Osvaldo Alonso grew up playing soccer, and he grew up playing it in whatever boots he could get. Whenever he got a pair, he would hang onto them. “If they break, you have to fix them and keep going,” he says. “It was hard to get cleats.” Over time, the boots would practically become part of his feet.
Now, as a professional soccer player in his adopted home of the United States, the cleats come to Alonso and the rest of Minnesota United by the truckload. When a new shipment of around 15 gigantic boxes full of brand new boots for the team arrives at the National Sports Center, it’s the job of equipment managers Ryan Natusch and Sean Bigness to get the new colorways – the latest colors and editions provided to clubs during the season – out to the players.