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Sounders Stunned in Penalties, Drop Winnable Game 1 vs. Minnesota

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Seattle Sounders forward Danny Musovski dribbles the ball during Game 1 of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs First Round against Minnesota United at Allianz Field in St. Paul, Minn. (Mike Fiechtner / Sounders FC Communications) [/caption]

The fifth-seeded Seattle Sounders played their 48th game of 2025 on Monday night, kicking off their most important test yet in a best-of-three MLS Cup First Round series with fourth-seeded Minnesota United in a road Game 1.

Game 1s are often seen as opportunities for teams to feel each other out, but Seattle had a chance to make Game 2 in Seattle a closeout opportunity as it played to a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes and change. Faced with scoring during a penalty-kick shootout with the best keeper in MLS in Dayne St. Clair, Seattle folded, missing three shots to drop the shootout 3-2.

While the unmistakably poor penalties may haunt fans for a while, this game was lost in a regulation period that went about as far from the script as you could imagine at times.

Opportunities Galore in Game 1

The Sounders closed the regular season having allowed one goal in their last three games. Minnesota United, primed with its vaunted five-man backline, has been considered a top-three defense with class defenders like Michael Boxall and Jefferson Diaz to snare shots before they even reach St. Clair.

With all the defense on the pitch, it wasn't a crazy take to assume the August 1-0 win from Minnesota could be a likely result in Game 1.

It looked like it might end up being 8-7 after the first 20 minutes.

Seattle striker Jordan Morris worked in close in the second minute to force a corner on St. Clair and Yeimar headed a free kick just over the net four minutes late. United striker Bongkuhle Hlongwane nearly broke the game open with a dangerous runout in the ninth minute, only to be tackled from behind by Jackson Ragen. Minnesota earned the kind of long throw-in chance Seattle had been dreading—the Loons are one of the best set piece teams in MLS—as Nectarios Triantis narrowly missed an ensuing shot. After all of that, it was still 0-0.

Half-chances like these flowed freely, as the Sounders finished the half with 0.8 xG on 10 shots while Minnesota followed with 0.5 on eight shots.

It was more of the same in the second half, as star midfielder Cristian Roldan was able to test St. Clair for his first real tough save of the night, diving to the left in the 54th. By the time the Sounders reached 1.0 xG near the 60th minute, they had taken 11 shots and were in the business of quantity over quality in their looks at the net. Minnesota countered with more scary set pieces, but some mixture of luck and strong clearances from the likes of Ragen, Nouhou and Alex Roldan kept things quiet.

Seattle's transition defense truly kept it in the game, though. The Sounders were able to stymy Minnesota's ability to capitalize on more than a few turnovers, as Seattle needed every bit of its high work rate to keep a zero on the scoreboard. Leading scorer Danny Musvoski came on for Seattle in the 72nd, breaking through Minnesota's ranks with solid runs almost immediately. "The Moose" would have a chance to end it in stoppage time, but a header on service from Morris just narrowly sailed, setting the stage for going straight to penalties.

Disaster Strikes in the Shootout

With a chance to make all right in Game 1, the Sounders saw Albert Rusnák, whose service was solid all night, drill the first offering of the penalty shootout.

A. Roldan would step to St. Clair next. As he's done before, A. Roldan looked to put the ball straight ahead as the Canadian National Team keeper loaded his legs as if he was going to dive one way or the other. It ended up being a feint, as St. Clair stayed put and made the easiest save of the night, sticking his tongue out to celebrate.

After makes from both sides, C. Roldan stepped to the spot. The USMNT prospect and club legend had missed his last penalty attempt in Leagues Cup, and looked to rectify that moment with a make. Instead, he watched as his shot sailed into the crossbar, effectively putting Seattle three feet under. Danny Leyva, who came on late to replace Vargas, did the rest of the digging with a miss off the left post.

"It can go either way," Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said after the game, when asked about his decision to put Leyva in late with penalties coming. "Last year, we were lights out in our penalty-kick shooting, and we have practiced penalty-kick shooting for the past two weeks. It was really surprising to me that guys that are normally lights out, tonight, miss. Maybe tonight wasn't going to be our night."

