When Eric Miller walked on to the field at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday to make his debut for Minnesota United, it was a "fairy tale, dream come true kind of thing."
The Woodbury native, who came to the Loons in a deadline-day trade last week from the Colorado Rapids, was finally back playing for the hometown club.
"I thought eventually it would be something that I would like to do, come home to Minnesota and play for the Loons," Miller said. "But I didn't think it would happen so soon."
In a wild first game, Miller lasted about 80 minutes in the Loons' 1-0 victory over Vancouver, a win that required an intense defensive effort to preserve a one-goal lead with 10 men.
Miller said he has been playing away from home so long — at college in Creighton and then professionally in Montreal and Colorado — that he forgot how hot it could get here in the summer and had a calf cramp.
While coach Adrian Heath said Miller will "probably think he's had a stroke in the morning when he wakes up," since this was the player's first game of the season, the coach was pleased with the left back's steady play.
"You get a new coach, you get some new players who come in, and the coach has preferences on whom he wants to play," Miller explained of his decrease in playing time. "That's just kind of the way it goes in professional sports."
Miller should feel right at home with United, though. He played with center back Brent Kallman in high school and college. He also played with winger Ethan Finlay and goalkeeper Alex Kapp at Creighton, as well as midfielders Sam Cronin, Collin Martin and Collen Warner and defender Marc Burch at different points in his career.
