In Front Of The Camera And Behind The Mic With Chris Lidholm

Photo credit: Brian Quarstad

The North American Soccer League’s TV universe has expanded this year to include the CBS Sports Network, which joins ONE World Sports, beIN Sports and ESPN3.com as national broadcast partners in the United States. Each week, NASL.com will speak with one of the people whose words paint the pictures of the beautiful game.

Jack Bell spoke with Chris Lidholm, 44, the play-by-play announcer for Minnesota United, a Twins Cities native who was teammates with Manny Lagos (the Loons’ Director of Football) and Amos Magee (a former coach of the Thunder) on a Minnesota select team in the mid-1980s. Lidholm teams with analyst Alan Willey, a star with the Minnesota Kicks during the NASL Legendary Era (and one of Lidholm’s soccer idols), on MY29 TV locally, and they can also be seen and heard on ESPN3 nationally.

Bell: You’re a Minnesota and a soccer guy through and through, where did the broadcasting part begin.

Lidholm: I was going to the Brown Institute (Sanford-Brown College, a school of broadcasting) and through my connection to Manny Lagos, his father Buzz called me and asked if I’d be interested in doing play-by-play for the Minnesota Thunder. That was 1993, I was 21 years old and I’ve been doing soccer in Minnesota ever since, half my life.

Bell: You’ve seen some great team and individual performances over the years. Which ones stand out?

Lidholm: Being part of and witnessing the Thunder’s long home unbeaten streak in the mid-1990s. When the streak ended, I can’t remember if it was against Milwaukee, not a word was said, there was dead silence in NSC Stadium. People were in shock. In those days the Thunder also played at Macalester College in St. Paul, and in Apple Valley, a suburb. They tried to get exposure throughout the Twin Cities, and went to where the fans were to build the base and get the Thunder name out there.

In 1999, the Thunder won the A-League Championship and they were able to do it at NSC, beating the Rochester Rhinos. That was a big one and it was fun to be a part of.

Of course the Thunder beating three MLS teams in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2005, and beating the LA Galaxy the year before in the tournament.

Bell: Then after the Thunder came the NASL and the NSC Minnesota Stars in 2011.

Lidholm: That was when they won the championship, beating Tampa Bay and then Carolina in the playoffs, and then Fort Lauderdale. I got to call that first game (a 3-1 Minnesota win), it was a two-game, home-and-home aggregate series, then went down to Lockhart Stadium simply as a fan for Game 2 and got to be a part of the postgame celebration.

Bell: In 2012, there was another run to the finals.

Lidholm: There was a run to the championship after finishing sixth in the standings, beating Puerto Rico and then San Antonio. United beat Tampa Bay in the first game, 2-0, then I went to the return match at Tampa Bay as a fan (a 3-1 Rowdies win, and title after a shootout). I’ve always been a fan at heart. I love the game of soccer. I watch games all levels from U-10s to the pros. I went to that second game just to cheer on Minnesota.

Bell: What, in terms of individual performances, stick out to you from over the years?

Lidholm: What stands out now is being able to witness the pretty great career Christian Ramirez is having. I remember being told he was signed [in 2014] and I didn’t know much about him. [Pablo] Campos goes down and Ramirez takes full advantage [leading the league with 20 goals, winning the Golden Boot Award, the Young Player of the Year Award and the Goal of the Year Award]. And look where he is after two and a half years later, closing in on Pablo’s club goalscoring record. It’s been great getting to see that.

Also getting to see the development of local talents like Brent Kallman (Woodbury, Minn.), who’s now a regular starter, and Ismaila Jome (Brooklyn Park, Minn.). When I started in 1993, 99 percent of the roster was made up of guys from Minnesota. Now there are two guys. Jome is a talented midfielder who has a tremendous future ahead of him.

Getting to see those players develop has been a big joy of mine. Also seeing players in MLS or Europe come through NSC playing against Minnesota, guys like Mike Grella of the Red Bulls who once played for Carolina. Also folks like Amos Magee a player and coach here, then an assistant at Portland and now at D.C. United.

