The start of Morris Duggan’s soccer career was inauspicious.

Growing up as a teenager near Munich, Duggan didn’t play in any youth academy system. He’s a fan of German super-club Bayern, but he only took the field for his village club, Kirchheimer SC, which is six tiers below the top-level Bundesliga.

“I was just playing for fun,” Duggan told the Pioneer Press this week. “Because in Germany, it’s kind of like, if you don’t grow up playing academy, there’s no real future. That’s the stereotype.”

Duggan weaved around those European conventions via a series of backdoors in the U.S. and the 24-year-old made his first MLS start in Minnesota United’s season opener against Los Angeles FC last Saturday.

While Jefferson Diaz’s red-card suspension led to his first start, the second-year center back is in line to keep his place for the Loons’ home opener against CF Montreal at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Allianz Field.

“I thought he had a really good 90 minutes,” head coach Eric Ramsay said of Duggan’s performance in the 1-0 loss. “I would say overall very composed, very strong in his one-v-one duels. He stepped in with the ball well. He made things happen.”

Loons captain center back Michael Boxall saw Duggan earn a spot during preseason friendlies and training sessions. “He’s got the athleticism, obviously the size (6-foot-4),” Boxall said. “Then on a big stage (in LA), big moments, you saw him with composure. He didn’t look out of place the full 90 minutes. So, I think he’s only going to continue to grow.”

Morris Duggan #23 of Minnesota United heads the ball against Aaron Long #33 of Los Angeles FC during the MLS match between Los Angeles Football Club and Minnesota United FC at BMO Stadium on Feb. 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Overcoming dead ends

Mark Duggan saw his teenage son have success at Kirchheimer, playing all over the field, including as an attacking midfielder, and encouraged Morris to see where he could go in the sport.

“I’m so thankful for him … seeing that in me, because I didn’t see that in myself at that point,” Duggan said.

A spell with an Under-19 team didn’t go far, and he was back at Kirchheimer through high school in 2020. Then an agency reached out via Instagram to see if he was interested in studying and playing in the U.S.

“I wasn’t really doing anything at that point in my life,” Duggan said. “It just sounded exciting. So, it literally gave me this goal, this drive where it really changed my life around.”

His first stop was Florence, S.C. and Division II program Francis Marion, but he was deemed ineligible to play almost as soon as he arrived.

The next stop was Iowa Lakes Community College in Spencer. Lakers coach Ben MacRae said they didn’t have a center back show up a week before the season started, so they took a flier on Duggan with only had a short highlight video for reference.

Duggan had a strong first season, playing in 23 games, including a surge in the NJCAA national tournament. It led to a scholarship offer from Marshall University in West Virginia, one of the premier Division I men’s soccer programs in the country.

For the Thundering Herd, Duggan totaled 2,927 minutes across 37 matches on back-to-back NCAA tournament teams in 2022-23.

“My first year at Marshall, (I thought) I can actually go professional,” Duggan said. “When I was in junior college, I didn’t think I was gonna make it. But then I just got better and better.”

The Loons selected Duggan with the 67th pick in the third round in 2024 draft, but his rookie season included more detours.

A roundabout

Visa issues kept Duggan from arriving at the start of the 2024 preseason, which isn’t a good sign for a third-round pick needing to scrounge up everything in order to make the squad. But he showed MNUFC enough for the club to sign him to a one-year contract.

Duggan primarily played for MNUFC2, the club’s development team, including in the U.S. Open Cup. When the Loons were down a ton of players in June, he played 49 MLS minutes across two matches, then got some minutes for the first team during Leagues Cup in July.

Duggan then went on loan at Rhode Island FC in August; he didn’t see it as a step back. His history in the game gave him patience to see it out in the U.S. second division, and he helped the first-year team reach the USL Championship final.

The on-ramp

The Loons made two preseason trips to California, and in between Duggan drove 3½ hours to Spencer, a small town in Iowa’s northwest corner. Duggan’s wife, Halley, heard stories about Iowa Lakes and he wanted to show her around.

