During warmups, Josh Gatt crossed over the center line to give hugs to a group of Minnesota United players.
Three weeks ago, those Loons were all Gatt's teammates. But after a March 31 transaction sent Gatt and Mohammed Saeid to the Colorado Rapids, this was the winger's first time meeting his old team as a new opponent.
Saeid started and played 90 minutes while Gatt stayed on the bench Sunday in United's 1-0 victory over Colorado at TCF Bank Stadium. But Gatt said ahead of the match that it wasn't really that weird to see United again, mostly because he never made an official appearance for the Loons. In fact, he cracked the match-day squad only once, when injuries and national team duty depleted the team.
"Unfortunately, I didn't play. So it's hard for me to feel kind of bittersweet about it," Gatt said. "It's more me playing against a new team because I trained with them, but I never actually felt the camaraderie of playing in games."
The former U.S. national team player said he feels that Colorado is more confident in his fit within the team's system, which is important.
"It's a system where I can excel," he said. "Minnesota here really likes to play everything really facing toward the ball and play small passes and everything. And Colorado likes to stretch, and I'm more of a player who likes to run and get in behind people."
Gatt said while the trade was a sudden move, it was a "necessary" one for both parties. "I need a place to play, a place to get on the field and get some minutes," he said. "And it didn't look like [coach] Adrian [Heath] wanted to give me that opportunity."
Praise for Ibson
Heath heaped some hefty accolades on midfielder Ibson. The Brazilian, a holdover from United's North American Soccer League team, has been an offensive catalyst for United this season and on Sunday started his third match, his fifth appearance in eight matches.
"The one thing I've said since I've been in the club is for natural ability, far and away [he's] the best player at the football club," Heath said. "But he's also showing now I think a real discipline [on offense and defense], an understanding of what's expected for him especially if you play in a two-man midfield.
"I've been doing this 40 years now, and he's one of the most talented football players I've ever been involved with, watching play or coaching."
Injury update
Midfielder Rasmus Schuller was left out of the match-day squad. Heath said Schuller was still recovering from a hip flexor injury. Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth and left back Marc Burch both started after recovering from injuries.
