Leaving the field, striker Christian Ramirez couldn’t help but sing. He hadn’t scored his team’s lone goal, but he didn’t care. He belted Oasis’ “Wonderwall” along with the TCF Bank Stadium’s crowd of 17,491 like he had just scored an extra time goal to win the World Cup. All this happiness, joy and celebration, all the glee, all for his team’s second win in eight tries.
But Ramirez and the rest of Minnesota United knew what they were up against. Nobody ever said it would be easy. Expansion clubs generally end up with the league’s lost toys, a new coach, all in a new market with new fans that need to be won over before the team can be taken seriously.