Minnesota United’s late-season slide sets up daunting playoff test against Seattle

Minnesota United vs. Seattle Sounders

The Loons have three wins in 19 tries against the Sounders since joining MLS in 2017. Two of those wins came this year. For as long as Minnesota United has been in MLS, Seattle has been the big brother—pummeling them and picking on them every chance they get. Do those two wins this season change that dynamic? No, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.

Seattle heads into the playoffs on a four-match unbeaten run but has suffered a couple of key injuries in recent weeks that could impact them. The status of defender Yeimar Gomez Andrade is still up in the air after suffering an injury at the end of September. At the time, it was indicated a return for the playoffs could be possible. The more crushing blow came Saturday in New York on Decision Day.

Attacker Pedro de la Vega was carted off in the 24th minute with a serious knee injury that teammate Albert Rusnák indicated was "serious." Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said de la Vega suffered a fractured patella and will miss six months. De la Vega has come to life this season for Seattle, scoring 10 goals and adding four assists across all competitions. It’s been the return the organization was hoping for from the Argentine when they brought him in on a reported $7.5 million transfer last January.

Outside of de la Vega, Seattle’s attack looks a bit different. Their top scorer, Danny Musovski (14 goals, 4 assists in league play), hasn’t scored in six games. Albert Rusnák (11 goals, 8 assists) has just one goal and three assists in his last eight league games. Jordan Morris, who’s been in and out of the lineup this season with injuries, has just one goal in MLS play since July 12. Even before his injury, de la Vega had only one goal in his last five games.

While the offense has struggled, Seattle’s defense has been lockdown. During their four-match unbeaten run to end the season, the Sounders allowed only three goals and an expected goals allowed of just 2.7. Despite injuries in their back line, they’ve been hard to break down of late.

That spells a considerable issue for a Loons side that’s struggled for form in the attacking third since the departure of Tani Oluwaseyi. In the last six games of the regular season, Minnesota scored nine goals but registered only 7.2 expected goals. Kelvin Yeboah, the team’s co-leading scorer, was absent for several of those games due to injury.

Yeboah’s return in Saturday’s season finale was a welcome sight for the Loons’ attack, but he’ll need to find his goal-scoring boots. He hasn’t scored in his last six league games, dating back to July 26 when he scored twice from the penalty spot. His last goal from open play came back on July 12. Yeboah hasn’t been in the same form that helped elevate the Loons to title-contender status last year.

Add in the Sounders’ vast playoff experience, and this sets up as one of the toughest First Round series the Loons could have asked for.

Game One of the best-of-three series takes place at Allianz Field on Monday, October 27, with kickoff set for 8 p.m. CT. Game Two will be in Seattle at Lumen Field on Monday, November 3, with kickoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. CT. If a Game Three is necessary, it will return to Allianz Field on Saturday, November 8, with kickoff to be determined.