Beating the Seattle Sounders in their own stadium come playoff time has proven to be a dauting task for opponents over the last few years, but that doesn't mean it can't be done with the right game plan and execution.
That's the challenge that lies in front of Adrian Heath and Minnesota United ahead of Monday's Western Conference Final in the 2020 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs at Lumen Field, which will pit the reigning champion Sounders against a high-flying Loons side coming off a dominant 3-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City in the Semifinals.
So, what does Minnesota need to do to pull of the road upset? The Extratime crew discussed that on the Sunday's postgame show, with host David Gass saying that he believes Minnesota have the firepower, fueled by the red-hot duo of Emanuel Reynoso and Kevin Molino, to pull off a result. The question, Gass said, will be whether the Loons can be sound enough defensively to slow down Seattle's loaded front four.
"Minnesota can win the game by the same thing they did [against SKC], which is Kevin Molino and Reynoso on their game can be the two best players on the field on Monday," Gass said. "So this is a team that will score against Seattle, because Seattle has issues as well along that back line. They like to push their fullbacks up at times so you can catch them in that space. And we didn't see it as much with Dallas, and I know Shane O'Neill's been a stopgap, but Yeimar [Gomez Andrade] and Shane O'Neill have not been lockdown -- or if [Xavier] Arreaga comes back in -- whatever it is, there are gaps along that back line that you can pull them out of and have those wingers cut into, and LAFC created a number of chances because of that."
"So I wouldn't be surprised if Minnesota is able to create opportunities and get goals in this game. The question for me is can they stop it on the other end, because the opportunities they gave up against Sporting KC, Seattle's not going to let them go."
Charlie Davies, meanwhile, argued that a defensive approach, much like the one employed by FC Dallas against Seattle in the Semifinals, is what we're most likely to see come Monday. It might not result in the prettiest game, but Davies said that when it comes to trying to stop the Sounders, style points can't be a concern, especially considering the trio of Nicolas Lodeiro, Ruidiaz and Morris is coming off a relatively quiet collective game, and will be champing at the bit to get back to their usual ways.
"We know how Minnesota are gonna approach the game: Defensive," Davies said. "Which is, we're gonna park that bus, and you can't break us down. They're going to challenge Seattle to break them down. And then that's going to leave counterattacks -- Reynoso gets to the ball, tries to find Ethan Finlay, Kevin Molino into the channel, they're going to play that game. Set pieces are going to be really important. It's going to come down to really being pragmatic and we've seen Adrian Heath always go back to that type of tactical game plan whenever they're playing against a team that are really the favorites. And they know if we do get ourselves stretched, they're going to hurt us. Everyone knows that."
