Minnesota United opens its ninth MLS season on Saturday, and the Loons will do so in style as the first game on the league’s slate.

With MVP Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s game moved to Saturday night, the MNUFC at Los Angeles FC 3:30 p.m. matinee will be the initial kickoff of the new year.

“It’s a nice position for us to be in, I think,” Ramsay said. “It has the feeling of a really big game.”

With United looking to build off its run to the Western Conference semifinals in 2024, here are six talking points going into a new season.

A strike-fear goalscorer

United has not had a player score 15 or more goals in a 34-match MLS season since joining the league in 2017. Christian Ramirez remains the single-season record holder with 14 during that first year.

Thirteen of the 14 teams in the West have eclipsed that mark; expansion side San Diego has yet to play a game. St. Louis City, which joined in 2023, is the only other team that has not reached 15.

While Bongi Hlongwane led Minnesota with 11 league goals a year ago, Kelvin Yeboah and Tani Oluwaseyi are more likely to break through that glass ceiling. Ramsay’s new two-forward formation might be mutually beneficial for one in the athletic duo to do so.

Yeboah scored seven in one-fourth of the 2024 season, while Oluwaseyu had eight in an injury-and-absence interrupted 1,084 minutes last year.

Yeboah led team 0.89 goals per 90 minutes, while Oluwaseyi was at 0.66. If those marks stay up or only dip a bit, records will be smashed.

Ramsay’s status

The 33-year-old’s ambition has been apparent since Day 1 in Minnesota. The former Manchester United assistant took a leap to become the youngest head coach on MLS last season. He has been on a sky-high trajectory since he became the youngest Brit to earn a key coaching license from UEFA in 2019.

Ramsay has never promised how long he will be in Minnesota and loose links to his second job have already started with the Welshman tied to an opening at Swansea City.

Ramsay said Thursday that is a “logical conclusion” given how he is from there, started his career at Swansea’s youth ranks and has been up for the job when there have been previous vacancies.

“There is a bit of smoke without fire there,” Ramsay said. “It’s certainly nothing that I’ve had on my radar nor anything I’ve spoken to anyone about.”

Ramsay said his “relatively” good start in Minnesota will likely lead to more links to other jobs, but emphasized: “I’m very much focused on what I’m doing here and I’m really excited for the season to start.”

Difference makers

The Loons added three new players in the primary transfer window, but none of youngsters appear immediately capable of pushing the level within the Loons’ starting XI. MNUFC added 24-year-old South Korean midfielder Hoyeon Jung and two Under-22 Initiative signings in Argentine center back Nicolas Romero and French midfielder Owen Gene.

The club has emphasized patience will be needed with the trio, given their youth and need for an adjustment period to a new country and league.

How soon can they start cutting their teeth and more importantly push for major playing time?

Stalwarts stay

Three of MNUFC’s top five in minutes played last season are another year over 30: Michael Boxall, now 36, led team with 2,835 minutes in 2024; Robin Lod, 31, played 2,387; and Wil Trapp, 32, was on the field for 2,296.

They will be relied upon again, but Ramsay said he will be conscious of their workloads, especially Boxall and Lod after international duties, but the leadership within the three is instrumental to the first team.

“We also strike that balance between making sure we see a really fit, fresh Robin, Wil and Boxy for as long as possible,” Ramsay said.

One offseason goal for the Loons was revitalizing the roster with younger players and jettisoning striker Teemu Pukki, winger Franco Fragapane and center back Micky Tapias in the offseason helped the cause.

Pereyra’s time

New Designated Player Joaquin Pereyra had an underwhelming first 10 games — plus playoffs — in Minnesota. He registered only one assist and no goals in the regular season and never played more than 69 minutes in a match.

That’s not good enough.

Loons’ leaders this preseason have been opening asking for more goal contributions from its Argentine midfielder and he was delivering as part of the three-man midfield in preseason, but now he must do it when it matters most.

Contract statuses

Two Loons regulars, midfielder Hassani Dotson and goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, came to Minnesota together in the 2019 draft class. Could they leave in the same season, too?

Both are in the final option year of their contracts and Dotson requested a trade away from Minnesota during preseason, while St. Clair was noncommittal on his future in black and blue immediately following the 2024 season. The Canadian goalie wants the best spot to play as he prepares for the 2026 World Cup.

