SAINT PAUL, Minn. — It’s nice to hear Carl Craig back on the sidelines. Wearing a hot-pink performance hoodie, on which he had design input, it was also easy to see Craig pacing the touchline. But this past Saturday, it was the new Minneapolis City S.C. manager’s voice — bridging the distance across the field as confidently as the Stone Arch does the Mississippi — that first announced him to the far-stand opposite the bench.
“It’s good I’ve still got that,” the 57 year-old said, breaking a smile.
Craig kept close watch and offered guidance to a team composed mostly of trialists. The Crows escaped with a 1-0 victory over Luther College in a closed-doors friendly at St. Thomas that saw the Norse rattle crossbar in the first half. Futures staff seated in the stands, with load management on their minds, kept count of the minutes logged by players they expected to feature in UPSL-action against Vlora FC the following evening.
With City’s numerous college players just starting to filter into training this week, Craig and his staff are still at work putting finishing touches on a roster for the upcoming USL League Two season, as well as a match-day 18 for Friday’s Minnesota Super Cup tilt against Minnesota United FC MLS Next.
“A bit thankless for our first game,” said Craig, looking ahead. “Will be a good challenge for us to build up to it; me thinking we’ll get six months’ preseason and then realizing we get two weeks and most of the guys who are signed for us won’t be there.
“We’ll give them a game. There’s flashes there, tonight [against Luther]. Consistency is not going to be there. There’ll be pressure. But, if we do what I’m asking them to do more often, we’ll be alright.”
Sparking those flashes against the Norse, per Craig, were former Crows forward Nick Hutton, Futures forward Camel Htoo, and Luther-alumnus Faydane Ouro-Akondo.
Reminded that Hutton had featured up top for the Crows in prior seasons, Craig said that it made sense, as Hutton had been all over the field in recent training sessions. Playing centerback on Saturday, Hutton showed his versatility while marshaling a young back line.
“I don’t know just what we’re going to look like at the back just now. Goalkeepers? Yeah, we know them,” Craig noted. “Being a tough guy, [Hutton] will more than likely be one of the back four or a No. 6 for us, if he gets in, there.”
Pouncing on a Luther turnover just outside the 18, Htoo scored the friendly’s lone goal, lashing a shot off a Norse keeper’s hands and up, under the crossbar. Already expected to feature in the USPL for City, the Futures standout might also see senior-team minutes this year.
“He’s got some talent and he’s a heck of an athlete. Tough. You know, he’s nice on the ball,” said Craig. “He’s got a lot to learn. I don’t think he’d be in the first-eleven at this point, but he can be around it.”
Having totaled 85 appearances, 17 goals, 25 assists and three all-conference honors in his Norse career, Ouro-Akondo swapped blue for black, starting for the Crows against his former teammates. Craig described the winger’s afternoon, in an understatedly-approving tone, as “a good run”.
And not mentioned by the coaching staff in relation to the senior team, but catching the author’s attention, was second-half substitute Griffin Price. Possessing the slightest frame of any player on the field, the blond teenager — bodied by older opponents on more than one occasion — took his lumps and showed his chops when on the ball. It was an encouraging cameo for the creative midfielder ahead of a summer in the UPSL.
In his first season at the helm, Craig has leaned on trusted friends and colleagues, in and outside the club, in assembling City’s crew of players. St. Olaf men’s soccer coach Travis Wall was mentioned among the latter, and Craig noted that Wall plays a style of football much closer to his own than found elsewhere in the MIAC. It seems no coincidence, then, that Oles Hakeem Morgan, Victor Gaulmin and Shea Bechtel have come aboard.
As the remainder of the roster takes shape, Craig will continue to rely upon word-of-mouth and general manager Matt VanBenschoten.
“I said to Dan [Hoedeman], Matt and Adam [Pribyl] at the start, ‘That’s what we’ve got this year. We’ll see where we are.’ I’m not going to shake anything up too crazy within the organization,” Craig stated.
“You give me what I’ve got, we’ll work it with. We’ll go through the year, and we’ll see where we need to improve next year. So, I’m happy. I’m alright with what we’ve got.”
