Many Minnesota United FC players have more on the line Wednesday than the premier opportunity to host a Major League Soccer club in the fourth round of the 103rd U.S. Open Cup.

Against Sporting Kansas City in Blaine, the Loons, who compete in the second-division North American Soccer League, will continue their daily auditions for spots on next year’s roster, when the club is expected to make the jump to an MLS expansion franchise.

Uncertainty lies in a substantial off-the-field caveat to joining the top domestic league in 2017. First, United must have their and MLS’s request for a property tax exemption at the club’s proposed stadium in St. Paul restarted in the Legislature. The bill including United’s tax break was pocket vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton on June 7 because of an unrelated wording error. The only short-term recourse would be for the bill, which had abundant political support, to resurface in a yet-undetermined special session and then be signed by Dayton.

“There isn’t much we can do about it as players, but hopefully something happens,” Loons captain Justin Davis said.

What Davis and his teammates can better control is their play on the pitch and the interconnected impressions they leave with United’s Sporting Director Manny Lagos, who will determine next season’s roster.

Related Articles Houston Dynamo scores twice in 2nd half to tie Minnesota United

Minnesota United acquires striker Kei Kamara in trade with Colorado

New Loons star Emanuel Reynoso brings his lifelong ‘fight’ to fresh start in Minnesota

Loons acquire backup goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas from Nashville

Minnesota United’s injury list won’t shrink much in near future Lagos and club owner Bill McGuire already have begun upgrading the roster with a handful of MLS veterans: attacking center midfielder Ben Speas, hard-working winger Danny Cruz and reliable holding midfielder Jeb Brovsky. Davis and Kevin Venegas are two defensive stalwarts signed through the expected jump to MLS.

“It’s a special opportunity for this club (in Open Cup) and these guys individually to show we belong in the big picture of U.S. soccer and against the best teams,” said Brovsky, who has played for three MLS clubs. “I just tell them this is an opportunity, it’s not that they are far better players or they are a far better team.”

United also added two NASL stars from last season: forward Stefano Pinho, who was the league MVP, and winger Lance Laing, who was on the league’s best XI roster. Pinho has showed flashes of goal-scoring prowess in increasing playing time, while Laing has struggled to acclimate to United’s attack and has played less.

Taking a similar path to United, the Portland Timbers made the jump to MLS from the third-tier United Soccer League in 2011. When United played in the Simple Invitational preseason tournament in Portland in February, Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson looked at the Loons warming up at Providence Park and said he wished he would have better invested in his club’s talent level before it joined MLS.

“Started to acquire more players, more assets leading into our final year,” Wilkinson lamented to the Pioneer Press. “It was just night and day from USL to MLS, so I think I could have done a better job positioning us going into MLS.”

One learning experience for Wilkinson was how he assessed players’ skills. “It was important in hindsight that we overestimated some of the ability of the players that we had on board that we liked and some of the ones that did very well for us at the USL level,” he said. “It didn’t necessarily transition to the MLS era.”

Wilkinson, whose club reached the pinnacle as the 2015 MLS Cup champions, said as the final season in the lower league progresses, players get a better sense of who is more likely to make the jump.

“You are dangling a huge carrot, and you are saying to every player, ‘Perform and you will get the opportunity to play in MLS,’ ” Wilkinson said. “Then by the end of the year, players see the writing on the wall because you aren’t going to take 11 or 12 players from the current group. You are probably looking to take maybe four or five or six based on previous expansion teams.”

Sporting KC, the reigning U.S. Open Cup champion, will play Wednesday’s game without Graham Zusi and Matt Besler, who are members of the U.S. men’s national team at the Copa America tournament this summer.

In 2014, United lost to Sporting KC 2-0 in the Open Cup, the country’s oldest soccer tournament. Scoreless through 40 minutes, Loons center back Cristiano Dias was sent off with a red card after an aggressive tackle, putting United down a man. Sporting KC capitalized, netting two goals in the final 50 minutes at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Sporting coach Peter Vermes and Lagos played together with the New York Red Bulls in the mid-1990s. Vermes told the Pioneer Press on Monday that in that 2014 match the Loons had a “good defensive mentality” and “a real hunger to go score, especially on the counter.”

Vermes called the 2016 Loons “more seasoned” with the addition of the MLS veterans. Vermes said 2015 MLS expansion team Orlando City SC’s experience in USL gave it an advantage over New York City FC, which started a club from scratch. The same advantage appears true for the Loons compared to fellow 2017 expansion partner, Atlanta United, which will begin from the ground up next season. An expansion draft with players made available from the existing MLS clubs could help infuse expansion team rosters.

“When you have an established team already, you are already using that year prior to build that foundation and try out some players in your team that you think could be a player that you could use for an MLS team,” Vermes said. “You have to make sure that they fit into your culture and your philosophy. Obviously, I think it can give you a big leg up.”