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Maplewood’s Devin Padelford ecstatic over making MLS debut for Loons

andy greder, pioneer press
·4 min read

Devin Padelford was a sophomore at Woodbury High School who needed extra money for a club soccer trip to Spain in 2019, so the Maplewood native took a temp job working concessions at Allianz Field during Minnesota United’s inaugural game that April in St. Paul.

“I don’t really remember working; I was just watching the game,” Padelford recalled.

Padelford’s newer full-time job is Loons’ left back and the 20-year-old Minnesotan made his MLS debut in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC on Saturday.

“It was electric,” Padelford said postgame. “… I kind of just blacked out. But it was awesome and so happy to do it.”

In March 2022, Padelford signed a three-year contract with the club he grew up supporting. He had designs on playing more last season, but only had cameos with the first team in the U.S. Open Cup and an international friendly match against Everton. Instead, Padelford spent most of last season and so far much of this year with MNUFC2, the club’s developmental team.

“I got really down on myself at times,” he admitted Saturday. “I wanted to just be a contributor right away, but everyone’s journey is different. I think this year I’ve been doing a great job with keeping the lows not too low and keeping the highs at a decent rate because, I think, if you get too low about things, it can ruin your form.”

As a professional, Padelford might feel the need to put a governor on the ecstasy he felt Saturday, but he will never forget that moment. In the dressing room postgame, next-locker neighbor, goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, reminded Padelford he might want to hang on to the black jersey he wore for the big occasion.

Padelford was thankful he got to share the moment with his mother Rebecca, father Ron and two sisters, Annika and Marley, who all attended the match. It was a more homespun scene with his dad wearing an old-school Timberwolves jersey of Kevin Garnett.

Padelford got the opportunity to play due to veteran teammates’ injury and exhaustion. Starting left back Kemar Lawrence was sidelined with a hamstring injury, and D.J. Taylor was spent, less than his best and needed to come out of the game in the 68th minute.

Players on the Loons bench warm up in second halves in front of the Wonderwall supporters section and the stadium was buzzing after star player Emanuel Reynoso entered the game a few minutes earlier. So Padelford didn’t hear assistant coach Ian Fuller call his name at first.

“I was like, ‘Wait, did they say my name?’ ” Padelford recalled. “I heard Fuller kind of freak out again, so then I was like, ‘I better hurry up because he always gets annoyed if you are not ready right away.’ ”

Padelford was thrown in against Toronto winger Federico Bernardeschi, a highly decorated player from Juventus in Italy’s Serie A and with the Italian national team.

To put the contrast in perspective, Bernardeschi has played 273 club matches across an 11-year professional career to Padelford’s one game. Padelford’s salary is $74,360 this season; Bernardeschi is making an estimated $60,096 per week.

“Well, welcome to the real world, Dev,” manager Adrian Heath said of Padelford versus Bernardeschi. “It’s a little baptism of fire for him.”

After the match, Padelford went up to Bernardeschi and revealed a bit of a fan boy. “Jeez, man, it’s cool,” Padelford said postgame, as if he was pinching himself.

“I think I said, ‘This is weird, you were playing in (UEFA) Champions League (two years ago) … and I’m defending you,’ ” Padelford said. “A cool high five and stuff like that.”

On a more serious note, the Loons could really use more tangible returns from their three homegrown players. Sure, Padelford got his debut, but forward Patrick Weah and goalkeeper Fred Emmings remain a ways away from making contributions in MLS.

Weah, of Minneapolis, was just put out on loan with FC Tulsa in the USL Championship, and Emmings, of St. Paul, is the primary goalkeeper on an MNUFC2 side that is conceding a lot of goals in MLS Next Pro this season.

“Dev came in and gave us a bit of energy down the left, put a couple of crosses in,” Heath said. “So he’ll have enjoyed that.”

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