The 2017 Minnesota United FC season was the eighth season of Minnesota United FC's existence and their first season in Major League Soccer, the top-tier of American soccer. United played at TCF Bank Stadium and was coached by Adrian Heath, who coached United until October 6, 2023. Outside of MLS, Minnesota United also participated in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup, as well as various preseason competitions.
This was the first year that a first-division American soccer team had played in Minnesota since the Minnesota Strikers in 1984. Between that time, the Minnesota Thunder and the NASL Minnesota United FC played in the second division.
Club
No. Name Nationality Position Date of birth (age) Signed from Start Goals Goalkeepers 24 Patrick McLain GK Orlando City SC 0 0 32 Alex Kapp GK Atlanta United FC 0 0 33 Bobby Shuttleworth GK New England Revolution 29 0 Defenders 2 Justin Davis DF Minnesota United FC (NASL) 5 0 3 Jérôme Thiesson DF FC Luzern 30 1 4 Jermaine Taylor DF Portland Timbers 5 0 5 Francisco Calvo DF Saprissa 25 1 6 Vadim Demidov DF Brann 3 0 8 Marc Burch DF Colorado Rapids 15 0 12 Joseph Greenspan DF Colorado Rapids 2 0 14 Brent Kallman DF Minnesota United FC (NASL) 22 1 22 Kevin Venegas DF Minnesota United FC (NASL) 6 0 25 Michael Boxall DF SuperSport United 10 0 31 Thomas de Villardi DF/MF Delaware 0 0 Midfielder 7 Ibson MF Minnesota United FC (NASL) 26 0 10 Miguel Ibarra MF Club León 19 3 11 Johan Venegas MF Montreal Impact 12 2 13 Ethan Finlay MF Columbus Crew 4 4 17 Collin Martin MF D.C. United 5 0 18 Kevin Molino MF Orlando City SC 28 7 19 Sam Cronin MF Colorado Rapids 21 0 23 Bernardo Añor MF Sporting Kansas City 0 0 26 Collen Warner MF Houston Dynamo 11 1 28 Sam Nicholson MF Heart of Midlothian F.C. 7 1 77 José Leitón MF On loan from Club Sport Herediano 0 0 Forwards 9 Abu Danladi (GA) FW UCLA 13 8 15 Ismaila Jome FW/MF Portland Timbers 7 0 16 Bashkim Kadrii FW/MF F.C. Copenhagen (loan) 5 0 21 Christian Ramirez FW Minnesota United FC (NASL) 24 14 30 Brandon Allen FW On loan from New York Red Bulls 0 0
Transfers
Transfers in Entry datePosition(s)No.PlayerFrom clubRef. December 1, 2016 DF 2 Justin Davis Minnesota United FC (NASL) December 1, 2016 DF 22 Kevin Venegas Minnesota United FC (NASL) December 11, 2016 DF 12 Joseph Greenspan Colorado Rapids December 13, 2016 MF 11 Johan Venegas Montreal Impact December 27, 2016 MF 5 Francisco Calvo Saprissa January 3, 2017 MF 17 Collin Martin D.C. United January 5, 2017 MF 10 Miguel Ibarra Club León January 5, 2017 FW 21 Christian Ramirez Minnesota United FC (NASL) January 10, 2017 DF 6 Vadim Demidov Brann January 23, 2017 DF 14 Brent Kallman Minnesota United FC (NASL) January 23, 2017 MF 7 Ibson Minnesota United FC (NASL) January 24, 2017 MF 23 Bernardo Añor Sporting Kansas City January 24, 2017 DF 4 Jermaine Taylor Portland Timbers January 24, 2017 MF 20 Rasmus Schüller BK Häcken January 26, 2017 MF 18 Kevin Molino Orlando City SC January 26, 2017 GK 24 Patrick McLain Orlando City SC February 15, 2017 FW/MF 45 Josh Gatt Molde February 15, 2017 GK 22 Bobby Shuttleworth New England Revolution February 21, 2017 DF 3 Jérôme Thiesson FC Luzern March 31, 2017 DF 8 Marc Burch Colorado Rapids March 31, 2017 MF 19 Sam Cronin Colorado Rapids July 10, 2017 MF 28 Sam Nicholson Heart of Midlothian F.C. July 12, 2017 DF 25 Michael Boxall SuperSport United August 8, 2017 GK 32 Alex Kapp Atlanta United FC August 9, 2017 MF 13 Ethan Finlay Columbus Crew
MLS Expansion Draft
PickPlayerPositionPrevious clubRef 2 Chris Duvall DF New York Red Bulls 4 Collen Warner MF Houston Dynamo 6 Mohammed Saeid MF Columbus Crew 8 Jeff Attinella GK Real Salt Lake 10 Femi Hollinger-Janzen FW New England Revolution
The MLS Expansion Draft took place on December 13, 2016.
MLS SuperDraft
Any player marked with a * is part of the Generation Adidas program.
RoundPickPlayerPositionPrevious clubRef 1 1 Abu Danladi* FW UCLA 2 23 Alec Ferrell GK Wake Forest 2 42 Thomas de Villardi MF Delaware 4 67 Tanner ThompsonMF Indiana
Rounds 1 and 2 of the SuperDraft took place on January 13, 2017. Rounds 3 and 4 of the SuperDraft took place on January 17, 2017.
