SEATTLE — Over the course of three previous meetings, a sort of mysticism had started to surround Minnesota United.
Although the Seattle Sounders have historically dominated Minnesota, this year the “rivalry” had been turned on its head. The Loons were the only North American team to beat the Sounders at home this year and held them scoreless twice at Allianz Field.
What fed into the mystical qualities weren’t just the results but how Minnesota’s playing style seemed to allow them to over-perform the underlying data. The Loons only needed 35% of possession and were absolutely deadly on the counter in the match at Lumen. In the two games at Minnesota, they gave up eight “big chances” to the Sounders without allowing a goal. They followed up the second shutout by winning a shootout, with Dayne St. Clair doing well to create a specter that seemed at least partially responsible for Alex Roldan taking his attempt poorly and two other Sounders missing theirs.
At no point in those three meetings had the Sounders ever led, nor did they seem particularly likely to win despite most of the numbers suggesting they were in control.
Heading into a must-win Game 2, the Sounders badly needed something to break the Loons’ spell.
They got it by turning Minnesota’s superpowers against them.
If Minnesota had been at all chastened by a Game 1 performance in which they not only ceded possession but also the higher-quality chances, they weren’t showing signs of it early. Almost from the opening whistle, they were looking to waste time and slow down the game. In the 3rd minute, for instance, a seemingly innocuous collision on a header between Cristian Roldan and Joaquin Pereyra led to a two-minute stoppage that even prompted referee Pierre-Luc Lauziére to talk to both teams’ captains at midfield.
The Sounders, meanwhile, seemed intent to press the action. They were rewarded in the 7th minute after winning possession on the counter-press and then earning a corner after Alex Roldan played in Jordan Morris with a quick pass that forced the Minnesota defense to scramble. On the ensuing corner, Obed Vargas collected a poor clearance near the top of the box, took one touch to settle and then rifled a shot through traffic that St. Clair seemed to see late. St. Clair got a hand to it, but couldn’t keep it out.
Suddenly, the Loons defense didn’t look so impenetrable.
“We knew we needed to score an early goal that kind of opened them up a little bit,” Sounders forward Jordan Morris said after the game. “They’re tough to break down. You saw that in the first game, we weren’t able to do that and they made it difficult. But Obed had a great finish and it kind of opened the game up for us.”
From there, the Sounders were flying.
The next goal came when Cristian Roldan won an attempted clearance, pushed into the box and sent in a cross that Jesús Ferreira headed into Morris’ path. It was Morris’ 10th career playoff goal, tied for the most among active MLS players.
Then the Sounders seemingly put the nail in the coffin with another goal in the 41st minute, a sequence that also started with them winning possession on the counter-press. Again, it was Roldan pushing toward the endline and sending in a cross. Again, it was Ferreira on the end of it, only this time he redirected it to Danny Musovski, who was waiting to sweep it home on the doorstep.
“The objective was to just score one goal,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “It’s been a storyline we couldn’t score against teams who packed it in. That monkey is off our back.
“The intensity in our intent to try to score goals is probably the biggest takeaway.”
To the degree that this match didn’t go entirely according to the Sounders’ plan, it was in first-half stoppage time. Seemingly not quite sure how to adjust to such a dramatically different game state, the Sounders seemed to be caught a bit off guard when Minnesota had to be a bit more aggressive defensively. The first goal the Sounders conceded came when they were trying to get out on the counter, but made a sloppy turnover that left the defense scrambling. Just a couple minutes later, Yeimar inexplicably got caught in possession near midfield, leaving the Sounders scrambling again. What was looking like a blowout was now tight as ever.
But there’s positives to be found in the way the Sounders responded to that challenge, too.
Rather than panicking, the Sounders effectively shut things down in the second half. They still had over 60% possession, won 66% of the duels, only allowed four shots — none of which were particularly dangerous — conceded just one corner and only committed four fouls, effectively stripping the Loons of their wings.
They did that even after Alex Roldan was forced off at halftime with groin “tightness”, with Kalani Kossa-Rienzi barely missing a bit. To truly ice the game, they relied on Danny Leyva adding a bit of control to the midfield and Paul Rothrock bringing some frenetic energy.
It all sets up well for a winner-take-all Game 3, which seems to play into their hands. Since Schmetzer took over as head coach in 2016, the Sounders have now played 17 “must-win” playoff games. They are 12-5 in those matches. The Loons have played just seven such games since they entered the league in 2017 and are 2-5, which includes four straight losses. The sense of mysticism may have swapped teams.
“We live for moments like this, the important games,” Vargas said. “Everyone wants to play and everyone wants to put everything on it.”
