PORTLAND, Ore. — Sitting next to a roaring fireplace in the team hotel, coach Carl Craig didn’t stoke any flames Saturday over a report that Minnesota United FC might have to change its name before entering Major League Soccer.

Earlier this week in Minnesota, members of the club’s Dark Clouds supporters group were “dismayed” at the possible league request to drop the “United” moniker. They asked members to write petitions to MLS commissioner Don Garber requesting the name remain. A change.org petition to Garber and MLS had more than 830 supporters as of early Saturday afternoon.

“I really don’t have an opinion to be honest with you,” Craig told the Pioneer Press.

But Craig does have some underlying thoughts; he wants to keep the “Loons” as a secondary nickname and the crest. “I like ‘the Loons’ branding; I love the logo,” he said. “I would just hope that whatever the name changes to — if it changes at all — that we maintain the Loons.”

On Wednesday, SI.com reported it’s “increasingly likely” that MLS would ask the Minnesota club to change its name before entering the league as an expansion franchise in the 2017. D.C. United was an inaugural MLS franchise in 1996, while Atlanta United FC will be an expansion franchise in 2017.

“The progress our club has made under the Minnesota United banner in the past four years has been dramatic and inspiring,” said Dark Clouds President Jim Oliver in a petition letter. “Forcing a rebrand will do nothing to diminish our support for the club, but we do think it shows profound disrespect for all that progress and the work it took to achieve it.”

MLS has not officially announced whether Minnesota will have to change its name or what year they will join the league, with 2018 also a possibility.

Before being promoted to head coach this season, Craig started as an assistant with the club in 2010, when it was the NSC Minnesota Stars.

Predating Craig, the first pro soccer team in Minnesota was the Kicks, starting in 1976. From 1994 to 2009, the Minnesota club was the “Thunder,” which inspired the “Dark Clouds” moniker. The Thunder dismantled in 2009, and “Stars” was put in place. The latest switched to United came in 2013 after Bill McGuire bought the team.

“I get there might be a ‘here we go again’ (vibe), but with all honesty, I need to do my football job,” Craig said. “It’s somewhat irrelevant.”

But the Dark Clouds were irreverent. “Regardless, we’re still going to call ourselves the Dark Clouds because damn the man,” Oliver continued in his open letter to Garber and MLS. “The less context the better,”

But supporters groups around MLS can be influential, and the Dark Clouds quickly followed with a request: “We hope that Major League Soccer changes its mind.”

The “United” moniker is a staple in English soccer, most popularly with often perennial powerhouse Manchester United of the Premier League. In that top-flight league, there is also Newcastle United. In lower English rungs, there’s also Sheffield United and Leeds United.

“Maybe behind the ‘United’ name, at least for the Anglo part of the nation, United stands for soccer. It does not speak to soccer in the Latin community as much,” said Craig, who grew up in Newcastle, England and moved to Minnesota in 1994.

McGuire’s stated intention was to united multicultural communities under the “United” name. The logo tries to reflect that unity with a representation of the north star, an outstretched-wing design of a Loon, the state bird, and a blue stripe through the middle to represent the Mississippi River.

The change.org petition from Jacob Peters in Chicago called out Atlanta United. “There is nothing “united about Atlanta’s story” and “if MLS didn’t want ‘too many United’s,’ they should have nipped it in the bud & not allowed Atlanta to use the name.”

PLAYERS IN PORTLAND

Craig released his starting 11 players for Sunday’s preseason match against the defending MLS champion Portland Timbers. Goalie Sammy Ndjock will play behind defenders Justin Davis, Tiago Calvano, Aaron Pitchkolan and Kevin Venegas. Midfielders will be Greg Jordan, Ibson, Lance Laing, Ben Speas and Danny Cruz, with forward Christian Ramirez up top.

Craig will play the starters about 60 minutes before giving way to reserves and trialists in the final 30 minutes. Davis could play less than that after he collided with a teammate in training Friday.

Stefano Pinho, who was the MVP in the North American Soccer League last season, has a bruised foot and won’t play any of the three matches in Portland.