“She was really surprised to the environment that was there,” he said. “I showed her the stadium (which has a small set of bleachers) and everything. It’s in the middle of nowhere.”

MacRae, who is in his 12th year as coach, tries to stays in touch with former Lakers players. He has had a handful of alums reach the USL levels, but Duggan is the first to climb to MLS. The majority of the Lakers’ roster is internationals, making Duggan a great role model.

“He’s a very humble young man, and was very gracious to come down and speak to our boys,” MacRae said. “He did an unbelievable job. It helps our players understand that there is a pathway to the pros, and it might not be at the top end, but it might be a second, third, fourth league. It does help them understand when they’ve got someone that (they) can look up to.”

MacRae wasn’t surprised to see Duggan reach the pros.

“Relentless,” MacRae said. “He was in the gym every day. He’s working at our indoor center, trying to make sure he’s getting better, improving himself every single day. So, those are the players that you know are going to be successful.”

Duggan didn’t have prepared remarks for the Lakers and mostly answered their questions.

“Wherever you go, you can’t be intimidated by the players who are there,” Duggan told them. “Coming from where I come, every step I took there was (good) players. At Marshall, there was academy players from Germany — like, big academies. … You just have to believe in yourself. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you came from; it just matters how you do now.”

When Duggan made his first MLS start, he faced MLS Best XI striker Denis Bouanga. The match and Duggan’s performance created a buzz in Spencer. Current Lakers players brought it up in their locker room, and MacRae is encouraged about where Duggan can keep going.

“I feel like I’m finally where I want to be,” Duggan said.

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting toward the close of its worst month since April, and U.S. stock indexes are mixed following an economic report highlighting both encouraging and discouraging trends.

The S&P 500 was down 0.1% in early trading. It’s fallen in five of the last six days, which erased its gain for the year so far, after weaker-than-expected reports on the economy and worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs knocked the index of its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.

Much of the damage has focused on what had been the market’s biggest winners in recent years, whose momentum seemed nearly impossible to stop at times. Stocks that flew in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology have slumped sharply, for example, and Nvidia fell another 1.1% following its 8.5% tumble on Thursday. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has dropped more than 20% from its record.

The latest report on the U.S. economy released Friday included some encouraging news for the market: Inflation across the country decelerated a bit and behaved pretty much exactly as economists expected, according to the measure that the Federal Reserve prefers to use.

But it also said that U.S. households pulled back on their spending during January. That’s dangerous for an economy that’s depended in large part on strong spending by them to keep it out of a recession.

U.S. consumers had already given big hints that they’re under pressure and worried. Inflation is still high, even if it’s not as bad as its peak from 2022, and a widespread worry is that tariffs announced by Trump could push prices for the cost of living even higher.

Wall Street hopes that all the talk about tariffs has been merely a tool Trump is using to negotiate with other countries and that he’ll ultimately pull back on them, which would mean less pain for the global economy than initially feared.

But even if that proves to be the case, recent reports have shown that all the talk has already pushed U.S. consumers to brace for much higher inflation in the future. At some point, such worries could drive their behavior, which could hurt the economy even without tariffs.

All the uncertainty around not only tariffs but also deregulation and other potential policies could mean that “if the market doesn’t see Trump moving towards more market-friendly policies, the level of trust could continue eroding,” Bank of America economists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.

The S&P 500 has already lost most of the bounce it received after Trump’s election in November.

Of course, much of January’s drop in spending by U.S. households, which was the worst in four years, could have been because of painfully cold weather around the country and other anomalies. But it also followed several signals of potentially weakening growth for the U.S. economy, which closed 2024 running at a solid pace.

“Consumer spending’s unexpectedly sharp decline at the start of the year, likely overstated by its strong finish to 2024, nonetheless is consistent with other data signaling a shift to more sustainable growth by the economy,” said Gary Schlossberg, market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

In the bond market, Treasury yields edged back. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.26% late Thursday. It’s down sharply from last month, when it was approaching 4.80%, as worries have grown about where the U.S. economy is heading.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply in Asia as worries about tariffs continued.

