Free Headers: Loons hope to have near-full contingent for Galaxy
Minnesota may be struggling defensively - but at least they aren't about to have injuries and suspensions wreak total havoc on them as well.
Michael Boxall is suspended, due to yellow card accumulation, for Saturday night's meeting between Minnesota United and the LA Galaxy. But the Loons are hopeful - moreso than earlier in the week - that he might be the only one who misses out.
Right wingback Kyle Duncan was sent off Saturday in Minnesota's 4-2 loss to St. Louis City, but MLS announced that his red card had been rescinded following an appeal. Duncan's second yellow came after a foul on Rafa Navarro that Navarro successfully made look a lot worse than it actually was, and presumably the disciplinary committee said, in its deliberations, "Well, you know what Navarro is like."
Morris Duggan, who missed out on last week's game due to a lingering injury, has been in training all week and trained in full on Friday. Jefferson Díaz, who missed Tuesday's session due to illness, was back on Friday. Bongokuhle Hlongwane, who hasn't played since August 19, also is back and raring to go.
So as the Loons look to fix their defense, at least they've got some players available to help. "We've gone from being good on that side and not conceding a lot of goals, to conceding some poor goals recently, and we just need to get back to tightening that up," said head coach Cameron Knowles.
They're about to get more reinforcements, as well. Knowles said that Cherrion Valerius's visa has been approved, and so the Dutch right back / right center back will finally arrive in Minnesota on Monday. According to the coach, he'll go through the same physical testing that all players do, at the beginning of the season or when they arrive in Minnesota, and the Loons will figure out where he's at - and how soon he might be able to contribute - at that point.
Midfielder Peter Stroud was doing work on the side during Friday's training, presumably because he enjoys working hard in the cold, pouring rain. (Stroud isn't close to returning yet, but getting out on the grass is the first step towards getting back in team training.)
Alec Smir, Jordanian superstar?
The club announced this week that backup goalkeeper Alec Smir had earned his first-ever international call-up to the Jordan national team - which came as a surprise to those of us who had no idea he was even eligible.
I can't claim to be an expert on Jordanian soccer, but I do know that they made their World Cup debut this summer, one of four teams to do so in the new expanded format. Jordan lost all three of its games and the manager resigned, but it could have been worse - at least they didn't fire their manager one game into the tournament, like Tunisia did.
Jordan was the runner-up at the 2023 Asian Cup and is hoping to do even better at the 2027 edition, which starts in January. Huge congrats to Smir, who is one of the nicest players you'll meet.
Gopher awards, Aurora job opportunities
Minnesota goalkeeper Sarah Martin was named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week for, I presume, mostly beating a ranked Iowa team by herself. Martin made 13 saves on the weekend, including six against Iowa, as the Gophers beat the Hawkeyes 1-0 and lost to Penn State 1-0.
In other local WoSo news, if you'd like to be the president of the Minnesota Aurora, now's the time to put your hand up.
Podcast updates
You can now get the temporarily-titled Jon Marthaler Podcast on Apple Podcasts, and hopefully also in your favorite podcast app as well, thanks to the Apple directory. I'm still working towards getting it added to other directories as well.
Episode 2 is out now, and contains extended talk about the most hard-hitting issue of all: whether you can listen to the game in the bathroom at Allianz Field.
You can support my work, and help me keep standing in the rain in Blaine to see who's in training, by subscribing. It's free to sign up for updates, it's easy to sign up for a paid subscription, and it's what keeps me doing this.