Loons have a handful of players consistently courted by other clubs, with left wingback Joseph Rosales on that shortlist. His Honduran friend Kervin Arriaga was transferred to a club in Serbia midseason in 2024 and another exit of Rosales for the right price would not be surprising.

By AREEJ HAZBOUN, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed revenge Friday for what he described as a “cruel and malicious violation” of the ceasefire agreement after a body that Hamas released as part of the deal was found to not be that of an Israeli mother of two young boys, as the group had promised.

The incident raised questions about the future of the fragile ceasefire deal, which has paused over 15 months of war and is due to see its first phase end in early March. But in the short term, there were indications the deal’s next step — the release of six living hostages on Saturday — would proceed as planned.

In a statement Friday, Hamas said it would “conduct a thorough review” of the information regarding the body. It suggested a possible mix-up of remains might have occurred due to Israeli bombing of the area where the Israeli hostages were being held because other Palestinians were also present.

Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, also announced Friday it would go ahead with the release of the six Israeli hostages on Saturday. In return, Israel is expected to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas turned over four bodies Thursday as part of the ceasefire. They were supposed to have been those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, and of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted during the Hamas attack that started the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli authorities said that while the remains of the two boys and of Lifshitz were positively identified, the fourth body was found to not be that of Shiri Bibas, but that of an unidentified woman from Gaza.

“We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages — both living and dead — and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement,” Netanyahu said. “The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation. May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge.”

Hamas said it had “no interest in retaining any bodies,” adding that it had “demonstrated full compliance with the agreement in recent days and remain committed to all its terms.”

“We reject Netanyahu’s threats, which serve only to manipulate Israeli public opinion,” Hamas said, calling on mediators to ensure the continued implementation of the ceasefire. The group also called for the return of the unidentified remains, which Israel has said are those of a Palestinian woman.

The revelation of the body’s identity was a shocking twist in the saga surrounding the Bibas family, who have become global symbols of the plight of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

During the ceasefire, which began in January, Hamas has been releasing living hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails. Thursday’s release marked the first time the group has returned the remains of dead hostages.

The Israeli army said Thursday that the fourth body released by Hamas was an “anonymous, unidentified body.” It said the Bibas family had been notified, including Yarden Bibas, Shiri’s husband and father of the two boys, who had been taken captive separately from his wife and children and was released early this month as part of the ceasefire deal.

Hamas has claimed Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas and her sons were killed in Israeli airstrikes. But Israel said the testing had found the two boys and Lifshitz were killed by their captors.

U.S. envoy Adam Boehler described the release of the wrong body as “horrific” and a “clear violation” of the ceasefire.

“If I were them, I’d release everybody or they are going to face total annihilation,” Boehler, who serves as the U.S. envoy for hostages, told CNN.

A poster shows portraits of Bibas family, top row from second left: Yarden, Shiri, and their sons Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped to Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

It was unclear how the incident might affect the next scheduled swap of hostages for prisoners, set for Saturday. Hamas has said it will also release four more bodies next week, completing the first phase of the ceasefire. It is also unclear whether the truce will be extended beyond the end of the current phase.

In another potential blow to the deal, a series of explosions struck three parked, empty buses in central Israel overnight.

There were no injuries and no claim of responsibility. But the Israeli military said in response it was beefing up its forces in the West Bank, raising the likelihood of further escalation in the area. Israel has been carrying out a broad military offensive in the occupied territory since the ceasefire took effect.

If the current phase of the ceasefire goes according to plan with the release of six hostages on Saturday and four more bodies next week, Hamas will be left with about 60 hostages, about half — all men — believed to still be alive.

Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu, with the full backing of the Trump administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all the hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.

Trump’s proposal to remove about 2 million Palestinians from Gaza so the U.S. can own and rebuild it, which has been welcomed by Netanyahu but universally rejected by Palestinians and Arab countries, has thrown the ceasefire into further doubt.

Hamas could be reluctant to free more hostages if it believes that the war will resume.

Israel’s military offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. Many have returned to their homes to find nothing left and no way of rebuilding.