nothing you hold was done by accident, it took trial and error to eliminate any needless movement that might throw things out of balance. Without previous models you couldn’t hold a piece of functional perfection. And of course it’s easy to take it all for granted, because the past fades in memory till we forget it ever was different than it is now. But there was once a time when people looked into the sky and tried to guess how much daylight was left.

The reality is that great clubs require a tremendous amount of effort to exist and then, to overcome the real hurdle, keep existing. We can take it for granted, but the heavy lifting must continue under the surface for the club to maintain their social media, to compete this season, and to be back next season. That effort should be recognized and no club embodies this effort more than Minneapolis City SC.

The list of accomplishments for MPLS City this year is ridiculous: opened a physical club shop, revealed some of the hottest kits in grassroots soccer, clinched their second straight conference title, won a playoff match, had street artists Kamp Seedorf (Amsterdam) create team murals (and a slick one of Prince, as well) all over the city, announced the creation of UPSL side to foster the development of their youth players, maintained one of the best social media presences in the game, released complete financials to allow clubs to mirror their success, this list is insane. But when I asked Dan Hoedeman, club co-founder, what he was most proud of this year, this was his response:

“I take the most pride in the response when Isaac "Goose" Friendt was injured playing in a game for DePaul University this fall and then, due to complications with his surgery, he almost lost his leg. It is terrible what happened. But when we found out, we rallied (with the soccer community across the country) to help raise money for his family. He's been involved with the club in a staff role. The players, volunteers, and everyone closed ranks--as they should have. And he is fighting every day, re-learning to walk, getting mobility in his leg again. He was a fantastic player. Probably our first fan favorite. I'm proud that he's a Crow and hope that if I ever face the adversity that he has and is facing that I will respond the same way, with his strength--and that I will have people around me who close ranks around me the same way, too.” That is the sort of person Dan is and it’s the kind of thing that makes MPLS City such a great club. The fundraiser is still ongoing.

The ties between the club and the city are so strong because of a particular and unique approach taken in staffing the team. “We set out to start a community soccer club. As former players, we saw the soccer scene from that perspective and we saw a huge issue facing American, and especially Minnesotan, players (because of no Division 1 soccer program here, for example): very limited chances as you got older to play in a high-performance environment. Creating a high-performance environment for local kids is something we set out to do. So if, like NAIA and NCAA (and other top NPSL and USL2) teams are now doing, we instead brought in a bunch of academy rejects from Europe and South America then we wouldn't be fulfilling our mission. Potential wins aren't worth abandoning the chance to do something meaningful. Personally, I am completely baffled by the idea of a community team that doesn't include its own community.” In true Dan fashion, he offered a caveat, to be sure no one misunderstood. “In this politically charged climate, I like to make explicit that by "local kid" we merely mean someone who is here in Minnesota without us recruiting them here (and housing or otherwise financially supporting them being here). Doesn't matter when, how, or why you got here as long as the why isn't ‘just to play for Mpls City.’ We love when people move here--half of our founding group are transplants--and we want to be suitably open while also serving the community.”

I won’t lie, when I read the way Dan talks about his club, I think they deserve your vote. There’s something to be said for a club that focuses on taking care of its own community, that strives to embrace the changes of the world without compromising its beliefs, that never takes its attention from the players it develops. That’s the approach MPLS City has taken and whether you take them for granted or not, they will be there next season because of all the moving parts, pulling together to complete the task at hand.

“I think the fact that we have a mission beyond wins and losses matters. We are here to do something good--for local players and to help the community. That is where the value really is. So when I see a former player launch his post-soccer career and know it was helped by the network he got from Mpls City and know that someone in the club was a reference, an example I use because it just happened, that is really meaningful to me and to the volunteer crew. Nobody is in this for the money. Nobody makes any money, we're all-volunteer. We do it for the mission and that keep us going.’

‘Also, and this matters too, we're super ridiculous and it's a lot of fun. It has to be fun.” 

