Welcome back to First Touches, where the Loons travel to Seattle and try to fight against history and the now-reigning continental champions, the Seattle Sounders.

Stats and Notes

• This is the first rematch of Minnesota’s 2022 MLS season: in April, Seattle won 2-1 at Allianz Field, as a late Emanuel Reynoso penalty wasn’t enough to recover a point.
• Minnesota has never won or drawn in Seattle, losing all six competitive fixtures they’ve played since joining MLS in 2017, including Seattle’s memorable 3-2 comeback win in the 2020 Western Conference Finals.
• Seattle lost 2-0 last weekend at Dallas in league play, but became the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League with a 3-0 win over Liga MX’s Pumas last week, and will represent the federation at the next Club World Cup.
• Despite their international success, the Sounders are currently 13th of 14 teams in the Western Conference, tied with Vancouver for the lowest point total in the league thus far (7).
• Seattle is one of five MLS teams to have scored fewer than ten goals in 2022 league play (Vancouver, Miami, Chicago, Kansas City).
• Seattle has attempted the third-fewest corner kicks in the league thus far with 35; Minnesota’s 53 put them tenth overall. 
• Seattle has also attempted the fewest shots of any team in the league with 88. That said, they have been on target 35.2% of the time, slightly above the league average.
• Minnesota has been shut out in each of their previous two games, with a scoreless streak of 182 minutes since Robin Lod’s 88th minute goal against Chicago.
• Dayne St. Clair is now top-five in the league with 36 saves made. He has appeared in eight league matches, and no other goalkeeper has 30 or more saves with fewer than ten appearances.
• St. Clair is also the only goalkeeper in the league with five or more appearances and a save percentage above 80%. His 83.7% is third among goalkeepers with more than one total save.
• Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris, Fredy Montero and Raúl Ruidíaz each scored at least three goals in Seattle’s CCL run, with Lodeiro leading the way with five. Only Morris (2) has scored multiple goals thus far in MLS, with Ruidíaz scoreless through his three appearances. 
• In this week’s Reynoso duel update, Reynoso has participated in more duels than Seattle’s top three players in the stat combined (Cristian Roldán, Alex Roldán and Nouhou), and is the only MLS player with over 200 duels.

Minnesota Connections

• Sounders midfielder Kelyn Rowe and MNUFC Swiss-Army Knife Hassani Dotson both hail from Federal Way, Washington.
• MNUFC Technical Director Mark Watson played for Seattle during its USL days, donning the Sounders green in 1997.
• Tyler Miller was in the Sounders FC organization from 2015 through 2017. He started his tenure with Sounders FC 2 and backed up Stefan Frei on the first team in his final two seasons with the club.
• In 2004, Seattle Sounders Assistant Coach Freddy Juarez played on the Minnesota Thunder with MNUFC Director of Player Personnel Amos Magee. In 2006, he was on the Thunder’s roster alongside Brian Kallman, the brother of current Loon Brent Kallman.

MATCH INFO

Minnesota United FC vs. Seattle Sounders FC
Lumen Field | Seattle, WA
05.15.22 | MLS Game No. 11
3:00 pm CT (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, 1500 ESPN)