U.S. Bank Stadium debut was more about soccer

Milan was hailed as a major event on a couple of fronts: two internationally known soccer teams were coming to town, and they were starring in the first event at the new U.S.

If the preconceived guess was that this event would be comprised roughly of three-fourths stadium gawkers and one-fourth soccer die-hards as was the speculation on this end the biggest upset Wednesday was that those numbers seemed instead to be reversed.

I saw them in full force on the way to the stadium while riding the light rail’s blue line into downtown: little kids in A.C.

And those fans saw a legit match, with several starters on both sides playing in a key tuneup for league schedules EPL for Chelsea, Serie A for Milan that begin later this month.

The biggest question remains how many of those jersey-wearing EPL fans will translate into Major League Soccer fans when Minnesota United presumably begins playing in that league next season.