Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. Sounders FC travel to the Land of 10,000 Lakes to face the Loons at St. Anthony Avenue in a Saturday matinee for the ages.
Man, do I love writing retractions. It’s the best, because not only did I fuck up, but I then have to tell everyone I fucked up. I rarely get caught out. I hate it when I do get caught out, and frankly, it makes me more than a little salty. For the last Leagues Cup match, the Quarter-Final against LAFC, I marked Obed Vargas and David Martinez as suspended, because they had each been booked twice over different matches in the tournament. But they weren’t suspended.
I knew from looking at the Leagues Cup competition standards that disciplinary cards were going to be wiped. What I didn’t get right was that I thought they would be wiped AT the Quarter-Final stage, and not BEFORE the Quarter-Final stage. This is unsurprising as MLS loves to squat over established international football standards and take a ripe shit on them, as long as the money’s right, so there you go, a way too long story about how I fucked up and the nature of that fuck up. I know, transparency right? So uncommon in these days. I’m glad I am able to provide you all some level of accountability in a world gone completely insane.
More to the point, as both players had picked up their second booking BEFORE the aforementioned Quarter-Final stage, I thought that the Leagues Cup organisers would sensibly punish each player with a one-match ban, as their disciplinary status was pending before the Quarter-Finals.
So what we can take from this as a hard learnt lesson is: There is no justice in MLS and Leagues Cup and also no continuity. No rules or formats are ever left alone, they always have to fuck about and tinker. MLS always think they know how to improve football, and in their arrogance, they produce an absolute shambles in almost every attempt they make to do so. MLS thought Americans hated drawn games, so they instituted the old NASL shootout. What could be more exciting? Fans hated the shootout. They thought they’d organise a tournament between the best of MLS and the Mexican League so they made the SuperLiga. Fans hated it. Then they re-branded SuperLiga as Leagues Cup spending what was likely a grotesque amount of money in a bloated advertising campaign that probably could have fed, clothed, and housed every person in the US state of your choice. MLS thought “Who cares about the dusty, old US Open Cup anyway? There’s no money in it.” Predictably, MLS was wrong again, as many of us were astonished at the league’s attempt to blot out a tradition that was over a century old because they couldnae be bothered to do anything that doesn’t line their pockets, the filth.
We have all accepted the commodification of sport to some degree, but make no mistake…none of this is normal. To expect us to accept gross commodification is not normal, and is a form of Hypernormalisation. And that’ll do for the retraction and my opining about it. I apologise for putting you all through that, but I thank you for reading it in good faith anyway. I’ll do my utmost to be vigilant and limit errors in the future.
What: MLS league match, Minnesota United FC v. Seattle Sounders FC.
Where: St. Anthony Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota.
When: 3:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Saturday 24 August 2024 CE.
At Stake: It’s dicey. I can’t imagine a scenario where Sounders fail to qualify for MLS Cup. Therefore, the only concern would be where we end up in terms of seeding. So do we still need to earn points in the league…yes, because stupid. Add to this that there’s only a two-day turn-around between our league fixture in St. Paul, and the US Open Cup Semi-Final to be played in Tukwila at Starfire, with the visitors being our close personal friends from The Southland, Los Angeles FC. So dicey is the operative word.
In short, if Sounders draw or are defeated we can be temporarily pushed out of “First-Round” qualification for MLS Cup should our arch-rivals from Portland defeat St. Louis at the Morrison Street ground. But it would be temporary, so what and how much is at-stake with direct regard to the league fixture in St. Paul is a debatable thing.
What is not debatable, is that should we be eliminated from US Open Cup on Tuesday next, there will be no second chance permitted.
Currently Sounders have played 25 out of 34 matches in the league and are in 12th place in the league table on 37 points. In the Western pseudo-league, we are in the last MLS Cup berth where you automatically qualify for the “First Round” where we can enjoy the abject stupidity of another best-of-three series (brought to you by the same people who piss and moan about fixture clutter) against whoever we’re matched up against. I digress.
It’s still too early to start calculating MLS Cup seeding scenarios as there are potential 27-30 point spreads to consider. Does not having to play in the “wild-card” round matter…well, sort of. It means that even if you defeat your “wild-card” opponent, you have to face the best team in your regional pseudo-league, at their ground, in the “First-Round”, so it’s not ideal.