China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement Friday protesting Trump’s decision to double tariffs on Chinese products to 20%, saying it violated international trade rules and would add to the “burden on American companies and consumers and undermine the stability of the global industrial chain.”

Indexes tumbled 3.3% in Hong Kong, 2% in Shanghai, 3.4% in Seoul and 2.9% in Tokyo.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis reached the two-week mark in his recovery from pneumonia Friday as doctors suggested he had overcome the most critical phase of the infection but held out on declaring him out of danger entirely.

The Vatican, though, made alternative plans for Ash Wednesday next week, making clear Francis still had a long road ahead. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, a Vatican official and former vicar of Rome, will preside over the March 5 ceremony and procession that inaugurates the church’s solemn Lenten season leading up to Easter in April.

People attend as The Pope’s vicar for the dioceses of Rome Cardinal Baldassarre Reina holds a rosary prayer for the health of Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

The Vatican’s early Friday update suggested a level of normalcy and routine as the 88-year-old pope continues recovering at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. “As in past days, the night was tranquil and the pope now is resting,” it said.

Francis had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.

In their Thursday evening bulletin, doctors said Francis’ clinical condition had confirmed that he was improving. He was alternating the high-flow supplemental oxygen he had been receiving by a nasal tube with a mask in a sign of improved respiratory function. Additionally, he left his hospital room to go to his nearby private chapel to pray, while continuing with respiratory physiotherapy and work, the Vatican said.

For the second day in a row, doctors avoided saying Francis was in critical condition, suggesting he had overcome the most acute phase of the infection. But given the complexity of his lung infection, they said “further days of clinical stability are needed” before they revise their prognosis officially and say he is out of danger.

Francis has been at Gemelli Hospital since Feb. 14 after his bronchitis worsened.

He has shown steady, albeit slight, improvements since a respiratory crisis and kidney trouble over the weekend sparked fears for his life. The improvements beat back speculation of an imminent death or resignation and signaled that he was still very much in charge.

Prayers continued to pour in

In Mexico City, a few dozen people gathered Thursday night at the cathedral to pray for Francis’ recovery.

Parishioners light candles while praying for the health of Pope Francis at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

“He is like part of the family,” said Araceli Gutiérrez, who treasures the time she saw the pope during his trip to the country of nearly 100 million Catholics in 2016. “That’s why we feel so concerned for him.”

María Teresa Sánchez, who was visiting from Colombia with her sister, said that she has always felt close to Francis — the first Latin American pope.

“That’s like having a relative within the higher-ups, with God,” she said. “He has done so much for religion; he’s such a humble person.”

Upcoming calendar in question

Despite his improvements, Francis’ near-term upcoming calendar of events was being changed: The Vatican canceled a Holy Year audience scheduled for Saturday, and it remained to be seen if Francis would skip his Sunday noon blessing for the third week in a row. With Ash Wednesday now delegated to a cardinal, the next major events come during Holy Week and Easter, which this year falls on April 20.

In past years, when Francis has battled bronchitis and influenza in winter, he curbed his participation in Ash Wednesday and Holy Week events, which call for the pope to be outdoors in the cold leading services, participating in processions and presiding over prayers in the solemn period in which the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Beyond that, Francis has a few major events coming up that he presumably would hope to keep if well enough. On April 27, he is due to canonize Carlo Acutis, considered to be the first millennial and digital-era saint. The Vatican considers the Italian teenager, who died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15, an inspiration for young Catholics.

Another important appointment is the May 24 commemoration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council. The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew I, has invited Francis to join him in Iznik, Turkey, to commemorate the anniversary, which he has called an important sign of reconciliation between the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Before he got sick, Francis said he hoped to go, though the Vatican hasn’t confirmed the trip.

Maria Hernandez contributed from Mexico City.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for driving prices to record highs, but critics believe giant companies are taking advantage of their market dominance to profit handsomely at the expense of budget-conscious egg buyers.

Advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers and a Federal Trade Commission member are calling for a government investigation after egg prices spiked to a record average of $4.95 per dozen this month. The Trump administration did unveil a plan this week to combat bird flu, but how much that might ease egg prices — a key driver of inflation — remains to be seen.