Vote for MPLS City because we shouldn’t ignore something just because it works like clockwork. 

- Dan Vaughn

The Young Crows Find A New Perch

Few clubs at the grassroots level can claim the kind of brand management success of Minneapolis club MPLS City. With a slick approach to social media, merchandise creation, and successful cross-promotional relationships, City has become one of the loudest and most-respected voices in lower league soccer. Their approach is inspiring many of the new faces in the game to rethink their approach to social media and embrace that method for connecting with their potential fanbases.

MPLS City was founded in 2016 and joined the NPSL the following year. Since founding, the club has stuck to a roster building approach that focuses only on Minnesotan players. And while that approach flies in the face of many other clubs’ style, it hasn’t cost the club points in the standings. In three seasons, the Crows have only lost 7 matches and been to the regional semifinals twice. Homegrown talent is paying off and the club took the next step last week.

The Crows announced their U23 side, would be rebranded as MPLS City 2 and would be joining the UPSL next year. We sat down with club co-founder and president, Dan Hoedeman, to discuss the big move into the UPSL and what else might be brewing up north.

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UPSL has to be thrilled with the addition of such an established brand.

So why the UPSL over other regional leagues?

The primary reason for putting our U23 team, now called Mpls City 2, into a league was because the players wanted it: they wanted competitive games, they wanted to fight for a trophy, and they wanted the structure and focus that a league brings. They also didn't want the level of travel we had been doing while playing an independent schedule.

The UPSL in this area provides a compact geographical footprint for competition, which is valuable to young players who don't want to spend all weekend on the road to small and midsized upper Midwestern towns (even though it builds character).

Also, more prosaically, there isn't an established regional league with a footprint near us. We worked with some of the clubs that were trying to set-up the Great Plains Premier League, and it's a great group of clubs, but it wasn't quite coming together on the timeline we needed. I do hope it works though, the regional league network idea is a strong one.

How much crossover in the roster will occur between the NPSL side and the UPSL side?

The idea is that every MC2 player will be rostered with the NPSL side so there is maximum ability to call players in to that team. We saw that work successfully, and critically, last season. Guys like Eli Goldman, Mike Riley, and Noah Senn were called in to the NPSL team and played really important roles in last season's conference title. We want even more of that.

Will the UPSL side have completely different coaching staff/support staff/branding?

From a coaching standpoint we consider it two branches of the same tree (what is it about sports that brings out the lame analogies?). MC2 will a head coach, Ryan Nichols, who has been with the club for the past two seasons as an assistant. He knows the club. He knows the players. He knows the other coaches, and has a great relationship with NPSL head coach Matt vanBenschoten as the two are Bethel University alums who have worked together at Fusion Soccer Club and other clubs before. They will each lead their team and each have their own set of assistants, but will work together. That will include how we structure training, with some combined time and some separate time as part of each week's training plan.

As for branding, we're all one club. The team will get its time in the limelight, have its section of the website, and have its own hashtags (#YouthMovement #MC2), but this is Minneapolis City #OneMurder.

Image courtesy of Urbanpitch.

Any specific plans for a themed shirt or a different kit?

Because we are one, single club the idea is that we will wear the same kit and have the same gear.

However, we also can't help ourselves when it comes to kit design so...

Will the UPSL side be playing both seasons?

We will just be playing over the summer. It's Minnesota, so starting earlier than May is impossible and winter starts pretty early.

In theory could both of these men's sides make the Open Cup?

Theoretically, yes. The NPSL could qualify via the league while the UPSL side could qualify through regional qualifiers. However, given that our primary focus will be youth (college and high school-aged players) for the UPSL team it's hard to see how the fall qualifiers will be contestable.

And it's just double the teams to get kicked out anyway..

[if you’d like more information on the incident Dan referred to, we’d recommend 551’s article.]

Can you explain the thinking of including access for NPSL season holders?

