CASA GRANDE, Ariz. – For an intrasquad scrimmage and Minnesota United FC's first 11 vs. 11 action, a 1-1 draw Saturday was a pretty fair result.

Well, maybe not for the green team.

"I guess. We were winning 1-0, consider that scrappy goal," green team midfielder Mo Saeid said. "But it's the first week. We've still got a lot to do."

Midfielder Miguel Ibarra scored off a header for the greens before trialist Duke LaCroix equalized for the gray team in the hour-or-so-long game on a not-quite full-size field at the team's preseason camp at Grande Sports World.

The green team ran a 4-2-3-1 system with Thomas de Villardi, Brent Kallman, trialist Tiago Calvano and Kevin Venegas on the back line; Saeid and Collin Martin as the holding midfielders; trialist Eugene Starikov, Ish Jome and Ibarra in the midfield; and Femi Hollinger-Janzen up top. The gray team lined up in a 4-4-2 with Justin Davis, Jermaine Taylor, Joe Greenspan and LaCroix on the back line; trialist Lance Laing, Collen Warner, Ibson and trialist Raul Gonzalez in the midfield; and Abu Danladi and Christian Ramirez as the strikers. The goalkeepers, trialists Sammy Ndjock and Charlie Lyon, switched teams.

Midfielder Bernardo Anor did not play as a precaution after tweaking his left hamstring. Defenders Vadim Demidov and Andrew Tinari, midfielder Tanner Thompson and forward David Goldsmith trained separately, as did trialist goalkeeper Marco Carducci and new arrival Patrick McLain, also a goaltender.

Coach Adrian Heath said the teams didn't break down into a first team or second team and instead he just fit players where they could play in their right positions. He also said he chose the systems as a way to start numerically having "more numbers in certain parts of the field." The 4-2-3-1 system has been his preferred style in the past.

Heath and assistant coaches Mark Watson and Ian Fuller coached from the sidelines, sometimes stopping play to give instructions.

"You could see that they were freezing things a little bit to make some certain points with just little things, throw-ins, set pieces," Davis said. "They were putting their stamp on it a little bit."

Heath said while the team has a lot of work to do when it comes to his core playing principles, in general the players didn't need to be told twice to make changes and worked hard.

And the outcome, didn't mean much to him.

"I didn't care whether it was five-nil either way," Heath said. "It was a case of, it was another hour's work that we've had as a group. And that was the most important thing."