“Donald Trump promised to lower food prices on ‘Day One’, but with egg prices skyrocketing out of control, he fired the workers charged with containing bird flu. Working families need relief now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement.

What’s behind the record egg prices?

The industry, and most experts, squarely blame bird flu. More than 166 million birds have been slaughtered to contain the virus. Some 30 million egg layers have been wiped out just since January, significantly disrupting egg supplies. The Department of Agriculture’s longstanding policy has been to kill entire flocks anytime the virus is found on a farm.

FILE – Eggs are for sale at a grocery store in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, as bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

As a result, the number of egg layers has dropped nationwide by about 12% from before the outbreak to 292 million birds, according to a Feb. 1 USDA estimate, but another 11 million egg layers have been killed since then, so it’s likely worse. When prices spiked to $4.82 two years ago and prompted initial calls for price gouging probes, the flock was above 300 million.

“This has nothing to do with anything other than bird flu. And I think to suggest anything else is a misreading of the facts and the reality,” American Egg Board President Emily Metz said.

“Our farmers are in the fight of their lives, period, full stop. And they’re doing everything they can to keep these birds safe,” Metz said. “This is a supply challenge. Due to bird flu. Nothing else.”

Farm Action suspects monopolistic behavior. The group that lobbies on behalf of smaller farmers, consumers and rural communities notes that egg production is only down about 4% from last year and some 7.57 billion table eggs were produced last month, yet some consumers are still finding egg shelves empty at their local grocery stores.

“Dominant egg corporations are blaming avian flu for the price hikes that we’re seeing. But while the egg supply has fallen only slightly, these companies profits have soared,” said Angela Huffman, Farm Action’s president. The Justice Department acknowledged receiving the group’s letter calling for an investigation but declined to comment on it.

The fact that a jury ruled in 2023 that major egg producers used various means to limit the domestic supply of eggs to increase the price of products during the 2000s only adds to the doubts about their motives now.

What do the numbers show?

Retail egg prices had generally remained below $2 per dozen for years before this outbreak began. Prices have more than doubled since then, boosting profits for egg producers even as they deal with soaring costs.

FILE – The eggs price is displayed on the edge of a shelf at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Most of the dominant producers are privately held companies and don’t release their results. But the biggest, Cal-Maine Foods, which supplies about 20% of the nation’s eggs, is public, and its profits increased dramatically. Cal-Maine reported a $219 million profit in the most recent quarter when its eggs sold for an average of $2.74 per dozen, up from just $1.2 million in the quarter just before this outbreak began in early 2022 when its eggs were selling for $1.37 per dozen.

Sherman Miller, Cal-Maine’s president and CEO, said in reporting the numbers that higher market prices “have continued to rise this fiscal year as supply levels of shell eggs have been restricted due to recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.”

But he said Cal-Maine also sold significantly more eggs — some 330 million dozens, up from 288 million the year before — in the quarter because demand is so strong and Cal-Maine has made a number of acquisitions. Cal-Maine also suffered few outbreaks on its farms, outside of a couple facilities in Kansas and Texas. The Mississippi-based company didn’t respond to calls from The Associated Press.

What about production costs?

Economists and analysts say the record egg prices aren’t a sure sign of something nefarious, and short-term profits might only last until farms get hit. Once a flock is slaughtered, it can take as long as a year to clean a farm and raise new birds to egg-laying age. The USDA pays farmers for every bird killed, but it doesn’t cover all the costs for farmers as they go without income.

“The consumer, I think, will probably feel like they’re getting the rough end of the stick. But I guarantee you, the farmers that are having to depopulate the barns, they’re having a rougher time,” CoBank analyst Brian Earnest said.

Inflation in the costs of feed and fuel and labor have contributed to rising egg prices, and farmers have been investing in biosecurity measures to help keep the virus away. So production costs also appear to be at an all-time high, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ producer price index.

“This isn’t a case where they’re taking the price up to gouge the market. It is the price is going up through auction at wholesale. And they’re benefiting from higher prices because supplies are tight,” University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson said.