We have some really passionate, really engaged supporters. We're better because of it. So the idea of adding on extra fees and pricing wasn't really something that seemed right.

Also, we want to make sure that we are executing well. This first year will be a learning experience for us--it's double the events we have to execute in some form or another and that's a strain on an all-volunteer organization. Better to be confident that we can nail it first.

The club’s branding includes the use of a brick and mortar store font for their merchandise.

Any future plans for a women's side?

We have been thinking hard about this for a while now.

The key for us is that we execute it as well as we do the men's side. That means that we need to get the budget, the facilities, the coaches--all of the elements together and at a high standard. The budget piece has so far been the toughest part. But we're not willing to operate a women's team as a second fiddle.

We have a woman leading the charge in framing up the women's side opportunity for the Front Office and Member Board to consider. A great player in her day, she worked with my mild mannered alter ego Dan the Ad Agency Guy for years, and is the right blend of knowledgeable and passionate about the sport and razor sharp and business minded. She'll be working with the broader team to see what a roadmap looks like to make it happen. No promises on timing, but we're going after it.

- Dan Vaughn

Turbo Sports FC and the New Look of the UPSL in Minnesota

There are few things that lower league soccer does more than change. Yet another example of this took place recently when the UPSL announced a realignment of its clubs in the upper Midwest. The move saw the likes of Milwaukee Bavarians, Madison 56ers, and Croatian Eagles leaving a UPSL conference they had brutally dominated the year before. This has left the Minnesotan clubs from last year, FC Minneapolis and Granite City, with their own conference that is set to be home to five new members of the UPSL.

One of those new teams is Turbo Sports FC, a Minneapolis-based club founded in 2017 that had previously played one season in the Minnesotan Amateur Soccer League (MASL)’s Division 4. The MASL is a widely respected league in Minnesota, featuring NPSL reserve squads and several clubs that are often rumored as having a chance of being the next big NPSL club, like Dynamo FC and FC Minnesota. Turbo Sports debut season in the MASL’s bottom division ended with a 6-3-7 record and a reasonable midtable finish. Club owner Ceephas Dean said that the club will likely not pursue playing in both the MASL and the UPSL this year, despite some clubs using the MASL as a home for a second team. “As of now we aren’t sure but the plan in the future is to field a team in the MASL. As of this season we will just be having 1 team”.

On why Turbo chose the UPSL as its new home, Dean had this to say, “The idea of playing in a national league is what stood out as well as the way the league is structured as well as the growth of the league it can open doors for players & the club.” Asked about the club’s key goals going into this major transition, Dean gave five core points, “The biggest to be successful during the season, grow the club, continue to do the right things, maintain a good level of play, [and] start doing community activities.” 

Image courtesy of Turbo Sports FC

One of the more intriguing aspects of the conference realignment is that it makes the conference far harder to predict. Bavarians won the Midwest-North with a perfect 10-0-0 record, with the two newer Minnesotan teams collecting only 7 total points across their combined 20 games. With the older Wisconsin clubs split from the Minnesotan wave of additions, it is quite possible any of the teams involved in the new Midwest-West conference will do well, though the clubs with previous UPSL experience, especially Granite City who earned 6 of those 7 points, will have an advantage. Dean had this to say on his club’s entrance into the new-look conference. “The conference does have good teams in it, so we will see how it all pans out for us but hoping to finish strong and in the top half as of now this conference is up for grabs and we are going to battle every game and give it our all.”

While the move of Bavarians and Croatian Eagles to a conference where they can face the likes of Union Dubuque and Dekalb County will make for one of the league’s highlight conferences, where some of its best clubs will face off, the shifts in Minnesota are equally important for the league. The UPSL earned some strange looks from the vibrant Minnesota lower league scene when its two Minnesotan clubs turned out to struggle so strongly in 2018. Allowing the two returning Minnesotan clubs, four new Minnesotan clubs, and the first South Dakotan club in the league to play one another and develop talent through an actively competitive division.

