Good Saturday morning, preseason rolls on as the guys grab a convincing win against Northern Illinois University down at the illustrious Mercyhealth Sportscore Two in Rockford, IL. Goals came by way from new signing Cesar Murillo, another headed goal from Eric Leonard, and the third from a certain “unnamed trialist”. In all seriousness, it’s great to see Audi get on the scoresheet and I hope it helps his cause toward a new contract for the 2022 season.
It’s great to see goals coming in from defenders so early in the season, and to see Eric so fired up. One has to think he’s going to be a galvanizing force in this team this season, much more so than previous. Reports in from our man on the scene described a beautiful ball in by the returning Justin Sukow, met with a diving header reminiscent of Greg Louganis in his prime. Cesar bagging a goal with his head is exactly what you expect to see from the former Greenvile man, as he’ll be off to the races now with his new club and hopefully hungry for more. When asked about the atmosphere in the locker room, Coach Glaeser had the following to say (and ensured squad depth is still a priority):
The guys seem to be getting on well, high energy, and that’s what we want. We’re getting there. We’ve got 19 signed, probably have the final few in the next week or two, probably thinking 22-23.
-Coach Matt Glaeser
The club posted some matchday fits ahead of kickoff, revealing Abdou Mbacke Thiam has arrived from Senegal and is with the squad. When asked how soon we might see him in action, club owner and COO Conor Caloia indicated he’d start training this week. It will be interesting to see how our attack will look with a proper target man in front of creators like Cassini, Sukow, and possibly Audi. Hopefully Abdou will be fit and ready to go for the closed-door MNUFC2 game this Friday. Grant and I are travelling to St. Paul to cover the game, so we’ll have both a preview and a full report following the match (and you know there’ll be a full report on what sort of records we pick up in the cities).
[Abdou] just got in today, was on the touchline, wasn’t playing. Gets his physical on Monday and then he’ll be in with the team. I think there’s 3-4 of the trialists that’ll be signed, and there will be two more announcements. At least two.
-Conor Caloia
Mele Temguia Signs
Amidst the leadup to the NIU friendly, the club announced the signing of Canadian international Mele Temguia, formerly of FC Edmonton in the Canadian top flight. Born in Darmstadt, Germany and raised in Montreal, Mele has quite the pedigree for a USL1 signing. Signing for Montreal Impact’s academy at 16, he’d go on to play for their reserve side for two seasons before bouncing around to NASL-era FC Cincinnati and eventually Australia before making his way to Edmonton and scoring their first club goal in the CPL. It’s an understatement to say we’re lucky to have a player of his quality in the side, and this year’s back line is looking quite intimidating from both a defensive and goal-scoring aspect.
Enjoy your Saturday, I’m off to walk Clyde and then head to the record store to dig around a bit.
