Twin Cities blues: Sounders lose on penalties in game 1

The Seattle Sounders found themselves in frustratingly familiar territory after arguably being the better side throughout yet another game against Minnesota United, but ultimately being left to watch their hosts celebrating. The opening game of the best-of-3 first round playoff match-up finished 0-0 at the end of regulation before going to penalties, which Minnesota won 3-2 after both Cristian Roldan and Danny Leyva hit the woodwork and Alex Roldan had a penalty saved.

The Sounders started the first half on the front foot, with Jordan Morris and Yeimar each getting decent looks in the 2nd and 6th minutes. In the 9th minute Yeimar made an ill-advised attempt to challenge for a ball, leaving Bongokulhe Hlongwane all alone as the ball was played to him over Yeimar. Hlongwane charged into space, running at goal with Jackson Ragen chasing behind, but as he closed in on Stefan Frei’s net he put his shot just wide of the far post.

The two sides proceeded to trade blows throughout the rest of the half, both getting decent chances but failing to convert them into goals.

The second half was unfortunately much the same. Jordan Morris created a few fantastic chances, setting up Danny Musovski twice in the 80th minute and the 1st minute of stoppage time. The 80th minute chance was a golden opportunity that forced a fantastic, point-blank save from Dayne St. Clair to give Seattle a corner rather than a goal. In the stoppage time chance Musovski connected with a Morris cross, but his bullet header went just over the bar. Georgi Minoungou was on the end of a final Morris chance in the 4th minute of stoppage time, but his shot was blocked and went out for a corner.

With the game still tied 0-0 at full time, it went to kicks from the spot. Seattle went first and Albert Rusnák stepped up to open the shootout, burying his take down the middle. Kelvin Yeboah followed with Minnesota’s first and was able to answer. Alex Roldan took Seattle’s second but came out on the losing side of a bit of mind games after St. Clair first complained until he re-placed the ball on the spot, then Roldan hit his shot right into the goalkeeper’s arms in the middle of goal. Nectarios Triantis buried the second kick for Minnesota, and from there the Sounders were trailing 2-1. Jackson Ragen and Joaquin Pereyra each converted their kicks, followed by Cristian Roldan hitting the crossbar and Julian Gressel hitting the post. With a chance to get back in the game Danny Leyva stepped up to the spot for Seattle, but he also hit the post. That miss meant that Minnesota won the penalty shootout 3-2, and lead the best-of-3 series heading into next Monday’s game in Seattle.

Lineups

Brian Schmetzer makes four changes to the starting XI from Decision Day. Paul Rothrock starts on the left wing in place of Pedro de la Vega, who will miss the remainder of the season after his knee injury against NYCFC. Cristian Roldan and Obed Vargas both return to their starting spots in central midfield, replacing Danny Leyva and João Paulo, and Yeimar comes back from injury to start alongside Jackson Ragen as Alex Roldan slides back out to his usual spot at right back in place of Kalani Kossa-Rienzi.

Key moments

2 - Corner! Ferreira plays morris into the box with a great slip pass, and Morris puts his shot wide but still gets a touch from St. Claire to earn a corner.

6 - Chance! Rothrock wins a dangerous free kick on the left wing that Rusnák sends in and connects with Yeimar, but the header goes just over the bar.

9 - Chance! Yeimar makes a terrible play chasing the ball, leaving Hlongwane in tons of space with only Ragen for company, but the eventual shot goes wide.

10 - Yellow! St. Clair is shown a yellow card for completely unnecessary dissent after a minor foul is called against Morris in the box.

18 - Shot! Triantis has a look from outside the box after a throw-in into the box bounces around, but his shot goes wide.

18 - Clearance! Alex Roldan clears a shot off the line after Rothrock attempts to shield a player off of the ball for a teammate to clear but no help comes.

20 - Shot! Rosales has a rip cutting in from the right wing from about 20 yards out, but misses wide of the top corner.

22 - Chance! Cristian Roldan gets his head to a Rusnák corner, but it’s blocked off the line and eventually the ball is cleared out of the area.

23 - Tackle! Ferreira comes up with a huge tackle, winning the ball near Seattle’s corner and transitioning into attack.

30 - Chance! Rusnák finds Morris just outside of the box and Morris plays a first-time flick behind him that Rothrock runs onto, but his shot from the edge of the area goes high.

34 - Corner! Rusnák drives from the left along the top of the box before taking a shot that’s blocked out for a corner.

41 - Save! Nouhou gets beat to allow Triantis space to carry the ball and shoot, but Frei comes up with a parry that pushes the ball away from any real danger.