Turbo’s most recent results, all from friendlies, show the club has clear aims to prepare to face the sort of clubs that populate its region of the UPSL. These include a 2-2 draw with FC Minneapolis, a 3-2 win against Dynamo FC, who were recently promoted to MASL’s Division 2, and a 5-1 win over soon-to-be WPASL side Hayward United.

If nothing else, we are witnessing an immense growth in Minnesota’s presence at the national league level, with the NPSL North continuing to harbor a number of the state’s top clubs and the UPSL suddenly home to six instead of the two it held in 2018.

- Dominic Bisogno

Searching for Success or Building A Home – Different Clubs, Different Styles, Same City

Rochester, Minnesota, like many cities and towns that call lower league soccer home, is a small market for any sport, especially the likes of the beautiful game. Despite this, Med City, who play in the NPSL, have managed to create a strong and reliable relationship their hometown. The club has finished fourth out of eight in its two seasons as part of the NPSL North and has gained a reputation as one of the key clubs in the conference despite never making the playoffs. In many ways, being able to beat Med City has consistently been the key to post-season and title success for the conference. With this in mind, the club may soon find itself competing for its slice of the Rochester sports market.

In early October, the UPSL announced that a new club would be joining its Midwest-North ranks known as Rochester FC. As the name suggests, they would be located in the same city as Med City and announced that they would play in Rochester Regional Stadium, the same home as Med City. While speaking to Med City the topic of stadium sharing came up but no comment was made. Needless to say this will be an interesting aspect of the two clubs’ relationship.

Rochester FC Tryouts

The interesting relationship between the two clubs doesn’t end at stadiums however, as Rochester FC made it clear in their early media appearances that the club aimed to do something they felt Med City didn’t do, a fact perhaps most notably shown by the fact that RFC was co-founded by a former Med City player, Midhat Mujic. That aim is to provide opportunities for local players. In an interview with Pat Ruff of the Post Bulletin, a Rochester-based newspaper, Mujic stated that “There is a team in town (Med City FC), but for us it is not a Rochester team… Our goal is to bring exposure to our (Rochester-area) kids.” This comment touches on the fact that Med City, as is becoming more common amongst some NPSL clubs, has been focusing more and more on scouting colleges and other sources of talent nationwide. Med City owner Frank Spaeth noted in the same article that the practice of finding out of state talent was simply done to improve the club’s ability to compete and provide a strong level of play for its audience.

While this discussion of local talent may at first seem like one club not appreciating Minnesotan collegiate soccer or Rochester in some way, a brief look into the local post-secondary environment quickly reveals a problem for clubs seeking to rely solely or even largely on local talent. Of the various major post-secondary schools in Rochester, only Rochester Community and Technical College has an athletic program, one which does not have a men’s soccer program. The University of Minnesota Rochester’s athletics stops at the intramural level, while the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science has no athletics to speak of. In total, and perhaps because of the area’s medicine-specific academic environment, Rochester has virtually no collegiate soccer footprint. Other nearby cities provide almost as little for Rochester, with the Minnesota State University Mankato having no men’s soccer program either and the Twin Cities, who hold quite a few well-viewed men’s soccer programs, being home to three NPSL clubs, two UPSL clubs, and many MASL clubs who use college players. Needless to say, any Rochester club seeking to farm talent out of local institution would actually find more sources amongst the older age range of high school students than they would in colleges.

With an important distinction between the two clubs becoming clear, Protagonist Soccer chose to speak with both clubs in search of further understanding of how both see the issue and how both found themselves on either side of a debate that says a lot about sport in Rochester, Minnesota.