Then again, if you’re team isn’t fit to beat the best team in your pseudo-league, or win on the road, then maybe you don’t belong in the later rounds of a cup tournament anyway. I’ll start speculating about these kinds of things when it matters more.
Where to Watch: Apple TV and Fox. To Lalas, or not to Lalas. That is the question. I’m hoping that alternate audio will be available with the KJR simulcast. Leagues Cup was made that much worse without the option for alternate audio.
Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey1360 AM.
After getting battered out of Leagues Cup by LAFC, a victory would do much to shore up morale. Support is vital, and we’re hoping that some of our Heartland people can make it to St. Paul for the festivities. Here in The Evergreen, we can only watch on the telly, and attempt to will our Boys in Green to victory.
We’ve managed to defeat Minnesota United both times we’ve faced them this season. We’ve yet to concede a goal. There’s no reason to think this result will be any different except for the seemingly arbitrary manner in which unexpected results unfold in our league…such as it is.
You’d have to imagine confidence is high, and with six days with no matches, except for the members of the first-team squad that played for the Reserves on Sunday, we should be well-rested, and have had a chance to heal up minor injuries, analyse some match film, and hone our finishing touch and play in the final third in training.
There’s no reason we shouldn’t beat these. But it’s MLS, so you never know. Buckle up, Green Fam. I’ll wager it’s going to be a wooly one. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!
Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”
The Good News
Almost everyone in the Sounders squad is healthy again. Pedro is again fit for selection with Rodrigues and Baker closing in on full fitness.
We sent down two of the best teams in Leagues Cup in Galaxy and Pumas before getting jarred out of Leagues Cup. Can we restore club form somewhere closer to our ceiling? I don’t see why not.
Before the loss to LAFC we had compiled an imposing record of results. Since 15 June, the Sounders are 10-1-3 in all competitions. Those results are impressive by any standard. During Leagues Cup, Sounders FC averaged 2.00 goals/match, and that’s scoring goals at a decent clip. Jordan Morris scored three goals in the tournament leading the Sounders attack, with Rothrock hitting two.
The Bad News
Against the top 10 teams in MLS and our matches against top Mexican opposition, the Sounders have a record of 2-4-7. This includes our victory against Pumas, our defeat to Necaxa, and all the results in all competitions against LA Galaxy, LAFC, Salt Lake, Colorado, and Vancouver. What this means is that the bulk of our victories are against opponents that are either mid-table or bottom-third of MLS.
MNUFC got Eric Ramsey as Manager. That’s bad news for our lot. Ramsey coached at Swansea City, Shrewsbury Town, Chelsea, Manchester United, and also for Wales. In 2019 Ramsey became the youngest British coach to achieve the UEFA Pro License. He’s worked with Kieran McKenna, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag, and Rob Page.
MNUFC actually spent money on transfers in the summer window. €3M on Italian youth international centre-forward Kelvin Yeboah purchasing him from Genoa, €2.19M to bring Argentinian midfielder Joaquin Pereyra from Atletico Tucuman, and €645,000 to bring Columbian centre-half Jefferson Diaz from Deportivo Cali. These were their three biggest signings, bolstering their squad.
It’s troubling the way we lost to LAFC last Sat, as the numbers paint a dismal picture. Although we outshot LAFC 16:10, we only had one of those shots on target. We had 12:1 on corners and 19:0 on crosses. We had 88% passing accuracy. However, our set-piece crossing was 27.3% and our open-play crossing was 5.3%. Doesn’t matter how many corners and crosses we put into the box if none of them find a teammate. Maybe we need a strategy less reliant on crosses into the box, as it appears our rivals are doing pretty well defending them.