54 - Shot! Really slick passing around the box from Ferreira and Rusnák sets Cristian Roldan up for a great shot that forces St. Clair into a save to push it away for a corner.

71 - Subs. Robin Lod and Joseph Rosales come off for Minnesota, replaced by Hassani Dotson and Kelvin Yeboah, while Seattle take off Jesus Ferreira and bring on Danny Musovski.

80 - Chance! Morris works his way through the box after a nifty ball from Vargas, then plays a pass for Musovski who can’t quite beat St. Clair but earns a corner.

81 - Sub. Georgi Minoungou comes on for Seattle, replacing Paul Rothrock.

82 - Sub. Owen Gene replaces Wil Trapp for Minnesota.

89 - Foul. Minoungou commits a completely unnecessary foul in a dangerous spot, giving up a late free kick. Pereyra puts his shot just wide of the top corner, though.

90+1 - Chance! Morris times a run perfectly, gets to the end line and sends in a great cross that Musovski connects with but his header goes just over the bar.

90+4 - Sub. Danny Leyva comes on for the Sounders as Obed Vargas comes off.

90+4 - Chance! Another good play from Morris as he gets on the end of a ball over the top and cuts it back as Minoungou runs onto it, but his shot is blocked away for a corner.

90+6 - Sub. Julian Gressel takes the place of Jefferson Diaz for Minnesota.

SHOOTOUT

SEA 1: Rusnák steps up for Seattle’s first penalty and buries his take right down the middle. 1-0, Sounders

MIN 1: Yeboah takes Minnesota’s first penalty and sends Frei the wrong way, slotting his shot into the bottom right corner. 1-1

SEA 2: Alex Roldan is in the number 2 spot and after some mind games from St. Clair he goes softly down the middle into the arms of the GK. 1-1

MIN 2: Triantis goes second for Minnesota and Frei guesses the right way but can’t get to the penalty as it goes in the left side netting. 2-1, Minnesota

SEA 3: Jackson Ragen comes up next for Seattle and sends St. Clair the wrong way before calmly popping the ball in to the same spot as Triantis. 2-2

MIN 3: Joaquin Pereyra takes the third penalty and Frei guesses right again but can’t stop the shot. 3-2, Minnesota

SEA 4: Cristian Roldan takes Seattle’s fourth PK and hits it off the bar, leaving Seattle trailing. 3-2, Minnesota

MIN 4: Julian Gressel hits the fourth penalty off the post! 3-2, Minnesota

SEA 5: Danny Leyva comes to the spot and hits the post. Minnesota win the shootout 3-2.

Quick thoughts

Frustratingly close: The Sounders were tantalizingly close to not needing to go to a shootout. There’s plenty of cause for frustration with the takes, but with better execution the shootout wouldn’t have ever happened in the first place. Particularly as the final minutes of the second half wore on, the Sounders were repeatedly finding Jordan Morris over the top and he was putting chances on platters for his teammates. Two of those turned into corners, and you have to give Dayne St. Clair some credit for his save on the first of those – as good of a chance as Danny Musovski will likely ever have outside of a true tap-in – but Seattle know the kind of team Minnesota are and you have to turn chances into goals if you want to move on in the playoffs.

About the shootout: You’re almost certainly not going to win a shootout if you hit the woodwork twice and have another effort saved. Dayne St. Clair is genuinely good at saving penalties, but at least part of his success is owed to the reputation that he carries for being good at penalties. It allows him to play the mind games he plays against Alex, and then knowing that you either need to make him guess wrong or beat him to a corner if you’re going to put your shot past him leads to Cristian and Danny hitting the woodwork. It would be great to have a goalkeeper with a similar aura when it comes to PKs, but Andrew Thomas probably isn’t touching the field again this season unless something happens to Frei.

One last chance to keep the season alive: No one reading this will be unaware that the game next Monday is now do-or-die. The Sounders need to win, and they probably need to do it in regular time based on how the penalties went tonight, if they don’t want to be done playing until 2026. They’ll have the home crowd behind them, pushing them on, but they need to put in a better performance than the one the put in tonight. The performance tonight wasn’t bad – it was honestly pretty good for the most part! – but they need to clean up the fouls and dangerous free kicks they lead to. They need to be tidier in possession, forcing Minnesota to make a play rather than giving the ball up cheaply and creating transition opportunities. And more than anything else they need to put the ball into the Loons’ net. If they can’t do that, the offseason will be even longer, and the nights are already so dark here in Seattle. Give us another week with something to hope for this season. If we can get that, then maybe we could add another, and another.

Notable quote

Player spotlight

Jordan Morris had a single shot, and maybe he could have done better with that, but he was credited with 4 chances created on a total of 24 touches, a remarkable level of efficiency.