We’re just two games away from the two-thirds point in Minnesota United’s 2025 MLS campaign, and it’s looking distinctly different from last season. I need everyone to knock on some wood for me (I just knock on my head if there isn’t any woodwork around), because I’m about to say a whole lot of positive things, and the last thing I want is to jinx the squad. That’s bad for business.

If you remember, Coach Ramsay identified three distinct periods during his first season in charge of the Loons: a new-manager bump that saw the team come out of the gates flying, a mid-season slump that tempered the excitement, and a resilient jump that got them into the playoffs. It was a large portion of my 2024 season review, and it was the source of some anxiety for those who were following the team last year.

If you look back at that midseason slump, one of the biggest contributing factors was clearly the absence of international players. Add in the fixture congestion that naturally comes every summertime, and you had the perfect storm for disastrous form. The Loons fell from 2.00 to 0.50 points per game (ppg) from the first to the second thirds of the season, and were it not for some reinforcements in the form of transfers (Kelvin Yeboah, Joaquín Pereyra, Jefferson Díaz), they may have slipped into obscurity before the season ended.

That resurgent finish we talked about was the beginning of the Ramsay era we know today, introducing key pieces into our coach’s preferred style of play and setting the stage for the dominant defensive style they’ve utilized throughout 2025. A blistering clip of 2.20 ppg got the Black and Blue back on track and set up a finish that many hadn’t expected during the down period.

With the two-thirds point on the horizon and very similar circumstances having played out in 2025, we’re left with a question: What’s different about the team this year? There have been international absences for the last month, there have been fixtures piling up, and it’s been pretty dang hot. But your Loons haven’t slumped yet. In fact, they haven’t even lost consecutive games this season.

I know there’s been a lot of buildup, but I think the answer is simple: experience. It’s easy to forget that Coach Ramsay is just 33 years old and still at the beginning of his head coaching career. He speaks with a clarity and confidence that feel like they belong to a much older coach, but he’s experiencing so many things for the first or second time in his career right now. Last season we saw growing pains; this season, we’ve seen effective adjustments.

Since the first few weeks of the season, we’ve seen Coach Ramsay shift his approach. Whereas he’d roll out a wide variety of formations with similar personnel in year one, he clearly got to know his squad better during the offseason and now puts out frequently rotated personnel in a consistent shape. With established, quality options to bring off the bench in virtually every position, he’s turned this squad into a unit that can absorb absences, injuries, and slight changes in style. Need a dead-ball specialist on the right? Here’s Julian Gressel. Need explosive pace and an eye for goal? Let’s give Bongokuhle Hlongwane a run.

Obviously, it doesn’t all come down to the actions of figures at the club; fate was on our side as well. Fewer players were missing, and for less extensive windows, this year, and we had a few off weeks during this second third of the season. Tough circumstances felt easy to us because we were stretched so much last season. Regardless, the adjustments have worked splendidly so far. Improved depth, intentional roster construction, and a coaching staff that is capable of learning and adapting quickly have helped the Loons take another step up in 2025. With plenty of soccer left to play and four trophies still within reach (USOC, Leagues Cup, Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup), there’s still room to take a few more.

And there’s still another cherry to put on top of it all. As Thin Lizzy would say, “(most of) the boys are back in town.” With just Joseph Rosales’ Honduras still playing in the Gold Cup, your Loons have regained the services of Carlos Harvey, Dayne St. Clair, and Tani Oluwaseyi, all of whom kept their good form going during their international excursions. With them added back into a group that’s been firing very well in their absence, the Loons are primed to keep chasing that silverware during the final third of the season.