Minnesota United vs. Seattle Sounders
What: MLS Cup Playoffs, Game 2
When: 9:45 p.m. CDT Monday
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle
Stream: FS1, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: KSTP-AM, 1500
Weather: 46 degrees, 40 percent chance of rain
Betting line: MNUFC plus-400; draw plus-333; Seattle minus-170
Format: The Loons took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series after a scoreless 90 minutes and a 3-2 penalty kick shootout win in St. Paul last Monday. If Seattle knots the series, Game 3 will be back in Minnesota on Saturday.
Recent matchups: After the Sounders owned MNUFC across MLS play since 2017, Minnesota have won all three games against the Rave Green in 2025. The Loons first win in Seattle came with a 3-2 result on June 1.
Absences: Loons list no unavailable players. Carlos Harvey will be available after missing the last six weeks with a meniscus injury; the Panamanian defender/midfielder returned to full training late last week.
Context: Seattle defender Jackson Ragen pretty much admitted he committed a penalty for a push to Bongi Hlongwane’s back in the first half of Game 1. Referee Alexis Da Silva didn’t call PK and VAR didn’t reverse it.
“I knew I wasn’t going to catch (Hlongwane on a breakaway), so I had to do something kind of clever, I guess,” Ragen said postgame. “I think I need to be a little smarter because that could possibly be called a foul, penalty, whatever, but that was the last resort.”
Scouting report: In Game 1, Seattle had a huge advantage in possession (69-31%) and expected goals (2.4-1.0), according to FotMob. The conventional belief is the Sounders will break through on Monday night.
“I get slightly frustrated when the games get painted as so one-sided,” head coach Eric Ramsay said Sunday. “Very often it’s painted an inevitability, a matter of time as to when they score, when they find their keys to unlock us and it’s painted as an attack vs. defense game, when I really don’t think that has been the case.”
Stats: Seattle sub Danny Musovski had the highest xG at 1.37, including most of that coming from a scoring chance in the 80th minute. But Dayne St. Clair, a finalist for MLS goalkeeper of the year, denied it as one of his three saves in the match.
Prediction: Sorry, Ramsay, but it really does feel like Seattle will find goals and will even the series in front of a big home crowd. Seattle, 2-1.
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