There are other players and coaches that played and coached at NSC – Brian McBride, Boro Sucevic and Bob Gansler with the Milwaukee Rampage. Tony Sanneh growing up and getting his start here, and having a wonderful career and success with the national team, and now doing great things with his foundation. I have been fortunate to have a great seat all these years to watch some talented Minnesota soccer teams, especially the last couple years.

Those are the ones that really stick out the most to me. I’ve been fortunate to be a part of many successful years with the team.

Bell: From over the years, you must have some favorite anecdotes to share.

Lidholm: I do my prep work for each game, and I really don’t have a favorite one. To me, each game dictates what I talk about, be they opinion, feelings, or emotion. If there’s a goal that’s just been scored it’s all emotion coming out. I don’t have a set goal call. I don’t have any of that. I just like to be in the moment, to let things happens organically in reaction to that moment.

One of those emotional reactions was to Christian Ramirez’s bicycle kick against Indy (the 2014 Goal of the Year). It was pure emotion. I just do what comes naturally.

But one story that happened recently sticks out, and I don’t even think it made it on the air. When we played back-to-back against Indy Eleven early in this Fall Season, Ramirez missed a penalty kick there (a 1-0 loss). The next week he converted one (scoring both goals in a 2-0 win). At end of second game our sideline reporter Eric Nordquist asked [Coach Carl] Craig if he had talked with Ramirez about missing that first penalty. His response was something like “When a guy walks by you with a big zit on his nose you don’t mention it. You know it’s there. He knows it’s there. We didn’t talk about it. Christian knew what happened.”

Bell: What is your sense about the Loons’ two recent coaches, Manny Lagos and now Carl Craig?

Lidholm: They have two different styles, they’re two different men leading the way, so it’s what you would expect? Manny would push the guys to give a lot, and he got a lot out of them the years they went to the championship game. They got into The Championship last season.

Carl, I think, expects more out of the guys. He pushes the players even more, that’s one thing that seems to stick out. They’ve both had their success. Carl was Manny’s assistant for many years, and you can see parts of Carl’s coaching philosophy during Manny’s days and now we get to see the full Carl now that he’s the head coach.

Bell: You get to call the games alongside a true Minnesota soccer legend in Alan Willey. What has that been like for you?

Lidholm: It has been great. For me, personally, it’s kind of come full circle. Back in the day I was a kid sitting in the front row at Metropolitan Stadium right behind the benches. I went to all but two Kicks games from 1976 to 1981. I saw Alan play and score a lot of his goals. Now for me to be sitting alongside him has been tremendous and fun. I was a young fan watching him all those years, now I’m a coworker and sidekick on the broadcast.

He’s laid back and has his witty, funny moments, exactly what you’d expect from an Englishman, and he’s even better when we’re off the air. The chemistry has been instant, like we’ve known each other for decades.

My first contact with Alan was in 2012, when we did a Minnesota soccer night. What we did was invite Kicks, Strikers, and Thunder players back to play before the main game that night. Alan was part of that. Since I grew up with the Kicks I got to contact the Kicks players. I called Alan and talked with him for a while. That’s where the friendship started.

Bell: It’s kind of interesting that he decided to stick around the Twin Cities area after his playing career. Are there other guys still in the area?

Lidholm: He fell in love with the area, he loved it during his playing days. He stuck here and made it his home. There are maybe three, four, five Kicks players in area: Tino Lettieri, Alan Merrick, Steve Litt, Stuart Jump, Geoff Barnett, and Tony Pesznecker. Tony is the longtime girls coach at Wayzata High School and has won a bunch of state championships.

Bell: What has caught your eye about this year’s team?

Lidholm: The focus of the players and the staff. They haven’t looked past 2016 and the focus is on winning in 2016. They want to make 2016 a successful year, and it’s same for us when it comes to our game productions. I’m fortunate to work with Brad Baker [the club’s senior director of video production], Alan Willey, and Eric Nordquist on the sideline. We have a great group. It’s not just the players and the front office who want to make this a great year. We really want to separate ourselves from other broadcasts and set that bar high.

One other thing I have really enjoyed witnessing over the years is the growth of the Dark Clouds [the club’s supporters group]. Seeing them grow from the original 10 people to over 300 now. Also, getting to watch a player like Miguel Ibarra. From starting his pro career here to the US national team to success with Club León in Mexico.