Representing North Dakota

The city of Moorhead is proudly Minnesotan and my home for over two years. It's also a key piece of this North of Normal metropolitan area, anchored by the famous (or notorious, thanks to the Coen brothers - who actually grew up in Brainerd) city of Fargo.

As a club, Dakota Fusion grew out of the philanthropic desires of NTSI owner Sajid Ghauri. To quote the club's website, "For last five years Sajid Ghauri and his company NTSI were providing opportunities to young adult players, eighteen and over, by sending them to different tournaments and funding their expenses"

NTSI, and thus Fusion, have their HQ in the Manchester Office Building (appropriately enough for a soccer club, as any Manc will tell you) and that is in Fargo and thus North Dakota.

The club has yet to play a game in North Dakota, and I do not know if Sajid applied to US Soccer to host on May 9th. It is unfortunate, but the club needs to survive and Moorhead have provided a steady base for both Fusion and FC Fargo before them.

For the record, Moorhead High is under 2 miles from the North Dakota border. Duluth's Public Schools Stadium is just over 4 miles from Wisconsin.

The away game does give Fusion an opportunity to fly the flag as the historic first ND entrant in the tournament without incurring the cost of being hosted in the state.

If Detroit City can set up in Hamtramck, then I'm comfortable with Dakota Fusion in Moorhead.

As a border city, Fargo (and West Fargo) to be honest, are often looked upon as atypical and a hipster urban exception to the agrarian core of the state. With population however, comes infrastructure and in the absence to any comprehensive tournament between the biggest cities in the state, the radioactive bees have landed the prize as the sole representatives of North Dakota in this year's US Open Cup. Fargo is, after all, comprehensively the biggest city in ND.

Close ties to Minnesota aside, come May 9th there is only one state I will be repping and I hope to that footy fans from the Red River to the Western Edge (to borrow the intro of NDSU football radio broadcasts) will rally around our club.

It would be nice to eventually see the Air Force guys from Minot again, or a club in the capital of Bismarck or a side constructed from the mindboggling tide of humanity which gathers to service the hungry Bakken.

However, until that day arrives, May 9th will be a historic occasion and Dakota Fusion will be North Dakota's team.