Ragen, who made his penalty shot along with Rusnák, knew it was on Seattle to not let the game get to that point.

"Going into penalties, it's just a coin flip and a way to determine an outcome for a game," Ragen said.

Takeaways: There's Some Good Among the Bad / Start Musovski

The bad hurts plenty.

After all, Seattle will head back to Lumen Field down 1-0 next Monday, playing for its season. But the good could save Schmetzer's crew if they choose to embrace it.

Let's start with the defense, which won almost every important duel in transition.

It was key going into this game to try and avoid costly turnovers that could generate transition chances for Minnesota, and it's important to note that Seattle had plenty of turnovers in this game, thanks in part to the fact that it had the ball for well over 60% of the match. Where the Sounders managed to keep that goose egg on the board was how they hustled back and got it back right away.

Yeimar, playing all 90 minutes in his first action in over a month thanks to a hamstring injury, was a force in stopping the ball carrier before Minnesota could get real numbers going the other way. The same went for C. Roldan, who won 10 duels, and Nouhou, who was his usual high work-rate self. Obed Vargas may not have played a game for Seattle since mid-September due to U-20 World Cup duties, but he was also a force to be reckoned with in the defensive midfield. Paul Rothrock may have lost plenty of duels, but his hustle on the left side dissuaded and slowed down multiple chances for Minnesota.

Long story short, Seattle proved to itself that it doesn't need to be perfect to avoid getting scored on after a poor turnover against the Loons. The Sounders simply need to avoid hanging their heads and get in front of the ball with their great speed and talented defenders.

Staying on the topic of defense, the Sounders had made not surrendering penalties in scoring position bulletin board material. That said, they give up two deep throw-in chances that netted real danger, five corner kicks and a few key free kicks in scoring position, including a late one from star set piece taker Joaquín Pereyra that missed the top left corner by about a foot as the 90th minute struck.

Winning a playoff game takes luck, and Seattle got plenty of it in the form of Pereyra having decidedly his worst overall game this season in terms of set piece placement. He had a corner kick hit the side of the net and a free kick go clear out of bounds, to illustrate the picture.

Either way, it all contributes to the feeling that this was the one that Seattle was supposed to take in Minnesota — a feeling the Sounders need to shake to stave off elimination next week.

On the offensive end, Musovski is showing plenty of fight and had chances on service from Morris to win it, generating over 1.3 xG (per FotMob) in just 20 minutes on the pitch. With that in mind, while Morris was passable, the Sounders need Musovski's relentless running ability to penetrate this backline. He was able to get in behind that five-man backline at will, timing his runs in a way no other Sounder showed the ability to on the night.

Still, Morris deserves credit for the passes he made to Musvoski, prompting a question of whether Schmetzer would be open to the two-striker look at the expense of a connector like Jesús Ferreira or a work-rate guy like Rothrock, neither of which had the brightest offensive game.

All in all, this was a game that, much like the August matchup, saw Seattle generate over 2.0 xG and come out scoreless. The Sounders' 2.4 xG for the night came on 15 shots, and the volume, especially first half, was there. St. Clair realistically only had one unreal save (three on the game); it was mostly solid blocks from the backline of Michael Boxall, Nicolas Romero, Jefferson Diaz and others that kept Seattle off the board.

Schmetzer's team is learning that just because it seems like a goal is inevitable because of a plethora of opportunities, Minnesota is a team that just doesn't concede easily. They just have to keep pushing the issue going forward.

"I don't think there's much to be corrected," Rusnák said after the match. "Sometimes how you feel as a player in a game and how you think the game is going is not always 100% right."

So, Game 2 in Seattle is a week away, and the Sounders will have plenty of time to get over the sting of a match that felt tailor-made for them to win. But the amount of good Seattle did in this cannot be ignored when it’s drawing up its plans for another Monday night duel.

"We played well in many aspects of the game, but we didn't win," Schmetzer said. "It's frustrating to play against a team that sits back and doesn't want to take risks … we can't control what they do, so we have to focus on what we are going to try to accomplish at home."

One man in particular will hope to be a part of Schmetzer’s focus, and that's Danny Musovski.