Marked for Ștefan Chirilă
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Drake Callender was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Minnesota United FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Fitz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Darius Randell
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market18 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tomás Chancalay’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Dante Sealy asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Minnesota United FC will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at FC Cincinnati, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FC Cincinnati may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FC Cincinnati this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market6 Sep 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether FC Cincinnati can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at FC Cincinnati training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evander is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Kévin Denkey at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FC Cincinnati.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Minnesota United FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Minnesota United FC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Aug 2027
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Real Salt Lake. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nectar Triantis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match21 Aug 2027
The goal that put Real Salt Lake ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Minnesota United FC equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Jackson Hopkins was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ricardo Adams
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Minnesota United FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Minnesota United FC can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Houston Dynamo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Drake Callender and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$82.0K on the table at Sporting Kansas City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Jefferson Díaz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Ștefan Chirilă
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. FC Cincinnati lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Kévin Denkey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evander was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Brian Anunga again, and this time the name on the line is PWD Bamenda. FC Cincinnati are listening politely and promising nothing.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Minnesota United FC to sit and watch. I want to come back to FC Cincinnati and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jun 2027
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Bongokuhle Hlongwane and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match5 Jun 2027
A 2‑1 win over Austin FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Minnesota United FC and a proper look at me.” He remains FC Cincinnati’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Minnesota United FC can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad31 May 2027
Bongokuhle Hlongwane was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Drake Callender
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match29 May 2027
0‑2 to San Diego Football Club, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” James Pepi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Ștefan Chirilă
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tomás Chancalay’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 May 2027
Ștefan Chirilă knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ștefan Chirilă trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 May 2027
The mood at Minnesota United FC has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Minnesota United FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 May 2027
FC Dallas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 May 2027
Jefferson Díaz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 May 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout24 May 2027
No hiding place for Wil Trapp
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wil Trapp, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 James Pepi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad24 May 2027
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
Jackson Hopkins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Minnesota United FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Jefferson Díaz
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” James Pepi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout17 May 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market17 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Minnesota United FC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 May 2027
Position 14, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad10 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Minnesota United FC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 May 2027
Drake Callender and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match8 May 2027
0‑1 to Real Salt Lake, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ho-yeon Jung
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Roman Celentano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Evander falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alex Johnson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tyler Musah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ștefan Chirilă and FC Cincinnati agree another 5 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and FC Cincinnati did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Evander and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
FC Cincinnati asked and Veracruz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kévin Denkey. 1‑0 against Orlando City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at FC Cincinnati training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Obinna Nwobodo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
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Squad
Samuel Gidi reaches 100 appearances
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Player ratings
Kévin Denkey takes the honours
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The dugout
The view from the dugout