The look on Michael Boxall’s face spoke volumes.
As the Loons captain sat in front of a camera for a video conference call late Monday night. San Diego FC ended Minnesota United’s season with 1-0 result in a Western Conference semifinal at Snapdragon Stadium, and Boxall’s expression said it all:
Anguish.
San Diego FC midfielder Anders Dreyer (10) shoots past Minnesota United defender Michael Boxall (15) during the second half of MLS soccer’s Western Conference semifinal Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
“As soon as the final whistle went, it was all pretty somber,” Boxall said. “Grateful for what we do and really appreciate all the traveling fans that showed up (Monday). That’s always huge.”
The Loons amassed a club-record 58 points in 34 regular-season games to finish fourth in the 15-team Western Conference — an even bigger achievement considering the club’s salary budget was 13th. MNUFC beat Seattle Sounders, a MLS gold standard, in a first-round series and reached the conference semis for a second straight year. Again, they hit their heads on that ceiling.
Seeking the first trophy in the club’s nine-year MLS history, United finished three games shy of winning the MLS Cup, and two games from hoisting U.S. Open Cup in September.
“I think there’s that sense of real frustration, a sense of realism, I suppose, with where we’re at and how that game reflects the entirety of the year,” head coach Eric Ramsay said late Monday night. “But then also some real pride. And we’re certainly leaving here feeling like we’ve taken some big steps forward over the course of this year, really moved the club forward.”
“We’re not leaving with the same feeling that we had in the semifinal last year as we left L.A.,” Ramsay said about the 6-2, semifinal loss to the Galaxy in 2024. “I am pretty capable of looking at these things fairly objectively, even in the immediate aftermath of it.”
But this Loons’ season comes with a heavy dose of what might have been?
Minnesota sold its leading scorer, striker Tani Oluwaseyi, in August for upwards of $9 million to Villarreal — a club-record transfer fee to allow the Canadian to follow his dream of playing in a top European league. Ramsay said that changed the trajectory of the season. And he acknowledged Monday, “We haven’t been the same threat.”
“I’m not going to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, I suppose, by speaking about it differently, but I haven’t wanted to dwell on that,” he added. “We haven’t talked about it internally all that much. Obviously (we) don’t talk about that type of thing with the players. And we have wanted to be super positive, constructive, and we have found a way in spite of the fact that we’ve lost a very obvious, key component of our team.”
When Oluwaseyi was sold, Loons Chief Soccer Officer Khaled El-Ahmad retorted that the “leading striker has not left,” a reference to Kelvin Yeboah still being with the team. But weeks after Oluwaseyi’s exit, Yeboah pulled his hamstring in the Open Cup semifinal loss to Austin and didn’t return until the regular-season finale a month later.
As he worked into better fitness, Yeboah was a non-factor during the Seattle series and had one shot in 90 minutes against San Diego.
To aid the attack, the Loons paid a $2 million transfer fee to Austria Wien for midfielder Dominik Fitz at the close of the summer transfer window. He didn’t play against the Sounders, and didn’t make an impact as a sub in seven brief minutes against San Diego. The 26-year-old will need to get up to speed by next season to show he’s worth a four-year contract.
Now that the season is over, the biggest questions pertain to the futures of a few key pieces in Minnesota.
Ramsay, in a move from the U.K in 2024, became the youngest coach in MLS at age 32. In two seasons, he has produced outsized success with a low-spending club. He has previously received interest from UK looking for head coaches, and those inquiries will likely rekindle this winter.
The key things for him to ponder are: How much further can he take a low-spending team? Will a potential regression in the standings hurt his ambitions to advance his career in Europe?
“I wouldn’t swap what we’ve built over the course of these two years here,” Ramsay said. “I’ve loved it as a coach. I feel like it’s really developed me and my staff, and we’ve loved working with the group of players. They’re a really honest group of players. … We can find solutions to problems, we can find a way of making our group far more competitive than our means and spend (as) those types of things would suggest. That’s a great challenge, and one that I’ve loved leading.”
The Loons in September led MLS with more General Allocation Money (GAM) than any other club ($4.9 million), which should help them reinvest in the roster. Payments on the Oluwaseyi fee also should boost the bottom line.
San Diego FC defender Christopher McVey (97), left, fights for the ball with Minnesota United midfielder Robin Lod (17) during the second half of MLS soccer’s Western Conference semifinal Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
But there’s always the question with United: Are they ambitious enough to spend more, or do they look at how they annually outperform their salary spending in the MLS standings and just bank on that continuing?
Three veteran players have uncertain futures: goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and midfielders Robin Lod and Hassani Dotson. St. Clair and Dotson are pending free agents, while Lod has a contract option that has not been picked up.
Boxall and midfielder Wil Trapp had their contract extensions for 2026 triggered with on-field performances during the regular season.
St. Clair, the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, seeks a salary that puts the 28-year-old in the top tier in the league (think $1 million annually), while Lod, 32, is the highest-paid player on the team ($1.6 million in 2025) and might need to take a pay cut if he wants to remain in Minnesota.
In preseason, Dotson demanded a trade but was retained. The 28-year-old then suffered a serious knee injury and was ruled out for the year, but he rehabbed and subbed on during seven games down the stretch.
“We would be a club that, I think, would want to improve in every window,” Ramsay said. “There are obviously some big decisions to make on players from our perspective, from their perspective, and that will gradually fall into place.”
With the Loons bounced from the playoffs, the club’s front office plans to meet with players in Minnesota on Wednesday and submit its end-of-season roster decisions soon after that.
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