Sounders are 20th in the league in goal scoring. We’ve been cut apart on the break a number of times over the last several matches. I’m starting to think these two things are related. Knowing that we need to score more goals, we are taking more chances by pushing more numbers forward tactically. This is fine, right up until we lose the football and both our holding midfielders and both our centre-halves are caught up the pitch, dashing back facing goal, trying to catch up with a counter-attack being executed with skill and pace. Regardless of what it costs us in attacking potential, the centre-halves must be able to get back in time in case we concede possession, and the #8 must be deep enough to provide cover for whichever full-back was providing wing play, whether it’s Nouhou, Alex, or someone else. We must change tactics against teams that are regularly finding us completely exposed at the back. I had blamed this squarely on the Gaffer as poor tactics. I now see he’s likely been caught in the middle this whole time. He needs the team to score more goals, and in our current setup that only comes at the risk of getting caught out. We are operating in a high-risk, high-reward type of football. The results have been predictably, mixed.
Sounders don’t seem to have picked a way forward yet in terms of our near-future. Are we buying players? Selling players? Developing solely through the Academy and Reserves? Will we develop the team in a hybrid way, as we have done, purchasing some veteran players and sprinkling in youth? We made zero first-team additions in the MLS Summer Transfer Window. So I’d say it’s fair to ask our friends at Longacres: “What’s the plan?”
I would hope that we will conserve our first-team players for Tuesday next. We’ll need our best playing at their best and most rested to have a shot at taking down LAFC, who’s comeuppance is long overdue. What I expect will happen is a half-measures approach, with Schmetzer prioritising a result in the league at St. Paul over a single-elimination cup Semi-Final. Madness. The US Open Cup, more than a century in the making. No respect.
The Side I Would Select
With the US Open Cup Semi-Final against LAFC only three days after the Minnesota United match on Sat, it’s clear to me that first-choice players should be conserved for Tuesday night.
Rationale: All these players are good enough to face a mid-table team like MNUFC, and there’s not a whole lot of choice seeing as it’s LAFC we have to face three days hence.
GK Thomas
LB Baker-Whiting
LCH Bell
RCH Hawkins
RB Kitahara
LDM Leyva
RDM Vargas
LF Leo Chu
CAM Atencio
RF Musovski
CF Ruidiaz
The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select
In this sort of situation, the Gaffer likes to mix and match first-choice and squad players. He tries to play people 30 minutes here, 60 minutes there, and somehow make it all add up in a way where hopefully no one is overused. Maybe the team will look something like when we lined up against New England, three days before the US Open Cup Quarter-Final in Sacramento. Expect all our subs to get used to spell key players before they log too many minutes, especially if we build a sizeable lead.
GK Frei
LB Nouhou
LCH Ragen
RCH Gomez Andrade
RB Cristian
LDM Joao Paulo
RDM Vargas
LF Leo Chu
CAM Rusnak
RF Rothrock
CF Morris
Intangibles
The Referee for Saturday afternoon’s match will be Guido Gonzales.
Minnesota United record with Gonzales as Ref: 1-1-4
Sounders FC record with Gonzales as Ref: 0-1-1
General notes on personnel
Minnesota United transfers IN:
