The Twos are back at it this weekend, this time playing host to Ventura County FC on Sunday, June 15, at the National Sports Center. This will be their second home game in just four days, and their first showdown with the California side in 2025.
Fresh off a huge 4-1 win over Houston, Head Coach Jeremy Hall and the boys are bringing nothing but positive energy into this one. Goals from Issa Saidi, Luke Hille, Loïc Mesanvi and Aidan Martinez buoyed the Black and Blue to their first home win of the season in emphatic fashion, bringing them up to 17 points from their first 10 games of the year. The four-goal haul equals MNUFC2’s highest single-game tally of 2025, and the offensive revival couldn’t have come at a better time.
Ventura County are currently atop the Western Conference standings, boasting 26 points from 13 games. They’ve only lost one road game on their way to the top, winning every other match they’ve played away from home. They’ve done more than prove themselves capable; they’ve shown that they’re a team worth fearing in MLSNP this year. Coach Hall pointed to the skill of this weekend’s opponent when discussing the quick turnaround during this homestand.
“I think that’s the tricky part is we’ll bring the guys in, usually we’ll give them off, but we’ll bring them in tomorrow [Thursday] and just make sure they recover and get their bodies moving,” he said. “Whether it’s foam roll, hot tub, massage, cold tub, all that stuff. We’ll do a light session on Saturday and then get ready for Ventura [County FC] on Sunday. It’s a really good opponent, they’re [Ventura County FC] top of the league and so we’re just going to have to recover and hopefully we get another performance like this.”
With their first home win secured and some good form starting to build, the Twos will stand more than a decent chance against VCFC, as long as they’re able to keep themselves fresh between games. Both the first and second teams will be in Minnesota this weekend, and while that makes it easier for reinforcements to move between the two, a contingent of first-teamers away on international duty has thinned the player pool. It’s not out of the question that we might see some first-teamers playing at the NSC on Sunday, but we’ll have to wait and see how the match against San Diego pans out before we make any guesses.
Sunday’s match is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. CT, with gates opening an hour earlier. If you can’t make it up to Blaine to catch this one, streaming will be available for FREE on MLSNEXTPro.com.
