RENTON — Jesús Ferreira knows exactly how Minnesota United is probably feeling right now.
Twice when Ferreira was playing for FC Dallas, he faced the Seattle Sounders in must-win playoff games. Both times — in 2019 and 2023 — he was on the losing end.
Although the particular situations are different in notable ways — the Sounders were playing at home in those meetings, for one — the broader dynamics are similar for Saturday’s do-or-die Game 3. FC Dallas was young and relatively inexperienced, especially in terms of playoff success, while the Sounders were a veteran squad with a long history of success.
“It’s a little scary,” Ferreira said when asked what it’s like to face the Sounders in a playoff game. “You’re going against a club that is know for winning, its winning mentality, have champions, have trophies under their belt and it’s a little intimidating.
“It’s awesome to be on this side because you can tell the mentality of this group and that we want more.”
Although Minnesota United will have some advantage playing at home, the reality is that they’ve not won an elimination game — or even won a playoff game without penalties — since 2020, a run that was coincidentally stopped by the Sounders in the Western Conference finals. Minnesota United is 0-3 in elimination games since that loss.
The Sounders, meanwhile, are 12-5 in elimination games just in the 10 seasons since Brian Schmetzer took over as head coach, which includes three road wins. The Sounders also have a good deal of experience in other knockout tournaments like the U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup.
“These are the best games,” Sounders forward Jordan Morris said. “This is what you look forward to. There is maybe a little added pressure. But especially for me being out a lot this year, this is what I was looking forward to.
“For me personally, I want that responsibility. I want to be the guy who leads the team forward and tries to score the goals that take us through.”
It’s not just scoring goals, either.
“Just understanding that all these little moments in these games add up,” Morris said. “That little bit of defensive work rate, the extra ball that you went in the air, the extra duel you win. All that stuff is so important and we have guys that understand all those little things help us win these games.”
Somewhat counter-intuitively, the Sounders’ past success also reinforces the idea that each playoff run is special, that no matter how many times they’ve won before that there’s never a guarantee to be in this position again.
Even if he didn’t necessarily have to do it, Schmetzer said he reminded his players that their professional careers are short and that they need to take advantage of the opportunities they have.
“We’ve been really fortunate that we’ve had a lot of those opportunities,” he said. “But you look around the league, you might only get one or two chances your entire career. They really have to grab hold of it and say ‘I’m going to do whatever it frickin’ takes to make sure I get us into MLS Cup.”
After giving the speech, Schmetzer said he got the response he wanted.
“I could see Stef Frei’s head nodding. I see Cristian, Jordan. They get it. They know they’ve been lucky — or good — and we want to go through to the next round.”
Injury updates
Despite coming out of Monday’s game at halftime, Alex Roldan was a full participant in training this week and was declared “fine” by Schmetzer.
