Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the return of Storylines for 2025! You’ve missed this, haven’t you? I know I have. I got so excited when I realized we were back, I nearly couldn’t decide on a topic for this week. Should I give you a history of Olivier Giroud’s career? Maybe a deep dive into what makes Denis Bouanga such a nuisance for opposing defenses? Neither of those topics felt quite right, however, because neither was about us. How sweet, right?
I came around to an idea that satisfies both my sentimental side and my inner soccer nerd: a by-the-numbers look at Minnesota United’s season opener history. We’ve only played eight MLS season openers, but that’s plenty of content for me to pick out fun numbers, trends, and mostly flattering statistics during a trip down the most reflective of one-way streets, Memory Lane. It’s time to get digit-al, integer-y, figur-ative, and every other tortured number pun you can think of; let’s break down MNUFC’s season openers—together.
Embrace the Numbers. Embrace Them!
Since joining MLS in 2017, your Loons have won four season openers, tied one, and lost three, getting 13 out of a total of 24 possible opening day points. That’s a majority, so early doors, this is looking good. All eight of those matches have been on the road for good reason; apparently no one wants to play soccer in Minnesota in the middle of February. Oh, hold on, my mustache just froze over like Olivier Giroud’s beard against Colorado. I’ll thaw that out and get back to you.
In eight at-bats, the Black and Blue have been outscored by their opponents on opening day 13 to 17, but those figures are skewed heavily by big score lines in 2017 (a 5-1 loss in our first-ever MLS game) and 2021 (a 4-0 loss to our… friends in Seattle). If you take those two anomalies out, we’re up 12 to 8, so I’m feeling pretty good about the way we start the season, historically.
Loons legends have made their mark on opening days gone by, with Michael Boxall playing in every single opener since joining ahead of the 2018 season, giving him the longest streak on the team with seven season openers in a row. Robin Lod is set to extend his streak to six this season, and he’ll be looking to add a third season-starting goal to his tally. He’d have to score a hat trick to overcome Kevin Molino’s record of four goals on opening day, as the Trinidad and Tobago international scored a pair of braces in 2018 and 2020.
While the consistency of the players mentioned above is to be applauded, it’s the changes to the lineup that often make the most news ahead of every new season. If you take a look at the 20-man roster that was available for selection during last year’s opener in Austin, you’ll see that nine of those players have either left the club permanently or gone out on loan. Of those nine, three started against El Tree (Teemu Pukki, Franco Fragapane, and Miguel Tapias). It’s going to be a very different team on the pitch at BMO Stadium when we kick off the 2025 season, with new faces having joined during the two transfer windows since last February.
The man in charge of selecting Saturday’s lineup, Eric Ramsay, will become just the third coach in club history to manage the team in a season opener, adding his name to the list alongside Adrian Heath and Cameron Knowles. Our creative coach is known for his willingness to switch up the team’s formation, meaning we’ll likely see something that we’ve never seen from our Loons on the first day of the season. The boys have lined up for the season opener in a 4-2-3-1 six times, a 4-1-4-1 back in 2017, and a 4-3-3 just last year. Knowing Coach Ramsay, I’d reckon you can expect to see a 5-3-2 come Saturday, but like I said, it could be any number of formations he cooks up.
The Legend of Zero
Much like the color black is in fact the absence of light, I’ve been told that zero isn’t a number, but rather the absence of numbers altogether. I don’t really know if I’d care enough about that fun fact to argue it if it hadn’t been brought up by my old roommate, but I’m here to reignite our old argument by treating zero like a bona fide number. There aren’t too many to cover, but let's talk about the zeros anyway.
The Loons have kept just one clean sheet on opening day, a 1-0 win over FC Dallas in 2023. They’ve got zero players remaining from the inaugural season opener in 2017, they have zero points at the moment, and they’re going to lose zero games in 2025. Did I create this subsection just to get on my old roommate’s nerves? There’s a non-zero chance of that, but I’ll divide something by zero before I reveal my motivations, and we all know what happens when we try to divide by zero.
See You in LA
Let’s get back to business by looking at a few LA numbers to close this out. The Loons have a 3-4-5 (W-L-D) record against the only team that actually plays in LA, but this might be the perfect time to level the score. Steve Cherundolo’s squad is currently down to just two DPs and one U22 player, and while reinforcements are likely on the way, they won’t be here by kickoff. One of those DPs happens to be France’s all-time leading goalscorer (57), though, and while Giroud’s not the player he once was, class is timeless; he’ll be a threat nonetheless.
Following their midweek loss to the Colorado Rapids in Concacaf Champions Cup action (2-1), Saturday’s hosts will be looking to start their league campaign off with three points to get the bad taste out of their mouths. They’ve got leg two against the Rapids coming up on Tuesday as well, meaning the lineup on the weekend may hinge on how seriously they’re taking their continental competition. Though not as intimidating as they’ve been in years past, this LAFC side still has an edge to it that demands alert defending and a precise attack from opponents; get ready for a tough game.
With the numbers lined up so nicely, I personally can’t wait until Saturday’s match comes to add some more juicy stats to the history books. LAFC presents one of the stiffer challenges the Loons have ever faced in game one, meaning that the Boys in Black and Blue will have to be at their very best if they want to get any numbers worth writing about out of this match.
Now, here are the most important numbers for you: Tune in this Saturday, 2/22/2025 at 3:30 p.m. CT to catch the match, with this week’s game available on FOX, FOX Deportes, and MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. We’re ringing in the new season with the first MLS game of 2025, and it’s bound to be statistically significant.
