Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United FC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Seattle Sounders FC vs. Minnesota United FC
2018 MLS Regular Season - Week 8
CenturyLink Field — Seattle
April 22 - 4 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN, TSN2

The Seattle Sounders snapped a three-match winless streak and scored their first two goals of the 2018 season, but left Children’s Mercy Park frustrated to concede the late equalizer in a 2-2 draw with Sporting Kansas City.

Minnesota United are also unhappy to come away from Providence Park without points, but their 3-2 defeat to the Portland Timbers — their third consecutive loss — felt a bit different because Darwin Quintero scored on his debut.

• Quintero brings signs of hope in his MLS debut
• How the stars shaped the games in Week 7
• Seltzer: Who can use a transfer deadline move?
• The teams that should have more goals in 2018
• Schmetzer disappointed to not get three in KC

Seattle Sounders FC   

Seattle (0-3-1) scored their first MLS goals of 2018 and managed to avoid ending the match with 10 players on Sunday. But the taste in their mouths following a 2-2 draw isn’t pleasant, especially when Graham Zusi scored the equalizer five minutes after Cristian Roldan gave the Rave Green a late 2-1 lead.

“I’m not happy,” Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said after the game. “We should have won the game. That’s how MLS is. You have to credit Zusi for making a play at the end there, but I thought that we put enough into the game that we could have come out with the full three points.

“For the guys to put in all of that effort and all of that work,” he continued, “it stings a little bit, but it gives them some good incentive for the next game.”

With Kelvin Leerdam and Clint Dempsey serving red-card suspensions, Schmetzer made three changes to his starting XI from a 1-0 loss to the Montreal Impact two weeks prior. Jordan McCrary started at right back, Nouhou Tolo got the nod at left back and Alex Roldan earned his first career start in place of Magnus Wolff Eikrem.

Osvaldo Alonso came off the substitute’s bench for the final 22 minutes, his first appearance of 2018 after recovering from a quad injury.

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: F - Jordan Morris (torn ACL), D - Kim Kee-Hee (right calf strain); QUESTIONABLE: D - Waylon Francis (right hamstring strain), M - Victor Rodriguez (right knee sprain), M - Harry Shipp (ankle sprain)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2–3-1, right to left)
GK: Stefan Frei — Jordan McCrary, Roman Torres, Chad Marshall, Waylon Francis — Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan — Nicolas Lodeiro, Clint Dempsey, Handwalla Bwana — Will Bruin

• Notes: Will Bruin scored and had an assist againstKansas City last weekend. He has now scored and assisted in the same regular-season game 11 times in 212 regular-season appearances. … Seattle are the only remaining winless MLS team. Their two goals against Sporting last weekend snapped a three-game scoreless streak. The Sounders last went four games without scoring from July 11 to August 1, 2015.

Minnesota United FC      

The Loons (2-4-0) conceded twice in a three-minute span midway through the first half and couldn’t climb out of that early hole for a third consecutive loss. Quintero struck in the 64th minute to pull his new club back into the game, but Fanendo Adi essentially put the game away 10 minutes later as Portland captured their first win of the season.

Adrian Heath made three changes to his lineup from a 1-0 loss to Atlanta United, with Jerome Thiesson replacing Tyrone Mears at right back, Quintero making his debut and Christian Ramirez coming on for Abu Danladi up front.

Quintero was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 7.

“We said that we bought him because he makes things happen in the final third and that’s what he’s done this evening,” Heath said of Quintero after the game. “He got himself a goal, always looked dangerous when he got the ball. … He can be really pleased with his first night’s work for us, but he’ll get better when we get to work with him a lot more and he gets a better understanding of the people around him.”

• Suspended: None
• Suspended after next caution: None
• International duty: None
• Injury Report: OUT: M - Sam Cronin (cervicogenic dysfunction), M - Kevin Molino (torn left ACL), D - Tyrone Mears (right leg)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Lampson — Jerome Thiesson, Michael Boxall, Francisco Calvo, Marc Burch — Rasmus Schuller, Ibson — Ethan Finlay, Darwin Quintero, Miguel Ibarra — Christian Ramirez

• Notes: Quintero lost possession 29 times on his debut, the 11th time in MNUFC history that a player has lost the ball at least 29 times in an MLS game (the most is 34). … Minnesota have now conceded in 18 consecutive league games, which remains the longest active streak in MLS and is tied for the fourth-longest such streak in MLS play since 2010.

All-Time Series

• Overall: Seattle Sounders FC 2 wins, 6 goals … Minnesota United FC 0 wins, 1 goal … 0 ties
• At Seattle: Sounders FC 1 win, 2 goals … Minnesota United FC 0 wins, 1 goal … 0 ties
• Last meeting at Seattle: Seattle Sounders FC 2, Minnesota United FC 1 (Aug. 20, 2017)

Officials

Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referees: Kyle Atkins, Apolinar Mariscal
4th Official: Sorin Stoica
VAR: Caleb Mendez