Analysis: Minnesota United’s road victory over nemesis Sounders was a long time coming

Before Sunday, there were certain things that seemed inevitable in life.

Death. Taxes. Minnesota United losing in Seattle.

Eight-plus years into the Loons’ tenure in MLS, and the team had never managed to come away with so much as a point in 10 tries. They had lost all eight regular-season games, once in the Leagues Cup and once — most infamously — 3-2 in the 2020 conference finals, after leading 2-0 deep into the second half.

Heck, just scoring a goal in the Pacific Northwest had come to seem almost impossible for the Loons. Since that conference finals loss, they had managed exactly one goal in six matches in Seattle.

That all came to an end Sunday with the Loons’ 3-2 victory over the Sounders at Lumen Field.

Both Tani Oluwaseyi and Michael Boxall said the streak wasn’t on players’ minds — at least not nearly as much as it was on the minds of Loons fans. “We have a lot of different guys who haven’t been here for the extent of the so-called drought,” Oluwaseyi said Sunday. “In general, the guys didn’t really care going into the game, and I think you could see in the way we played.”

Boxall was in the lineup the first time the Loons lost in Seattle, way back in 2017, so he has seen the entire run of Loons futility — and yet he says it doesn’t affect him. “I don’t go into these games with results from 2018, 2020 kind of on my mind,” the team captain said. “Every day is a fresh day, a fresh opportunity. ... Maybe I’m delusional — I go into every game thinking that we’ve always got a chance.”

Coach Eric Ramsay said before Sunday’s game that he was “desperate” to beat Seattle, but that had more to do with three losses against the Sounders in 2024 than it did with any larger streaks. “It obviously speaks to how difficult it is to come here and get a point, let alone three points,” he said of the losing streak. “I think all the teams across the league would say that. I don’t think it’s just a Minnesota thing.”

Apart from the larger narrative, though, Ramsay was just happy with the team’s performance — especially as the Loons head into a two-week international break, one that will then be followed by the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

“We were obviously really pleased with the manner of some elements of the performance that were missing [Wednesday night in a 0-0 tie] against Vancouver, but what wasn’t missing was the level of discipline and absolute desperation to win the game that we show in most games,” he said. “If you win in that way, then players generally come off the pitch with that sense of having really been galvanized, and I’m sure when we look back at it in the cold light of tomorrow or Tuesday, we will be very pleased with the completeness of the performance.”

Oluwaseyi was more succinct. “It feels good,” he said. “I think it’s been a long time coming.”

Minnesota United’s first goal Sunday came after something that we’ve seen more and more of as the season has worn on: Oluwaseyi, with his back to goal outside the penalty area, holding on to the ball long enough to bring other players into the play.

This time, Oluwaseyi turned and dribbled into the center of the field, which was what unlocked the space for Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Robin Lod on his right. Eventually, a Lod cross came back to Oluwaseyi for the first goal of the game.

“Obviously, we’re a team that we defend in a certain way in order to get up the pitch,” Ramsay said. “We need whoever plays at number 9 to show real strength but also real quality when the ball comes into them, and Tani is improving week on week in that sense. When you add that to the athlete that he is, the goal scorer that he is, the defensive forward that he is, he’s becoming far more complete, and I’m pleased that he is getting plaudits for both sides of his game now.”

Oluwaseyi, though, wasn’t as complimentary of himself. “I think I give myself probably a 5 out of 10 today,” he said. “No game is going to be perfect, so I think I just got to take the good ones and watch the bad ones and see what I could do better.”

When pressed, he clarified that he meant just his holdup play, not the entire performance. There’s probably no striker playing today who would give himself a 5 out of 10 after a game in which he has scored two goals.

Oluwaseyi will now depart for international duty with Canada, possibly for more than a month, so it will fall to Kelvin Yeboah to do the same for the Loons. Luckily for Minnesota, it’s one of the strengths of his game.