Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath is scouting from afar the UEFA European Championship in which his own Robin Lod and Jukka Raitala play for Finland and Jan Gregus for Slovakia.
"I'm only interested in England beating Scotland tomorrow, as I'm sure they will," said Heath, whose Loons team trains this week to play its second game in five weeks.
Heath's native England plays Friday afternoon Twin Cities time in a Group D game while Slovakia (1-0) plays Sweden on Friday morning in a Group E game. Finland lost 1-0 to Russia on Wednesday after it beat Denmark in Saturday's opener.
Heath was asked if he followed and cheered his players on from here.
"I would like our players to progress, but I also would like them knocked out as soon as possible, selfishly, to get them back here," Heath said.
Talking contract
Heath said the team continues to talk new contract terms with starting left back Chase Gasper and goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair after the Loons last week signed midfielder Hassani Dotson to a three-year contract with a team option starting in 2022.
Dotson and Gasper have been named to the U.S. National Team's preliminary roster for next month's Concacaf Gold Cup.
The Loons selected all three players in the 2019 MLS Super Draft.
"We've been speaking to Chase since the start of the season, same with Dayne," Heath said. "That was our draft. Those three all came at the same time. They've all contributed the last three years with what we're trying to do. So we'd like to keep them all, for sure."
Fully fit
Veteran defensive midfielder and captain Ozzie Alonso trained with the team Thursday after he had done so individually with the athletic training staff since the Loons last played at Real Salt Lake over Memorial Day weekend.
Heath said his team "nearly has a full clean bill of health" now and called both Alonso and star Emanuel Reynoso available for Saturday's game at FC Dallas. He also called French striker Adrien Hunou fit for Saturday after he trained hard the past three weeks and said Argentine striker Ramon Abila is in the best shape since he joined the team in March.
St. Clair returns
St. Clair returned to training on Thursday, back from playing World Cup qualifiers with the Canadian national team. He is expected to return to his national team to play Gold Cup games in July.
"I presume so, there's all that stuff coming around the corner," Heath said. "Lots of international tournaments. As much as I love players going away to play for national teams, it does affect us."
Parting words
Heath with his Euro Championship prediction: "I did say before the tournament started that Italy was my dark horse and so far nothing they've done has changed my mind." Italy has started Group A play with two victories in which it has scored six goals and allowed none.