Wil Trapp - re-signed
Dodson (Charleston Battery) free
Adebayo-Smith (New England Revolution Reserves) €115,000
Bran (Herediano) loan
Harvey (Phoenix Rising) undisclosed fee
Nyeman (SK Beveren) undisclosed fee
Eriksson (Varnamo) free
Duggan - draft
Bacharach - draft
Shashoua (Albacete) free
Smir - reserves
Yeboah (Genoa) €3M
Diaz (Deportivo Cali) €645,000
Kmet (AS Trencin) undisclosed fee
Pereyra (Atletico Tucuman) €2.19M
Markanich (St. Louis City SC) €45,000
Minnesota United transfers OUT:
Dibassy - released
Dick (Pittsburgh Riverhounds) free
Emmings - reserves
Garcia - (Independiente Medellin) free
Gregus (Houston Dynamo) free
Iwe (SV Sandhausen) free
Jiba (Union Omaha) free
Tajouri-Shradi (Asswehly) free
Dunbar (Orange County) free
Kallman (Nashville SC) free
Bristow (Stockport County) loan
Marques (Vasteras SK) loan
Dodson (Birmingham Legion) loan
Reynoso (Club Tijuana) undisclosed fee
Eriksson (Hammarby IF) free
Arriaga (Partizan Belgrade) €500,000
Clark (CF Montreal) €46,000
Weah (HB Koge) loan
Duggan (Rhode Island FC) loan
Comparison against common opponents
SEA 0:0 ATX
ATX 0:1 SEA
ATX 1:2 MIN
MIN 0:1 ATX
(against ATX: SEA 1-1-0 +1, MIN 1-0-1 0) edge SEA
LAFC 2:1 SEA
SEA 0:3 LAFC
SEA 0:3 LAFC LC
MIN 2:0 LAFC
LAFC 2:0 MIN
(against LAFC: SEA 0-0-3 -7, MIN 1-0-1 0) edge MIN
PHI 2:3 SEA
PHI 2:0 MIN
(against PHI: SEA 1-0-0 +1, MIN 0-0-1 -2) edge SEA
RSL 2:0 SEA
SEA 1:1 RSL
MIN 1:1 RSL
(against RSL: SEA 0-1-1 -2, MIN 0-1-0 0) edge MIN
HOU 2:2 SEA
MIN 1:2 HOU
HOU 1:1 MIN
(against HOU: SEA 0-1-0 0, MIN 0-1-1 -1) edge SEA
SKC 2:1 SEA
MIN 2:1 SKC
MIN 3:1 SKC
(against SKC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, MIN 2-0-0 +3) edge MIN
LAG 1:0 SEA
SEA 0:0 LAG
SEA 3:1 LAG LC
MIN 2:2 LAG
LAG 2:1 MIN
(against LAG: SEA 1-1-1 +1, MIN 0-1-1 -1) edge SEA
POR 1:2 SEA
MIN 2:1 POR
POR 3:2 MIN
(against POR: SEA 1-0-0 +1, MIN 1-0-1 0) edge SEA
SEA 1:1 COL
COL 3:3 MIN
(against COL: SEA 0-1-0 0, MIN 0-1-0 0) even
DAL 0:0 SEA
SEA 3:2 DAL
MIN 1:1 DAL
DAL 5:3 MIN
(against DAL: SEA 1-1-0 +1, MIN 0-1-1 -2) edge SEA
SEA 0:2 VAN
SEA 1:1 VAN
MIN 1:3 VAN
(against VAN: SEA 0-1-1 -2, MIN 0-0-1 -2) edge SEA
DC 2:1 SEA
MIN 2:3 DC
(against DC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, MIN 0-0-1 -1) even
SJ 3:2 SEA
MIN 2:0 SJ
(against SJ: SEA 0-0-1 -1, MIN 1-0-0 +2) edge MIN
SEA 1:3 NCX LC
MIN 1:0 NCX LC
(against NCX: SEA 0-0-1 -2, MIN 1-0-0 +1) edge MIN
Know Thine Enemy
The Loons as they lined up in their 1:0 victory over Necaxa in Leagues Cup on 30 July at St. Anthony Avenue.
GOALKEEPER
Dayne St. Clair, 27
Canada (6/0)
Notable Clubs: Minnesota United FC (96/0)
Estimated Transfer Value: €2M
Notes: Developed by North Scarborough FC, Pickering FC, Ajax SC, and Vaughan Azzuri. Played his university football for Maryland (43/0).
DEFENCE
Devin Padelford, 21
United States
Notable Clubs: Minnesota United FC (27/1)
Estimated Transfer Value: €450,000
Notes: Developed by St. Croix SC and Minnesota United FC.
Morris Duggan played at left-centre-half in this match but has since gone out on loan to Rhode Island FC. Therefore, as he cannae line up against us in Saturday’s match, there is no point in listing a profile.
Miguel Tapias, 27
Mexico
Notable Clubs: Pachuca (59/1), Zacatecas (35/0), Minnesota United FC (51/1)
Estimated Transfer Value: €2M
Notes: Developed by Pachuca. Won a Liga MX title with Pachuca.
Hugo Bacharach, 23
Spain
Notable Clubs: Minnesota United FC (1/0)
Estimated Transfer Value: €25,000
Notes: Developed by Villarreal and CD Castellon. Played his university football at Fairleigh Dickinson (38/7) and Indiana (20/4).
