Minnesota United FC open up their inaugural season with an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Portland Timbers last night.
Minnesota is one of 2 expansion teams to join Major League Soccer, taking the total number of teams in the league to 22. They were joined this season with Atlanta United FC as the new expansion teams in the league.
After spending quite a lot building a team that was based on the old USL roster, while bringing in some of the youngest Designated Players in the league, the other noticeable acquisition for the Loons was veteran Head Coach Adrian Heath. Heath has a history of building winning clubs from the ground up and while basing them on younger talent, something that has become a trend across the MLS this season.
Through the first 45 minutes, the Loons only found themselves in a 1-0 deficit to the 2015 MLS Cup Champs, but within 90 seconds of opening up the 2nd half, Portland doubled the lead through Diego Valeri in the 47th minute.
MUFC's first goal in MLS Play came from just outside the box in the 79th minute by team veteran Christian Ramirez. It took just 2 minutes for Portland to come back and make it a 2 goal lead again after a penalty in the box in the 81st that was easily converted by Valeri.
Then Portland started really putting things together in 2nd half stoppage time, scoring 2 more goals to make the final score 5-1.
The MLS Season is a long one, 34 games from now until October, but this isn't a good way to start off.
Hopefully we can see the Loons turn this around quickly and make a proper run into the MLS Cup Playoffs