Minnesota United FC has been playing in the MLS since 2017, with their home stadium at Allianz Field in St Paul.
They’ve taken over from previous Minnesota soccer franchises the Kicks and the Strikers in the hearts of fans in the Twin Cities and they are also one of the most followed teams by Iowans.
So, how successful can we expect them to be? We can get an idea by looking at what MLS futures bet involving the team you can find.
What Are MLS Futures?
We need to begin by understanding what MLS futures are. These are simply wagers placed on events that will take place in the future. The odds tend to be higher than regular wagers, as it’s more difficult to correctly predict something far ahead than a game coming up in the next few days. The loss of key players or a run of poor form can happen at any time and cause a bet to look far less likely to come up than it looked when it was placed.
For example, one of the most popular soccer futures is for the winner of the next MLS Cup. You can typically place your bet on who wins this trophy almost as soon as the current Cup is decided, meaning there’s always something to look for in this category.
The last MLS Cup was won by New York City FC against Portland Timbers at the end of 2021, so you would have expected them to be favorites for 2022 once betting opens, but this can change as we get deeper into the season.
MLS futures can also be based on individual player achievements, such as the top goal scorer. The 2021 season saw Valentin Castellanos of New York City FC and Ola Kamara of D.C. United tied on 19 goals each at the end of the season. Castellanos was awarded the MLS Golden Boot as he had more assists than Kamara, and this is the tie-breaker in the event of two players getting the same number of goals.
The Most Valuable Player Award is another thing you can bet on in advance. Carles Gil of the New England Revolution won this title for the 2021 season and is among the favorites for this season. As the current season advances, we can see who wins the awards for best player of the week and the month, which makes it easier to predict the outcome of this wager as more games are played.
How Was Minnesota United’s 2021 Season?
Now that we know what MLS futures involve, it’s time to see what bets of this type you might consider Minnesota United to have a chance of winning. The 2021 season began with high hopes, following the team’s good showing the year before. They had almost reached the MLS Cup final in 2020, leading the Seattle Sounders by 2-0 in the Western Conference final before three late goals for Seattle ended their hopes.
However, the 2021 season started with a run of four consecutive losses before a long winning streak helped them to climb the rankings. Part of the reason for their upturn was that some key players returned from injury, while others were added to the roster. All of this led to a fifth-place finish in the regular season, with a 13-11-10 record seeing them enter the playoffs.
Hopes were high for the playoff game, which was on the road and against Portland Timbers. The game at Providence Park started brightly for the Loons, as Franco Fragapane opened the scoring for them after just 11 minutes. However, Portland fought back strongly to earn a 3-1 win and end Minnesota’s season.
💛 Go Gold 💛
During the month of September, @allianzfield will go gold in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.#ChildhoodCancerAwarenessMonth | #MNUFC pic.twitter.com/DXoRqWvDIe
— x – Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) September 5, 2022
How Is This Season Shaping Up?
The 2022 regular season runs until October 9, with the MLS Cup final to be played in November, meaning that it ends just in time for the World Cup in Qatar. At the time of writing, the Loons are sitting in 3rd place in the Western Conference, with 13 wins, 9 losses, and 5 ties from their games so far. This means that they should comfortably make it into the playoffs, although they’re not going to catch Los Angeles FC at the top of the table.
How far they go in the playoffs could depend upon the luck they have with injuries, and there was some bad news on that front lately. Mali international Bakaye Dibassy is a key player in their defense but he’s now going to miss the rest of the season following a ruptured quadriceps tendon that he suffered during the 2-1 win against Houston Dynamo FC.
The following game was a 3-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, so it’s easy to imagine that the Mali player’s absence was crucial. Yet, it’s worth noting that this was a heavily-rotated Minnesota squad that lost to Salt Lake. Even so, their inability to keep the ball meant that the club record streak of 13 MLS goals where they scored at least a goal came to an end in a disappointing fashion.
What Can We Expect from the Future?
Looking ahead is always difficult in soccer, which is why so many people enjoy putting their knowledge to the test with MLS futures. For example, what factors will determine whether the Loons make it to the MLS Cup final and win the trophy for the first time? Clearly, luck plays a part as we saw with the injury to Dibassy. However, the fact that they’ve been one of the best teams in the MLS in the last couple of months is a very positive sign.
Getting a home game in the playoffs could be the key to success, as Minnesota has been extremely strong at Allianz Field in the second half of the regular season. Among the players to look out for, Emmanuel Reynoso has been in terrific scoring form and is currently in 15th place on the MLS goal scorers table, with 10. The leader on this table is Sebastian Driussi of Austin FC, with 20 goals so far.
At the other end of the field, goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair has been in impressive form too. His 86 saves see him ranked among the best keepers in the MLS, and the Canadian player recently won the All-Star MVP Award in his first MLS All-Star game. This came after he was named as a starter in 2021 following injuries to both of the goalkeepers ahead of him. He hasn’t looked back since then and could join the Canadian team in Qatar for the World Cup.
inside the nest pic.twitter.com/wz6Tntl7YI
— x – Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) September 3, 2022
What MLS Futures Odds Can You Get?
Having seen all of that, the next big question is what MLS futures concerning Minnesota you might find online. If we look for the MLS Cup winner odds, we can see that Los Angeles is the favorite right now, followed by the likes of Philadelphia Union, New York City FC, and Austin FC. We need to drop down to 10th place or so on the futures list to find Minnesota’s odds.
At this stage of the season, it’s also becoming clear that the top goal scorer in the MLS is probably going to be one of the handfuls of players that currently sit at the top of the list. There just doesn’t look like being enough games left for Reynoso to catch the leaders. Sebastian Driussi is sitting at -200, followed by Brandon Vazquez of Cincinnati, Harry Mukhtar of Nashville, and Jesus Ferreira of Dallas.
literally a perfect day in Saint Paul pic.twitter.com/47sVTnPuRP
— x – Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) September 3, 2022
Is Betting on MLS Futures a Good Idea?
For some bettors, this is the most interesting type of bet, as it gives the chance of some big wins and also lets you follow your wager throughout the season. However, is it worth betting on Minnesota United winning the MLS Cup this season? It would certainly be a huge surprise if they did this, but the generous odds reflect this and you might think that it’s worth giving a try.
If the Loons keep their key players fit and playing well, anything can happen. We’ve seen in the last couple of seasons how unpredictable playoff games can be and how quickly they can swing from one team having the advantage to the other taking control. Therefore, it’s really just a personal decision based on what you think might happen and whether you’re comfortable wagering on this type of bet.
The end of the 2022 season in the MLS is sure to be exciting, and we hope to see Minnesota United among the teams vying to win the biggest trophy in American soccer. If you want to take part, then take a look at the futures odds and see how they change to reflect the latest games. No one knows for sure what will happen next but these odds are usually a pretty good indicator of the most likely outcomes.
Credits for Featured Image: Andy Witchger, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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