Rochester Football Club has made it clear from the start that youth opportunities are a key pathway for their “local first” goals. Speaking with the club, it became clear that youth development may indeed provide the club with the solution to issues mentioned earlier in this article. “The goal of our club is to develop local talent in the area and bring them up into first team players while providing exposure to college teams and other professional teams. For our club, the youth play a very important part and they are the key to having a strong team for the future.” The UPSL provides a youth academy league for clubs to participate in but Rochester FC will not be taking part in this league for its first season. “This year we will not be playing in the UPSL youth academy, this will be a tournament team with friendly games against other strong youth academies and clubs. Our goal is to give the youth an experience that other clubs don't provide.” The club is not ruling out eventual involvement in the USPL Youth program, but made it clear they would not be involved in any way this coming year.

Rochester FC, while passionate about their new project, did show that they understand Med City’s interests in pushing for a more competitive edge. “If we didn't think there was enough talent in the area then we wouldn't have formed this team. We understand Med City's approach and we understand they want to be competitive.” With that in mind, however, the club did state that they feel that Med City’s solution to finding that competitive edge is not in their plans and not something they feel would make sense to begin with. “We are looking at this in a way that would benefit our local area youth athletes. We don't see a point in bringing players who are at the average skill level and are from other countries when we may have the same skilled level players in town who would benefit more.”

In the course of the creation of this article, Rochester FC announced the signings of four players shortly after their first open tryouts. All four players, Mooday Wah, Kevin Ortiz, Kadar Mohamed, and Ajak Bul, are from Rochester or the nearby city of Austin, Minnesota.

No discussion of two clubs would be complete however without the voices of both clubs. With that in mind we spoke with Med City owner, Frank Spaeth. Spaeth started off by laying out the basic connections the club has to local talent and local needs. “The past two seasons, area players have made up around 40% of our roster, with players from 11 different countries on the team each season. We feel like it has been a good mix… Over the past two seasons, the team has done more than 240 hours of community service throughout Rochester each summer.”

Spaeth also acknowledged that Rochester provides obstacles when it comes to sourcing talent. “I do think there are aspects of the Rochester area that make it harder for us to rely only on area players. We don’t have any colleges or universities with men’s soccer programs in town that we can pull from, so we can’t do like Duluth FC has done in grabbing players with local college connections, even if they are from across the country and around the world. There have been very few male players who have played as youth in the area who have gone on to play at a super high level collegiately or at a professional level.”

Despite the obstacles, Spaeth was quick to note that the pool has managed to help get Med City far in a conference that has quickly become one of the NPSL’s toughest all the while ranking below the resources available to its other clubs. “Our pool of talent doesn’t compare to the teams in the Twin Cities or even other larger markets like Fargo and Sioux Falls. It is important for us to explore all player options. The conference has also quickly gained a reputation as one of the strongest in the league. In 2018, Minneapolis City completed an undefeated regular season only to be upset by Duluth FC in the playoffs. Duluth FC went on to win the Midwest Region championship... If not for an incredible goalkeeping performance against us by the Duluth FC keeper in the last game of the season, we would have beat Duluth FC and they wouldn’t even have made the playoffs.”

Spaeth ended our discussion with a clear statement of purpose, one that combines local and far away talent. “Our goal remains the same as it was in the beginning. To be Rochester’s best, highest-level soccer team and to have a team capable of pushing for conference titles and playoff appearances every season. We feel like if we get all the players, both local and international, who have expressed interest in coming back for 2019, to return and fill the open spots with new players who improve the roster, we will undoubtedly do that.”

In the end both teams have big years ahead of them, years that could help prove their approaches to the game as effective or otherwise. The score lines won’t be the only numbers that matter as both will compete in a tight market of soccer fans. Perhaps those off the pitch numbers will best show which approach can prevail. The rest will be left for time to tell.

As a final note, Rochester FC mentioned toward the end of our discussion that a branch had been offered to their neighbors to build a positive relationship. “We offered Med City a scrimmage if they were interested so we can show them that there is talent in Rochester, but we haven't heard back from them.” That offer has still gone unanswered as of the writing of this article, though any change to that will be added to this article.

- Dominic Bisogno

Making the Leap – Vlora City and Stepping into the UPSL

Based in Minneapolis, a club with several years of experience will soon find itself part of a nationwide league for the first time when Vlora City Football Club joins the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) in 2019.

