When the Canadian Loons are away with their national team, they are sorely missed

Minnesota United’s trip to Toronto on Saturday afternoon is just another don’t-forget-the-passport road trip for most, a “free hit,” as manager Eric Ramsay described it two weeks ago — a chance to pick up some points against an Eastern Conference team.

Except, that is, for Dayne St. Clair and Tani Oluwaseyi. For those two, they get an extra responsibility on Saturday: ticket broker.

“Me and Tani are just trying to split however many that we get allotted in half, and just maximize as much as we can,” said St. Clair.

The Canadian Loons are both from the Toronto area — St. Clair from Mississauga, Oluwaseyi from Pickering. And while St. Clair is in his sixth year in MLS, and Oluwaseyi in his third, this is both players’ first chance to play a game for Minnesota United in their hometown.

Blame the ridiculously unbalanced MLS schedule, which hasn’t taken the Loons to Toronto since 2019.

“I think I’ve played two games in Toronto with Canada, but I didn’t play in either of those games, so this will be the first time,” said Oluwaseyi.

As of Wednesday, Oluwaseyi said he already had 25 family and friends coming to the game, a rundown that reads more like a list of graduation invitees: friends from school, his best friend’s parents, some youth soccer coaches, and so on. By the time the game rolls around on Saturday afternoon, the two local boys might have an entire section of BMO Field cheering for the Loons — or, at least, for one of the visitors’ forwards and their goalkeeper.

Despite being steeped in soccer as kids, neither player said he grew up as a Toronto FC diehard. Oluwaseyi said he was more of a Premier League follower; St. Clair pointed out that Toronto didn’t join MLS until he was already 10 years old.

“It wasn’t like I fully grew up with it, and MLS was a lot different than it is today,” said St. Clair. “But I definitely attended a few matches and was a fan of the team.”

The trip to Canada underscores something else that’s important for Minnesota as a whole. This summer, both St. Clair and Oluwaseyi are almost certain to be called into Canada’s squad for the Gold Cup, and will decamp north of the border for weeks.

It will once again leave the Loons without a starting goalkeeper and a starting striker, and the team hasn’t done well without them. Since the beginning of 2024, Minnesota is 19-7-6 when its Canadians aren’t missing for international duty, earning almost two points per game — enough, most seasons, to just about top the MLS table.

When St. Clair and Oluwaseyi are missing, the Loons are 0-6-3.

There are other factors at play in those records, of course, but the Canadians’ absence is a huge factor — and apparently a big part of the difference between the Loons sitting on one end of the standings and the other.

“We’ve made some moves in the market that hopefully help us mitigate that, and obviously there’s a couple of weeks to go [in the transfer window], so fingers crossed that we find ourselves in a position where we can cover any notable absences over the course of the Gold Cup,” Ramsay said.

He added: “We have in mind the fact that we’re going to have to use the squad over the course of the summer months. But I feel like we’re a couple of steps further on than we were at this point last year, and we’ve obviously got a very solid base to encounter what will be some inevitable difficulties.”

Depending on how far Canada goes in the Gold Cup, the two will miss either three or four games this summer, along with other Concacaf internationals like Joseph Rosales (Honduras) and Carlos Harvey (Panama).

The Loons will have to figure out how to play without their north-of-the-border contingent this summer. But at least for one week, the team gets to follow its Canadian leaders into what, for them, is home territory.

1:30 p.m. Saturday at BMO Field

TV; radio: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV; 1500-AM

Toronto (0-4-3) is one of three winless teams left in MLS after seven matchdays, along with CF Montreal and the LA Galaxy — two other teams the Loons have already played this year. That said, the Reds did manage draws in the past two weeks against Vancouver and Inter Miami, two of the top three teams in the standings this year. Minnesota (4-1-2) can tie the franchise’s second-longest unbeaten streak, seven games, with a win or a draw.