Loic Mesanvi, 20
Togo
Notable Clubs: Minnesota United FC (2/0)
Estimated Transfer Value: Not listed
Notes: Developed by Minnesota United FC.
MIDFIELD
Joseph Rosales, 23
Honduras (16/0)
Notable Clubs: CA Independiente de La Chorrera (33/2), Minnesota United FC (69/1)
Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M
Notes: No known honours.
Carlos Harvey, 24
Panama (7/1)
Notable Clubs: Tauro (1/0), Los Angeles Galaxy (10/0), Phoenix Rising (30/5), Minnesota United FC (9/0)
Estimated Transfer Value: €250,000
Notes: Presumably developed by Tauro. Won a Panamanian league title with Tauro.
Robin Lod, 31
Finland (68/6)
Notable Clubs: HJK Helsinki (75/15), VPS Palloseura (11/2), Panathinaikos (75/12), Sporting Gijon (23/4), Minnesota United FC (116/28)
Estimated Transfer Value: €2M
Notes: Developed by SUMU and HJK Helsinki. Won three Veikkausliiga (Finland 1st tier) titles, a Finnish Cup, and a Finnish League Cup with HJK Helsinki. Named Veikkausliiga Best Player and Best Midfielder 2014.
Bongokuhle Hlongwane, 24
South Africa (19/4)
Notable Clubs: Maritzburg United (53/7), Minnesota United FC (82/17)
Estimated Transfer Value: €5M
Notes: Developed by Nxamalala Fast XI and Maritzburg United.
FORWARD
Tani Oluwaseyi, 24
Canada (6/0)
Notable Clubs: Minnesota United FC (19/8), San Antonio FC (25/17)
Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M
Notes: Developed by Erin Mills SC and GPS Academy. Played his university football at St. John’s (49/20).
Familiar Faces
Midfielder Hassani Dotson was developed by Crossfire Academy and Washington Premier. Hassani is a Seattle native.
Squads
Minnesota United from:
Irwin, Smir, St. Clair, Padelford, Velentin, Tapias, Bristow, Boxall, Bacharach, Taylor, Diaz, Markanich, Kmet, Fragapane, Rosales, Jeong, Lod, Trapp, Bran, Dotson, Nyeman, Harvey, Pereyra, Shashoua, Hlongwane, Pukki, Adebayo-Smith, Mesanvi, Yeboah.
Note: This the best I could do for a squad list for MNUFC, as there has been extraordinary transfer and loan activity over the past few days. Apparently, neither the league nor the MNUFC communications department was able to catch up and deliver an updated roster - most likely because immigration/work visa status for some players was still pending.
Sounders FC from:
Frei, Thomas, Bell, Gomez Andrade, Hawkins, Nathan, Nouhou, Ragen, Alex, Atencio, Baker-Whiting, De la Vega, Joao Paulo, Kitahara, Leyva, Rusnak, Vargas, Morris, Cristian, Leo Chu, Musovski, Rothrock, Ruidiaz, Teves.
Injury List
Minnesota United -
OUT: Oluwaseyi (hamstring).
MATCHDAY DECISION: x
Sounders FC -
OUT: Rodrigues (hamstring), Baker (wrist).
MATCHDAY DECISION: none.
Discipline
(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)
Minnesota United: No players suspended. Markanich and Trapp are out next match if booked.
Sounders FC: No players suspended.
Fun Fact
Sounders FC Reserves preserved a 2:2 draw against LA Galaxy Reserves on Sunday 18 August at Starfire. Dylan Teves scored both goals for the reserves. In the team for the Sounders FC Reserves: Castro, Sousa, Bell, Nathan, Baker-Whiting, Kitahara, Leyva, Minoungou, Aquino, Teves, De Rosario. Bench: Hawkins, Brunell, Miglietti, Bowen, Gomez, Helleren, Kossa-Rienzi, Lopez, Tsukanome. This was the first time this season that we got a result against LA Galaxy. Well done, lads. A point’s a point. Sounders FC Reserves are currently in 8th place in MLS Next Pro on 35 points, 11 points adrift of leaders FC Dallas Reserves. The Sounders FC Reserves next play San Jose Earthquakes Reserves at the Coleman Avenue ground on Sunday 25 August, kick-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. PDT.
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