18 hours for $138: Minnesota United supporters take to the air to witness defeat in Dallas

FRISCO, Texas — Forget pillows and blankets; passengers bound Monday morning on a full flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Dallas were handed commemorative towels to wave and small cosmetic face-paint containers before boarding.

Sun Country Flight 277 left MSP at 10:45 a.m. with 160 Minnesota United fans aboard and returned just before 4 a.m. Tuesday on a day that began with chants and song, Texas barbecue and for some a visit to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

It ended in silence and sleep after their team's first-round, extra-time playoff loss to FC Dallas on penalty kicks left everyone rushing to catch a 1:30 a.m. flight home.

In a terminal otherwise deserted, they drowned their sorrow in vending-machine Coca Colas and Cheez-Its.

Loons fan Logan Schweitzberger awoke at his Brainerd home at 3 o'clock Monday morning, left at 6 and joined friend Matt Garrett in time to get their photo taken with mascot PK at the gate and catch the outbound plane on time.

Why such an early wake-up call?

"I was too pumped," said Schweitzberger, a Morrison County I.T. support employee.

The two met on last year's fan playoff trip to Portland. The Loons lost that game 3-1, but they found a friendship. Schweitzberger drove two hours south to stand in Allianz Field's Wonderwall section and cheer with Garrett and thousands of others for many games this season.

Schweitzberger said "playoff soccer" and "being a fan of the team" rousted him out of bed so early for an adventure he estimated would keep him awake for the next 28 hours.

A special $138 round-trip airfare on the Loons' official airline didn't hurt, either.

Schweitzberger's love for the beautiful game started with a single day out in which he quickly determined a soccer fan's experience is like no other.

"I decided to go to a game with a friend and I was hooked," he said, wearing a Minnesota United sweatshirt and scarf. "It's a lot different than other sports."

Barrett interjected, "Way better."

A software consultant with a flexible schedule, Barrett lives in Columbia Heights. He took Monday off and cleared any meetings from his Tuesday morning schedule.

On Monday night, they stood in Toyota Stadium, up in a corner section — separated from Dallas fans by two rows of yellow police tape — and chanted and cheered along with the others. They had just marched through the darkness from a parking-lot tailgate party with FC Dallas fans and into the bright stadium lights not long before game time.

Small in numbers, they still could be heard around a stadium that announced a relatively rare sellout crowd of 19,096.

English-style support

Supporters travel frequently and comparatively far in Loons coach Adrian Heath's native England and in Europe.

"The one thing I miss certainly from the U.K. is the traveling support," Heath said before Monday's game. "Obviously, with the size of the country, most games you get between 5,000 and 8,000 of your fans there. It does have an influence, not only the game but in the atmosphere of the game in general. The fact we might have a couple hundred people there will make it enjoyable for everybody and make the spectacle better.

"You hear them. Don't worry."

Loons supporters headed home quietly after their team played FC Dallas to a 1-1 draw but lost 5-4 on penalty kicks after captain Wil Trapp was denied on the team's second of its five shootout kicks and goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair couldn't stop one of Dallas' five.

"Disappointed for our supporters who were here," Heath said after the game. "Incredible they made the journey. It's always a cruel way of going out. We've all been on the good side. We've all been on the bad side. It's still never easy to take."

Hardware hunt

The club and its supporters still are seeking a first trophy. The closest they have come in MLS play is the 2019 U.S. Open Cup final at Atlanta.

On Monday, those fans who toured the stadium's soccer hall of fame could see the 2011 NASL Soccer Bowl trophy among all its gleaming hardware. The Minnesota Stars, a forerunner to the Loons, won it that year in a two-legged final with Fort Lauderdale.

"It's all so beautifully tarnished," said Bruce McGuire, a co-founder of the Dark Clouds supporters group once upon a time and still an avid fan.

The sizable trophy ended up in the Atlantic Ocean that night, draped with seaweed.

"There was a lot of beer drank out of it that night," McGuire said.

There was no beer, no chips consumed on the long, quiet journey back home very early Tuesday.

Only Schweitzberger's two-hour drive back home in a 28-hour day door-to-door from Brainerd.

How does he do it?

"Three energy drinks, windows wide open and the music loud," he said.