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Then there are the things that aren’t so readily apparent, the stories that don’t come out until some time after. Like in Philadelphia in the first year, when the Union didn’t have their own training facility and were practising on, as Harvey puts it, “decent fields in a residential area.”

They showed up one time for a training session and there was a camp for five and six year olds booked on the field instead. The Union players knew the ages of the players due to the fact that one of the children taking part was the son of Philadelphia forward Alejandro Moreno.

“They kindly stepped aside after 15 or 20 minutes and watched training and that was part of their camp,” said Harvey, 33, a Mission Viejo, Calif., native. “That was nice of the five, six year olds to let us use the field.

“That was the expansion year in Philly. Yeah. Interesting, right? You don’t even know where to go from there, do you?”

No. Not all. We’ll move along to the present.

Minnesota (5-9-2) had given up a league-high 36 goals going into action across the circuit Friday, but they come into Saturday off a 3-2 win at home on Wednesday over the Portland Timbers. The Timber tallies were on a penalty kick and an own goal; the spin out of the Minnesota camp is that their defence wasn’t broken down by Portland.

Vancouver (6-6-2) last played Saturday at home, getting a Cristian Techera marker on free kick in the 74th minute to secure a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.

“I thought we had good moments, but we also had some sloppy ones. We need to clean those up,” Harvey said.

Minnesota forward Abu Danladi scored the winner against Portland in the 64th minute. He and Portland midfielder Sebastian Blanco both earned red cards in the 70th minute for a skirmish after a challenge, so he’ll sit out Saturday.

NEXT GAME

Saturday

Vancouver Whitecaps at Minnesota United FC

5 p.m., TFC Bank Stadium, TSN1, TSN 1040/1410