After handling their business as the higher seed against Colorado Rapids and then upsetting the Western Conference’s top seed against Sporting Kansas City, Minnesota United came into Monday night’s Western Conference Final against the Seattle Sounders with dreams of upending expectations once again. When they leapt out to a lead off an Emanuel Reynoso free kick in the 29th minute, the home side stayed calm. But after having a Raul Ruidiaz goal called back for a foul and surrendering another set piece goal to Bakaye Dibassy in the 67th minute, Seattle looked to be in real trouble. But the reigning champs clawed their way back into the game with grit and canny substitutions, eventually coming back to win 3-2 in the final minute and book a trip to the Final.
In the game’s opening minutes, Minnesota United went right to working a possible weak point in the Seattle defense with Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s decision to opt for consistency by continuing to play Alex Roldan at right back instead of Kelvin Leerdam. Beaten by a streaking Kevin Molino, Roldan went to ground and was given a warning in the second minute. In the ninth minute he would again challenge Molino — this time at the edge of the box — and earn a yellow card for his troubles.
As for Seattle, it was clear their main avenue of attack was unleashing Jordan Morris down the left wing and the speedy U.S. national team player was able to get out ahead of the defense time and again in the first half. In the 20th minute he had a good opportunity to cross the ball to a trailing Raul Ruidiaz but it was just beyond the Peruvian’s reach.
Coming up to the half-hour mark, both teams were playing well without breaking the game open or getting too stretched out. The result was a back-and-forth game that lacked compelling final balls from either side. A few times, passes went awry as players didn’t quite read each other’s intentions. Thus, it was only fitting that the game would shift on a dead ball opportunity.
In the 28th minute, midfielder Ethan Finlay was taken down by Shane O’Neill a few yards out from the top of the box. It was a stern challenge and one that possibly could have earned a red card, but either way, it resulted in a free kick from a dangerous spot. After striking the woodwork a couple of times in the regular season off of free kicks, Emanuel Reynoso made no mistake this time, striking a left-footed shot that curved over the wall and onto the post past goalkeeper Stefan Frei to give MNUFC a 1-0 lead. It was Minnesota’s first direct free-kick goal in 127 MLS games.
Seattle responded by redoubling the pressure in the midfield and for a stretch they managed to pin the visitors in their own end. In the 36th minute, defender Romain Metanire went down in pain and stayed down for some time, only to rejoin the fray for a few minutes before going down again and making way for Hassani Dotson. Tasked with containing the electric Morris, Dotson began his shift well by bottling up the left winger for the remainder of the half. Some staunch defending by Chase Gasper on the other side of the pitch kept Alex Roldan from getting off a clean cross in the 44th minute and Ruidiaz couldn’t quite get the look he wanted in front of goal off a corner kick in the 46th minute. The teams headed into the locker rooms with the visitors on top by a goal.
Although Seattle didn’t make any changes to the lineup to start the second half, Schmetzer did flip Morris and Jones. The home side picked up where they left off, putting the visitors under heavy pressure in front of goal and at least initially keeping the Loons from putting together any kind of threat. In the 53rd minute, Cristian Roldan send forward a long outlet pass to Ruidiaz, who shrugged off defender Michael Boxall and fired a strike past goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair to draw the Sounders level. A look at the tape, though, revealed that Ruidiaz had pushed Boxall in the back and the goal was waved off.
Despite longer and longer strings of possession with Minnesota holding on seemingly by their fingernails, the Sounders were for a long time unable to muster truly threatening shots. It looked like that was going to change in the 65th minute as Morris got space to blast a rocket from outside the box that caught St. Clair flatfooted, but the ball caromed off the post instead and then just two minutes later, a foul on Molino gave Minnesota a free kick out wide on the left. Reynoso sent the ball curving in perfectly for defender Bakaye Dibassy cutting inside of Nouhou. Dibassy — who scored his first MLS goal in the last game against SKC — confidently nodded the ball onto the far post and past Frei to make it 2-0. The play also gave Reynoso the record for most assists in a postseason at seven.
Looking to change the complexion of the game, Schmetzer went to his bench, bringing in Will Bruin in the 73rd minute. The move paid instant dividends as Bruin was there to clean up a Ruidiaz shot just two minutes later to cut the deficit in half on a goal that made it 2-1. In the 77th minute, Schmetzer brought in Gustav Svensson and the momentum shifted definitively towards the home side.
The Sounders threw everything they had forward against a Minnesota side that looked gassed and the cracks began to show. Off a left-side corner kick by Lodeiro in the 89th minute, the ball was flicked across to Ruidiaz on the right and he drilled it past St. Clair to draw Seattle level just before the start of stoppage time. And then in stoppage time it was once again the Sounders breaking Minnesota hearts as Svensson drilled a header off a corner kick in the final minute of stoppage time to end the Loons’ playoff run.
ADRIAN HEATH ON THE FINAL 15–20 MINUTES
"As I say, because we were so tired, we didn’t have enough control of possession so we never really gave ourselves a little bit of rest. We’d continually clear it and then they’d bring it forward again. I just thought it was a lack of energy from us at the end. That was to be understandable. I sensed it in training the last couple of days. You know, we’ve had a lot of physical and mental emotional games the last few weeks and maybe it’s caught up with us. But, as I said, I can’t fault the players. Their energy this year and their desire for us to do well has been fantastic. And, football is a cruel game. We’ve all been on the receiving end of the night at some stage, and we’ve been on the side where it’s you that gets the goals. So, hats off the them. They, somehow, always seem to find a way. It’s in their DNA here. And, at the end of the day, hats off the them. Congratulations to them."
ETHAN FINLAY ON PROCESSING THE LOSS
"It takes usually post-Christmas, because things will happen — obviously — quick now. I said, first thing I thought about was that this is the last time this group of guys will be together. It’s a great group of guys. It’s a group of guys that from the very start were very close and continuing to get closer as the Orlando tournament went on and as the season went on and I think we saw that in really how we played. And, you know, we’re not the flashiest team at times, even though I think we’ve had maybe the best player in MLS, but we grind and tonight was a grind and I think that’s what hurts so bad right now. Because for 75 minutes of this game, I thought we grinded our way through it and I thought we deserved more, but, yeah this is a great step obviously for the club to be here. But trust me when I say this, the guys in that locker room are disappointed we weren’t able to do more for the club and for our fans this year, because we know we were capable.""
BELL BANK MAN OF THE MATCH
GOAL BREAKDOWN
- 29’ | Reynoso hit the post twice on FKs this season. Does not miss from the spot, drilling the ball with his left and curving it onto the post. First direct free-kick goal in 127 games in MLS. 1-0
- 67’ | Reynoso whips in a free kick that’s perfectly aimed to find Dibassy cutting inside of Nouhou and he drives the ball onto the far post and past Frei. 2-0
- 75’ |Will Bruin comes in and instantly gets a goal. Ruidiaz takes a shot and it hits Bruin but then Bruin puts it in. 2-1
- 89’ | Lodeiro lines up the corner and it gets flicked across the box to Ruidiaz who doesn’t miss. 2-2
- 94’ | Svensson scores a header off a corner kick. 3-2.
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