This Sunday, the Twos return to the National Sports Center in Blaine to face the top club in their conference, North Texas. But, a top-class team isn’t the only thing MNUFC2 will have to contend with on Sunday evening at 7 p.m., as Coach Jeremy Hall and company will also have to deal with a shuffled lineup. WIth a total of nine first-team players away on international duty for their respective national teams, plus a couple more absences due to injuries and green card appointments, there will likely be a number of MNUFC2 players stepping up to the Loons’ first-team in their stead when they face FC Dallas on Saturday night. With the club’s efforts to play more of its young talent on a more regular basis, this North Texas matchup could be an opportunity for the Loons’ Academy players like defender Jonah Gasho, forward Julian Banks, midfielder Justin Arias, forward Andrew Heckenlaible and possibly others to see quality minutes against MLS NEXT Pro-level competition.

Twos starter Alec Smir will likely find himself on the first-team bench as Clint Irwin’s backup, who will get the start with Dayne St. Clair away on Canadian National business. However, if he doesn’t see the field on Saturday night, I’d expect to see him between the posts Sunday for the Twos. And, the same may go for a number of Twos’ players that are called upon to play in reserve roles for the first-team, the most likely amongst them being standouts like Patrick Weah, Finn McRobb, Morris Dugan, and Jesse Khan. Depending on their usage on Saturday, we’ll have to see which Twos make up the starting XI closer to game time.

If the Twos hope for anything against a tough North Texas team, they will need to do a better job of keeping the NT attack from finding the net with the same frequencySKC II last weekend, in which the Twos’ defense allowed 4 goals in what would end up being a 4-3 home loss. Hopefully, the boys can keep the high-scoring matches coming and hold North Texas from finding the net this Sunday at NSC.