Found in 2012 when it was created by Adi Bilani, Vlora’s expansion to the UPSL is a long time coming and the result of a process which has seen the club play in many forms. Bilani explained that the club has found its way up the ladder in Minnesota, “When the club was founded, it primarily competed in local tournaments in the Twin Cities metro area. After having success competing in local tournaments the decision was made to join the Minnesota Amateur Soccer League.”

Despite the Minnesota Amateur Soccer League’s (MASL) status as a beloved league within Minnesota, Vlora City knew it had the potential to take the next step. “After a few years of competing in the MASL the club was able to work its way up to the league’s top division… During this time the club began setting up friendlies against some of Minnesota’s semi pro teams and after having good showings in theses matches, the club decided it was ready for a higher level of competition.”

Vlora City FC will be joining the UPSL’s Midwest-North Division in the spring of 2019. The division is best known for its Wisconsin clubs, which include the Madison 56ers, Milwaukee Bavarians, and Hrvatski Orlovi (Croatian Eagles), but is also home to two Minnesota clubs; Granite City and FC Minneapolis. Both Minnesota clubs had tough first seasons in the UPSL, with Granite City earning a record of 2-0-8 and FC Minneapolis finishing last on the table with a record of 0-1-9. But all three clubs- along with the newly announced Rochester FC -will be hoping to change the narrative in 2019.

Despite the massive endeavor ahead, Vlora made it clear it has no plans to end its time in the MASL and will continue to field both its first and second MASL teams. “Yes, we will be maintaining both MASL teams. The teams will compete in DI and DIII of the MASL because we want to still provide opportunities for players to develop their skills and play at higher levels.”

Vlora City FC finished the 2018 MASL season in seventh place out of ten with a 6-2-10 record in Division 1, while Vlora City II finished second in the MASL’s Division 4 and earned promotion to the third division with a 13-0-3 record. With its presence in the MASL confirmed for 2019, Vlora City finds itself on the brink of a ladder of playing opportunities that, if executed well, could leave it a powerful entity. While Minnesota’s footprint in the UPSL is very much at an early stage, Vlora City and its growing network seem determined to enter the fray with some of the upper Midwest’s top organizations.

Vlora City’s notability doesn’t end at its growing network or recent promotions. The club earned attention and admiration recently after posting on social media that it currently had thirty nationalities or ethnicities present on its rosters. Those nationalities are: Albanian, Bosnian, Mexican, Somalian, Kenyan, American (US), Jamaican, Congolese, Liberian, Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian, Zambian, Mauritian, Brazilian, Spanish, Guinean, Ghanaian, Honduran, Sierra Leonean, Thai, Ivorian, Ukiranian, Hmong, South Sudanese, Guatamalan, Italian, Togolese, Ethiopian, Czech, and Djiboutian.

With players representing four continents, Vlora City finds itself representing, in quite a big way, a common theme in the United States when it comes to sports and most certainly the beautiful game. The fact that an organization containing people and ideas from every corner of the world finds itself growing positively in just about every way is perhaps the best testament to how soccer can provide bridges across ways of life.

Vlora City maintains that the sense of community and diversity that persists around the club is not just a positive, but a core value. “We believe that our diversity as a club is our strength. We want our club to be a model for other clubs by being a club that fully embraces all players for their love of the game. We believe everyone deserves opportunities regardless of their race, skin color, or ethnicity.”

The club expands on its diversity on its website’s “About Us” page, featured on vloracityfc.com: “The club aims to use its diverse makeup and experiences to develop players who have strong character and integrity in order to pursue their dream and be change agents within the community.”

If there is one lesson to be learned from Vlora City’s story- a story that starts in local tournaments and now finds it a new member of the UPSL -it is that clubs should pursue diversity as a point of strength. As Bilani puts it, “Everyone is welcome at Vlora City FC.”

- Dominic Bisogno