> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Sounders Draw with Minnesota in Scoreless Grudge Match - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-sounders-draw-minnesota-scoreless-grudge-match/ - Published: 2026-03-23T01:18:37.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:15:31.000Z - Author: Qasim Ali - Tags: News, Analysis, Sounders, Brian Schmetzer, Andrew Thomas \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1754"\] ![ Seattle Sounders defender Antino Lopez wins the ball during a game against Minnesota United on Sunday, March 22, 2026 at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn. (Sounders FC Communications) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/55162910775_114e41cee3_k-format-original-1.jpg) Seattle Sounders defender Antino Lopez wins the ball during a game against Minnesota United on Sunday, March 22, 2026 at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn. (Sounders FC Communications) \[/caption\] Back in action after clinching a spot in the quarterfinals of Concacaf, the Seattle Sounders played to a 0-0 draw with Minnesota United on Sunday morning, which eliminated Seattle in a dramatic three-game series last season. The Sounders went into Allianz Stadium looking for a fifth consecutive win away from Lumen Field. They got about a third of what they bargained for, playing to a 0-0 draw with the Loons to move to 3-1-1 on the young season. Minnesota played its usual low block, dropping five defenders back and daring Seattle to beat them without giving up transition chances. Both sides generated around one expected goal, as there were moments of brilliance, especially toward the end of the game. In the end, the Sounders kept their fifth clean sheet of the year as they head into a short international break in the middle of the Western Conference standings. Still, Seattle is always a team looking to steal three points when possible. "It wasn't for a lack of effort," Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said of his team's offense not scoring postgame. "It's just small moments in games like this." ### New Coach, Same Loons After a 6-1 shellacking from the Whitecaps last weekend, Minnesota looked like it reverted to its notorious low block with five men back against the Sounders. Despite having a new coach in Cameron Knowles, who wanted to have more of the ball in 2026 (United was dead last in the MLS in possession in 2025), United stuck to its bread and butter on Sunday. "They came to kind of park the bus and sit back, and they've been doing that to us for the past year," wing back Kalani Kossa-Rienzi said. "As soon as one of us makes a mistake and a big touch or we lose the ball, they're all ready to go forward." Seattle spent the first 20 minutes of the game working the ball around to try and find some kind of opening against a defense intent on letting the game come to them. To the Sounders’ credit in the early going, they enjoyed high percentage passes and didn’t concede any true transition chances for the Loons. The only decent look for Minnesota saw their star playmaker, Kelvin Yeboah, get run down by recent Defiance signee in Antino Lopez on the left side. Lopez, Georgi Minoungou and Nikola Petković making the starting XI signaled a team looking to rotate its players after [a midweek win over Vancouver](https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/home/seattle-sounders-whitecaps-concacaf-recap-3-18-26) in Concacaf play. But early on, Alex Roldan, in for center back star Yeimar (out approximately eight weeks with a hamstring, per Schmetzer), went down grabbing his hip. He tried to play through the pain, but had to come off in the 22nd as Jackson Ragen subbed on. Ragen, who has played beyond the minutes load Schmetzer has intended him to throughout the season, stayed on the rest of the way and had another great showing. Luckily for the Sounders, Roldan picked up a hip pointer that Schmetzer wasn't too concerned about after the game, as the team has 13 days before its next match. In the 31st, United star Joaquín Pereyra left a transition ball for Yeboah, which he redirected in a shot that narrowly missed to the right. Seattle then gave up multiple deep throw-ins and a corner kick as the first half wound down, though the Sounders didn't allow any real danger to come of Minnesota's go-to method of offense in set pieces. In the fifth minute of first-half stoppage, Pereyra found Yeboah again to force a diving save from Sounders keeper Andrew Thomas. Transition chances were the name of the game again for the Loons, but Seattle stood tall. ### Second Half Subs Bring More Open Play Seattle came out on the front foot in the second half, forcing keeper Drake Callender to make two saves as Petković managed a close header in the 53rd while Georgi took a shot from beyond the 18-yard box in the 55th. In the 64th, Seattle made offensive substitutions, bringing on young midfielder Snyder Brunell, dangerous playmaker Jesús Ferreira and, for the first time since a Match Day 1 injury, Jordan Morris. Morris came on for young striker Osaze De Rosario, who had another underwhelming performance, struggling in hold-up play and failing to generate any dangerous looks in close. The game opened up slightly with the additions, but Minnesota's subs changed everything as the empty scoreline tempted each squad to try and steal three points. Former European superstar and elite assist man James Rodriguez came on for Minnesota in the 77th minute and spelled Pereyra as the primary passer in Minnesota's offense. With young striker Mamadou Dieng on as well, pressuring Thomas and Seattle's backline, United took on the identity of a team that was intent on going for a win. Rodriguez made an immediate impact, putting a splendid through ball in to Anthony Markanich on the left, which the winger skied over Thomas. In the 90th, Thomas had a nearly costly mistake. The 27-year-old keeper came off his line to try and stop Dieng's run, but was sprinted past on a misjudged ball as the striker tried for an empty net goal. Lopez, who made an incredible save off the line in the recent win over San Jose, beat Dieng to the ball, heading it out for a corner. "We play with a desire to bail each other out," a thankful Thomas said of the team's defending postgame. Thomas said the moment was nothing more than a misjudgment of the grass field, which had more bounce to it before the game on a sub-40-degree day in St. Paul. After some more stark defending by Seattle through four minutes of stoppage, the teams split the points. ### Another Clean Sheet Sunday marked Seattle's fifth time holding its opponent scoreless in seven tries this season. Tireless defending from Nouhou, who made some timely clearances and was nearly infallible in duels to post a man-of-the-match-worthy game, highlighted a team unwilling to concede. USMNT hopeful Cristian Roldan was as solid as ever in a 90-minute game in the middle of it all. It's a quality Schmetzer and the team have worked hard to cultivate, and it's showing early. The Sounders defense is off to an elite start with two goals allowed in five games, as compared to the middle-of-the-road defensive year they posted in 2025's fifth-place finish out west. "The team is very connected, they always fight for each other… I think that's a tremendous quality to have within the team," Schmetzer said. That togetherness was certainly needed, as Minnesota had plenty of the deep throw-ins and dangerous set-piece chances that sent Seattle home in the first round of the playoffs last year. If this start is a sign of things to come on the defensive end, however, Schmetzer has to like what his team can do once its offense starts to reignite. On offense, the Sounders would have preferred to put the Loons in more compromising positions in the course of the game. Paul Rothrock created multiple chances while Georgi looked sharp for a guy still getting back to 100% as he moves past a foot injury. Albert Rusnák’s slower start to the season continues at the 10 spot. "A point's a point, we're certainly not going to complain about it. But certainly we wish we would have been a little bit more goal-dangerous on the other side of the field," Schmetzer said. ### Up Next The Sounders are off to a short international break, needing the time to rest. With small knocks to guys like Alex Roldan to manage, it's a well-timed break before they get back to work at Houston on April 4, the final game of a five-match MLS road trip. The Sounders will then head to Monterrey, Mexico, to take on Liga MX side Tigres in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal. "We're all tired; it's been a long stretch. So for all of us, (the break) is just to relax a little bit," Kossa-Rienzi said. "We'll be ready to go and get back at it."