Following a beating by Vancouver the previous weekend, Minnesota United rebounded well. Although not as well as fans would have hoped, earning just a single point in their home clash against Seattle Sounders.
With seven days in between matches and a full week of training behind them a fit and fresh Loons came in with a similar lineup to what we've seen. Staying with a 3-4-3/5-4-1 they made only a few changes to the eleven. Anthony Markanich was brought in for Devin Padelford while Morris Duggan moved to centre-back and Nico Romero jumped in at left back, replacing Carlos Harvey.
Starting XI! Just a few changes for #MNUFC today. Markanich in for Padelford, Duggan back to centre-back, Nico Romero in at LB, and Harvey is available from the bench. James watch back on today as he is on the bench as well. Quite a few changes for #Sounders from their midweek CCC match
— Northland Soccer Journal (@northlandsoccer.com) 2026-03-22T17:58:36.382Z
The first half of football started off extremely rough for Minnesota with the Sounders dominating every aspect of the match early on. The Sounders snapped five shots in the first half of play, but with none going on target.
As for Minnesota, they did not obtain significant possession until past the 30th minute. That's also how long it took for the Loons to get their first shot of the match. In the last 15 minutes of play MNUFC looked better than they have for much of this young 2026 season. Four shots in fifteen minutes although only one shot, from Kelvin Yeboah, went on target ultimately being saved by Seattle's keeper.
The second half started off in the literal exact same fashion that the first half did, with Seattle once again dominating every single aspect of play. Seattle struck five shots, including two on target in the first 30 minutes of the second half forcing Drake Callender to make a few saves after not having to during the first forty-five minutes.
With the match heading towards the final fifteen minutes, Minnesota brought four subs on in a span of four minutes. Once those subs, which included Colombian superstar James Rodríguez, came onto the pitch the Loons started flying again. In the first play at Allianz Field for James he played a wonderful ball to Anthony Markanich inside the box. Markanich's shot just went high over the bar, but showed Minnesota still had fight with the final whistle approaching.
As they did in the first half the Loons once again controlled the end of the match, getting quite a few chances on target. Including a long shot from Momo Dieng that required the Seattle defence to cover for their way out of position goalkeeper. Unfortunately for the Loons it wasn't quite enough and the match ended as it started, nil-nil.
Minnesota United will be off next weekend during the international break and will return to the pitch in two weeks in Carson, CA against the not in Los Angeles Galaxy. They won't be back to Allianz Field until 18 April when they face Portland Timbers in the first meeting of the season.
