WOODBURY, Minn.— On Sunday Minnesota United FC will make their home debut in MLS (5 pm ET; ESPN2 | MLS LIVE in Canada). While their upcoming opponent and expansion counterpart Atlanta United debuted in lovely 68-degree weather down south, Minnesota United will hardly offer the same level of comfort.
“Portland had the rain, and I guess what we bring here is the snow and the cold,” Minnesota United left back Justin Davis predicted to MLSsoccer.com, citing the Timbers’ conditions in the Loons' MLS curtain-raiser last week. “It’s supposed to be, what, 20 degrees and snowy? For a team like Atlanta that’s had nice weather through their preseason, it’s something that they’ll have to deal with. If it’s something like that which we can use to our advantage, we’ll take it.”
With a projected kickoff temperature of 23 degrees and a 79 percent chance of snow, Minnesota will try to embrace the weather to create a unique home-field advantage. Per MLSsoccer.com's Benjamin Baer, this would rank among the four coldest matches in league history. Each time, the home team has gotten a positive result.
MLS games with temperature below 30 degrees F
Temp. (F) |
Date |
Match |
Result |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
29 |
4/7/2007 |
Colorado vs. D.C. |
COL W 2-1 |
Dick's Sporting Goods Park |
25 |
3/26/2011 |
Toronto vs. Portland |
TOR W 2-0 |
BMO Field |
20 |
12/7/2013 (MLS Cup 2013) |
Kansas City vs. RSL |
D 1-1 (SKC win on PKs) |
Children's Mercy Park |
28 |
12/10/2016 (MLS Cup 2013) |
Toronto vs. Seattle |
D 0-0 (SEA win on PKs) |
BMO Field |
<em>23*</em> |
<em>3/12/2017</em> |
<em>Minnesota vs. Atlanta</em> |
<em>TCF Bank Stadium</em> |
* Projected temperature at kickoff.
If flurries do descend on TCF Bank Stadium, this would be the ninth snow game in MLS history.
For head coach Adrian Heath, it’s a far cry from his previous home base in Orlando. However, he admits it could be a unique advantage.
“Obviously it’s different than anywhere in the country,” Heath said. “We have to make sure that, regardless of the weather, that this becomes our home. You look at leagues around the world: Wherever you are in the league, if you’re successful, your home form becomes huge for you. We have to make sure that, whether it’s sub-zero on the weekend or maybe 90 degrees in the summer, this has to be our home.”
Heath also mentioned that, while he played in some cold matches during his days at English side Everton, this would be the coldest match he was ever a part of. Technical director Manny Lagos remembers occasions of near-zero temperatures with freezing rain playing high-school soccer in Minnesota. However, neither of them have experienced anything like Finnish midfielder Rasmus Schüller.
“Back in Scandinavia, we train outside all winter,” he explained. “Hopefully we’ll get some advantage from it, but you can never tell. In juniors, we had some games in minus-15 Celsius [5 degrees F].”