Transfers out Exit datePositionNo.PlayerTo clubNotesRef. December 13, 2016 DF — Chris Duvall Montreal Impact Traded for Johan Venegas December 20, 2016 GK — Jeff Attinella Portland Timbers Traded for Portland's second round pick in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft February 15, 2017 FW 88 Femi Hollinger-Janzen New England Revolution Traded for Bobby Shuttleworth March 31, 2017 FW 45 Joshua Gatt Colorado Rapids Traded for Sam Cronin & Marc Burch March 31, 2017 MF 8 Mohammed Saeid Colorado Rapids Traded for Sam Cronin & Marc Burch
Loans in
Start dateEnd datePositionNo.PlayerFrom clubRef. January 25, 2017 July 23, 2017 GK 1 John Alvbåge IFK Göteborg February 8, 2017 September 1, 2017 FW/MF 16 Bashkim Kadrii F.C. Copenhagen July 15, 2017 End of season FW 30 Brandon Allen New York Red Bulls August 10, 2017 July 10, 2018 MF 77 José Leitón Club Sport Herediano
Loans out
Start dateEnd datePositionNo.PlayerLoaned toRef. August 9, 2017 December 31, 2017 MF 20 Rasmus Schüller Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi September 28, 2017 October 1, 2017 DF 12 Joseph Greenspan Pittsburgh Riverhounds October 14, 2017 October 15, 2017
Friendlies
Timbers preseason tournament
Team1 Portland Timbers310276+152 Real Salt Lake300377033 Minnesota United FC300366034 Vancouver Whitecaps FC301234−12
Competitions
Overview
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan=2|Competition !colspan=8|Record |- ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! |- | MLS
| MLS Cup
| U.S. Open Cup
! Total
MLS
Overall table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
U.S. Open Cup
Player statistics
Top scorers RankPositionNameMLSMLS CupU.S. Open CupTotal1FW Christian Ramirez1400142FW Abu Danladi80083MF Kevin Molino70073MF Ethan Finlay 40044MF Miguel Ibarra30035FW Johan Venegas2002DF Brent Kallman2002MF Jérôme Thiesson2002MF Francisco Calvo20026MF Collen Warner1001MF Sam Nicholson1001N/AOwn Goal1001Total 47 0 0 47 As of October 22, 2017.
Shutouts
RankPlayerMLSMLS CupU.S. Open CupTotal1 Bobby Shuttleworth50052 John Alvbåge0000 Patrick McLain0000Total5005
Appearances
No.Pos.NameMLSMLS CupU.S. Open CupTotalAppsGoalsAssistsAppsGoalsAssistsAppsGoalsAssistsAppsGoalsAssists 2 DF Justin Davis3 (2)000001004 (2)00 3 DF Jérôme Thiesson1301000(1)0013 (1)01 4 DF Jermaine Taylor3 (4)000000003 (4)00 5 DF Francisco Calvo12000000001200 6 DF Vadim Demidov300000000300 7 MF Ibson9 (2)00000(1)009 (3)00 8 DF Marc Burch1201000(1)0012 (1)01 9 FW Abu Danladi3 (7)110001004 (7)11 10 MF Miguel Ibarra9 (3)120000009 (3)12 11 MF Johan Venegas9 (3)230000009 (3)23 12 DF Joseph Greenspan000000100100 13 DF Thomas de Villardi000000000000 14 DF Brent Kallman12100000001210 15 FW Ismaila Jome2 (3)000001003 (3)00 16 FW Bashkim Kadrii4 (4)000001005 (4)00 17 MF Collin Martin0 (2)000001001 (2)00 18 MF Kevin Molino12530000001253 19 MF Sam Cronin11010000001101 20 MF Rasmus Schüller4 (2)000001005 (2)00 21 FW Christian Ramirez13 (1)8100000013 (1)81 22 DF Kevin Venegas100000100200 23 MF Bernardo Añor000000000000 24 GK Patrick McLain000000100100 26 MF Collen Warner8 (3)100001009 (3)10 33 GK Bobby Shuttleworth12 (1)0000000012 (1)00Players who left the club in Trade or on loan 1 GK John Alvbåge2 (1)000000002 (1)00 8 MF Mohammed Saeid300000000300 45 FW Joshua Gatt000000000000
As of June 5, 2017.
Discipline PlacePositionName1DF2 Justin Davis01FW9 Abu Danladi312DF14 Brent Kallman703MF7 Ibson50MF19 Sam Cronin50DF5 Francisco Calvo50MF18 Kevin Molino504DF3 Jérôme Thiesson40MF11 Johan Venegas40DF17 Collin Martin40GK33 Bobby Shuttleworth40MF26 Collen Warner405MF15 Ismaila Jome30MF10 Miguel Ibarra306FW4 Jermaine Taylor10DF8 Marc Burch10MF20 Rasmus Schüller10FW21 Christian Ramirez10FW25 Michael Boxall10Total 52 2
As of October 4, 2017.
Attendance Total Games Average Season highest 349,138 17 20,538 Atlanta United FC (35,043) As of October 7, 2017
References