After Rough Start, Minnesota United Seeing Improvement

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It was quite the welcome to Major League Soccer for Minnesota United.

Goal after goal after goal given up, Minnesota outscored 11-2 in its first two games, and 18-6 in its first four.

"I didn't expect the start that we had, I'll be honest. I don't think anybody saw that coming from our preseason results. It was a couple of times, bordering on laughable some of the goals that we conceded. But glad to say we have got better," coach Adrian Heath said.

After going 0-3-1 in its first four matches and being outscored 18-6, Minnesota has outscored opponents 7-6 and gone 2-1-1 in its last four.

Better defensive play has been a major factor -- bolstered by a big trade for two new defensive starters. But in a way, as an expansion team, it was almost inevitable that this would occur -- a rough start, followed by improvement.

"The more you play together, the more time you spend, the more games you get, the better you're going to be, the more you're going to know each other's tendencies," Brent Kallman said.

"I'm always confident that things will get better. I'm big-headed enough to think that I know what I'm doing," Heath said. "But I think that the guys feel more comfortable with each other, feel more comfortable with where they're living and what they're doing now, has been a significant part of that."

"And now we're starting to show who we really are," Kallman said.

Something they'll continue to build on over the next four games and beyond.