It appears Minnesota United FC fans won’t have to wait much longer to see the club’s first Designated Player in action.
Two weeks after signing with the Loons, Darwin Quintero is raring to go and hopes to make his MLS debut Saturday night against the Portland Timbers (10:30 pm ET | ESPN+).
“I am very excited to play this weekend,” Quintero told FutbolMLS in an interview.
Physically, Quintero is ready. After all, he was training with Club America and played in the club’s early Concacaf Champions League games — scoring in a 1-1 draw with Saprissa in the second leg of the Round of 16 and starting in both legs of a quarterfinal victory against Tauro — before the 30-year-old signed with Minnesota.
“It’s no problem for me to enter the competition,” Quintero said.
The only thing holding him back was the necessary paperwork, but that was finalized late Thursday, allowing Quintero to travel with his team to Portland.
With his last match just one month ago — and he went the full 90 minutes in Panama City, with his future coach scouting from the stands — Quintero feels he can go the distance on Saturday, but the decision will be made after the Loons train in Portland Friday.
Quintero said he has a clear idea of how he will be utilized by Loons coach Adrian Heath, who he calls “a coach that likes his team to play good soccer, to have lots of touches on the ball.”
“He wants me to move behind the No. 9,” Quintero said. “He wants me to be the player that connects the majority of the attacking efforts. We hope I can give all that.”
As for training with his new teammates, that too has been positive.
“Everyone gives everything, everyone runs,” he said about the team’s efforts at training.
Maybe the biggest transition has been the frigid conditions in Minnesota.
“At first I felt the cold, I went out with a thermal and the rest, but now I’m more accustomed to it,” he said.
Having just played at America — he said he was rooting for his former team to advance to the CCL finals — Quintero has a unique perspective of how the two leagues stack up.
“There aren’t many differences,” he said. “Lots of touches, lots of passing, good finishing.”
That's just what Quintero is hoping to provide Saturday night at Providence Park.
