Analysis: Minnesota United’s game at San Diego pits vastly separate approaches to soccer

It is very tempting to cast Saturday’s clash between Minnesota United and San Diego FC not only as a battle of the top two teams in the Western Conference standings but also as a referendum on the game of soccer itself.

The two clubs are pretty much on opposite ends of the league spectrum. San Diego is an expansion team, but one that’s already in the top 10 of the league in payroll. It’s as idealistic a club as exists within the straitjacketed roster rules of MLS. San Diego is determined to stick with a pass-first, ball-on-the-ground play style, come hell or high water. It’s also just as committed to playing young players as to paying big money for a few top-end stars.

Minnesota, on the flip side, is widely seen as the most pragmatic team in the league. The Loons are the team whose coach has dubbed his squad “Set Piece FC,” the one with a bottom-five payroll, the one that passes less than any other team in MLS. They’re the ones who have embraced the long throw-in, which has become the signature stand-in for modern analytical soccer wisdom.

It’s a contrast that almost perfectly embodies the teams’ cities. Can it really be surprising that San Diego, the beautiful coastal city whose weather is a byword for perfection, is the home of the idealists? Or that St. Paul, filled with generations of stoic and frozen German-Scandinavians, is the place for pragmatists who are just making the best of what they have?

Idealism vs. pragmatism is in many ways the central tension of tactical discussions in any sport, and soccer is no different. And when you ask both sides about the contrast between San Diego and Minnesota, it’s not a surprise that you get an idealistic answer from one and a pragmatic one from the other.

Earlier this year, Tyler Heaps, San Diego FC’s sporting director, was asked about whether playing attractive soccer was a key concern for his team, and his response was, “I think it’s why we’re fans of this sport, right?”

And he’s right. That style is why people call it “the beautiful game,” why Brazil is the most popular national team in the world, the only reason that Americans even know the Portuguese phrase “jogo bonito.”

“I think if you maybe talked to [San Diego coach] Mikey [Varas], he’d probably say that what he’s doing is fairly pragmatic, in the sense that they’ve built the squad around that style,” he said. “We’ve tried to build a style around getting the best out of the players’ strengths. … I think that’s why we’re a pragmatic team, not necessarily pragmatic in the way in which the word has been skewed to mean only risk aversion and direct play. We’ve tried to twist the team to make sure that we get the best out of the players.”

And he’s right, too. As much as fans might wish that — as in the commercial that runs on every MLS broadcast — every player on their team was Lionel Messi, the thing fans want above all else is to see their team win. Finding the best way to do that is the chief calling of people who build soccer teams.

The one thing both sides understand is that this is not a battle over who is right.

“It’s amazing what they’ve built. They’ve done a tremendous job,” Heaps said of the Loons. “I don’t believe the way they play football is the right way, but again, I think that’s why we love this sport, is that there is no blueprint of how to do it. You can have success in a number of different ways, and that will be on display on the field.”

MLS is a league that can sometimes feel a bit undifferentiated. With most of the clubs in the same financial neighborhood and drawing from a similar pool of talent, it can feel like the only difference between teams is the color of the jerseys.

“I think this league in particular needs more teams that are totally committed to what they want to do,” he said. “And I think that’s what impressive, with Eric [Ramsay] and Minnesota, is they are totally committed. So whether I agree with it or not, they are all in — and there are too many teams that change too often, and become unwatchable, because you don’t really know what you’re going to get.”

So yes, it’s tempting to cast this game as a battle for the soul of MLS. But those involved don’t see it that way. It’s two teams, both committed to different ways of trying to accomplish the same thing: ending the night with three more points in the standings.

9:30 p.m. Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium

TV; radio: MLS Season Pass; 1500-AM