As new MLS season nears, Loons already have 2026 World Cup front of mind

There is barely one week left until the opening of the 2025 MLS season, but it’s no secret that North American soccer already has 2026 on its mind.

The USA, Mexico and Canada are hosting next summer’s World Cup, and all of MLS is looking at the tournament as an opportunity — just like USA ‘94, when record attendances and FIFA pressure helped birth the league itself, albeit not until 1996.

And if you think it’s not already on the minds of the Loons’ international stars, Tani Oluwaseyi put that to rest. The striker, who signed a contract extension in the offseason, had Team Canada chief in his mind when putting pen to paper. “I think just looking at my future and where I want to be, especially in terms of thinking about the 2026 World Cup, I felt like this is the best place for me,” he said.

Oluwaseyi has nine caps for Canada, but still feels like he’s on the fringes of his national team. So much so, that he knows off the top of his head how many international breaks he has left to impress Jesse Marsch and the rest of the Canadian coaching staff. (It’s six, with the first in March for the CONCACAF Nations League finals.)

“You just want to put your best foot forward every game, every practice for your team, because the more and more windows you’re part of, the more likely it is you’re part of that final squad,” Oluwaseyi said.

Dayne St. Clair, meanwhile, is fighting not to be in the squad, but to be the man in goal when Canada opens the World Cup at BMO Field in Toronto.

“It’s 18 months away, and there’s no hiding from that,” he said. “I want to be the one that’s number one for Canada. … I want to say that I did everything in my power possible, and made it the easiest decision [for the coaches] and created a big enough gap.”

Oluwaseyi and St. Clair have the luxury of knowing that their country’s already going to the World Cup; other Loons, such as Panamanian center back Carlos Harvey (among several others), still need to qualify with their countries.

“I still know that nothing has been achieved, we want to make that trip to the World Cup,” Harvey said, via translation from a club translator. “It has been a childhood dream of mine to play in a World Cup.”

Minnesota’s second exhibition game of the week, against the LA Galaxy, didn’t go quite as well as its first. The Loons followed their 6-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to LA on Wednesday, with only two players starting in both games. Anthony Markanich scored Minnesota’s lone goal, from a corner, after Tucker Lepley had scored two second-half goals for the Galaxy.

Notably, the game featured the preseason debut of midfielder Hoyeon Jung, who acquired his visa and returned to the squad in time to play the final half-hour on Wednesday, after a single solo training session. Though he didn’t particularly stand out, manager Eric Ramsay said he had “a couple of nice moments,” and chalked up Jung’s performance to his travel to Canada and back as part of the visa process.

Winger Joseph Rosales did not play, after a slight injury in Sunday’s game. Ramsay said he was held out as a precautionary measure, but could have played.

The Loons close the preseason on Saturday against NYCFC and are planning to play a team that’s much closer to their opening-day lineup against LAFC on Feb. 22. “We wanted to make sure that we use these three games as intelligently as we can, and we’ve got enough players who are 90-minutes ready come the following week,” Ramsay said.

Backup goalkeeper Alec Smir played the first hour, and newly signed MNUFC2 keeper Wessel Speel played the final 30 minutes. Smir finished 2024 as the primary backup to Dayne St. Clair, but Ramsay suggested Speel could potentially compete for minutes in 2025.

“Raw ingredients-wise, he’s 6-foot-7, he can kick the ball three-quarters of the length of the pitch, he’s got a very strong sense of self, very confident,” said Ramsay of Speel, who was a first-team All-American at Duke last season. “It will certainly be [Smir’s] to lose at this point, but we’ve definitely got more competition than we had last year.”