Minnesota United FC soccer is back from the brink.

Two years ago, no one wanted to own the Minnesota soccer team. The North American Soccer League took over the club, providing refuge for two seasons before threatening to fold the team.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars and one dominant season later, Minnesota is considered a model for success.

The resurgence owes to considerable financial support from owner Bill McGuire. The club has expanded its marketing and ticket sales reach to attract larger crowds and a new television audience, lured players with international soccer résumés, and created a more prosperous training environment.

Capitalizing on its resources, Minnesota won the spring season title to guarantee a playoff berth. Its strong play in the 10-team league carried over into the fall season, as United clinched the overall No. 1 seed in postseason play. Rookie forward Christian Ramirez became the NASL leader in goals while the defense ranked among the stingiest.

That combination propelled United into The Championship — the league’s four-team postseason tournament — which begins at 6 p.m. Saturday against Fort Lauderdale at the National Sports Center Stadium in Blaine.

During the 2012 championship finals, the league’s board of governors was prepared to vote Minnesota out. This season, the team averaged more than 5,900 fans per game in Blaine, a 34 percent increase from its first season under new ownership. Other club presidents have traveled to watch United seeking ideas for what they could do better.

“They are in the upper-echelon, and that puts them in a leadership position as a club,” NASL commissioner Bill Peterson said. “They deserve a lot of credit for how quickly they’ve gotten it done.

Didn’t happen right away

After beating long odds to win the 2011 NASL title, Minnesota made a second championship run in 2012 that ended with a loss amid contraction fears. McGuire’s financial support solved the latter but the club he took over was “floundering,’’ he said.

The team’s four-person front office worked out of a windowless room in the National Sports Center bowels. The dedicated, spirited bunch garnered both McGuire’s admiration and pity.

“They were hugely overmatched,” said McGuire, former head of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group. “But their belief was justified and we were going to add resources.”

United now employs 45 full-time employees in offices in Golden Valley. It also has put $1.4 million into a 7,500-square-foot training center for United players and coaches at the Bielenberg Sports Center in Woodbury. The team has not set a target date for the move.

But more dollars did not result in on-field success last season. Despite adding two former league MVPs, including forward Pablo Campos, United struggled with injury and locker room troubles and wallowed as a nonfactor much of the season.

Seeking to supplement a core group of grind-it-out players with talented imports, coach Manny Lagos spent the offseason consulting his worldwide network of agents, former teammates and coaches. His aim was to find not just the best players but the right ones.

Perhaps no newcomer has meant more than Tiago Calvano, a veteran central defender from Brazil whose aggressive, yet savvy style, influences play throughout matches. Calvano, a 33-year-old father of two, also represents stability.

Though a more subtle addition than a former MVP, Calvano “is what we needed to address our needs on and off the field,” Lagos said. “We vetted him and made sure he was ready to embrace a new experience. He came for the right reasons.”

New players in midfielder Juliano Vicentini and forward Daniel Mendes, also 33-year-olds from Brazil, brought the right blend of talent and temperament.

“They are here to teach, not bring you down,” Campos said. “They are not here to bring bad energy. They either keep a good environment or make it better.”

More tactical in training

The infusion of financial support has helped bring an upgrade in United’s training methods and daily operations this season that has been paramount to its success.

For players such as Brian Kallman, who endured low-budget incarnations of Minnesota soccer for six seasons, the changes are welcome.

“It got better when we were the Stars but I used to say, ‘I was treated more professional when I was at Creighton University then when I played for the Thunder,’ ” Kallman said.

While Lagos selects the starting 11 each week, the task of making players better on a daily basis belongs to assistant coach Carl Craig. He joined the coaching staff in 2010 and helped revamp United’s training methods before this season.

Working with FHIT (Flexible Hours Institute of Training) allows the team to become “more scientific in terms of physical preparation,” Craig said. Heart-rate monitors and corrective exercises, in addition to better nutrition and tapered training as needed later in the season, helped players thrive.

Other changes this season, from fewer predawn flights to road matches to more staff carrying out mundane tasks such as doing laundry, have allowed players to better focus on their jobs.

“The environment we present them these days is very, very professional,” Craig said.

Said Kallman, “This year, more than in years past, we have tactical plans. When the coaches see certain weaknesses in opponents on film, we’ll do a couple different activities in training to help us attack those spaces in the match.”

More talent than past champs

Minnesota and Saturday’s opponent Fort Lauderdale played for the championship in 2011 in a two-match, total-goal format. Minnesota’s unheralded workhorse team won at home, then used dogged play and defense to secure the crown.

“In 2011, we defended probably 85 percent of the second game in Fort Lauderdale and we didn’t give them a shot on goal,” Kallman said. “Now we have more talented players that allow us to possess the ball and break teams down in a different way.”

Once devoid of an all-star player, Minnesota now boasts Ramirez, a three-time NASL player of the month and MVP candidate. Ramirez, Mendes and midfielder Miguel Ibarra combined for 37 goals, more than five teams managed this season.

Last season the team’s primary offensive option was getting a ball into Campos. The difference in the attack is akin to a basketball team relying on several quick and creative guards rather than one post player.

Offensive-minded outside defenders Justin Davis, Kallman and Kevin Venegas have joined the attack more often.

“Last year you had to force the ball into Pablo,’’ Kallman said. “Now, if Christian’s not on, you’ve got Miguel on the other side or [Aaron] Pitchkolan coming up in the middle.”

Defense remains a strength. Center back Cristiano Dias has flourished playing alongside Calvano. They anchor an improved defense this season that allowed 28, third-fewest in the league and 14 fewer than last season.

“What you can say about our past teams is that we were a good cup team for two years because we made two good runs,” Craig said. “This year we are a good team. Period.”