Clinging to a two-point lead for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, Minnesota United kick off the final quarter of MLS play against their old nemesis, the Seattle Sounders, on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.

It will be their third meeting in two months. Seattle — which holds a 12-1-2 edge over the Loons in all competitions since Minnesota entered MLS in 2017 — won both of the previous two matches at home by identical 2-0 scores, June 15 in MLS play and July 26 in the Leagues Cup group stage. Jordan Morris, who leads the Sounders with nine goals, and Paul Rothrock scored in both contests.

The ninth-place Loons (9-10-6, 33 points), who are two points ahead of Austin FC with nine matches to go, will be playing for the first time since defeating Necaxa 1-0 on a Robin Lod penalty kick in the Leagues Cup group stage July 30.

Minnesota won its last MLS match 2-0 over San Jose on July 20 to end an 0-7-2 winless drought that was partially fueled by a mass exodus of key players who took part in Copa America and the UEFA European Championship.

“I think for multiple reasons this is a really big (match) for us because we’ve played Seattle twice in a relatively short period of time,” Loons coach Eric Ramsay said. “On both occasions we were missing a huge number of players and didn’t feel we were as equipped as we would like to be to really go and tackle that challenge.”

Minnesota hit the summer transfer market hard, signing two designated players in forward Kevin Yeboah from Serie A Genoa and Argentine winger Joaquin Pereyra, who will miss the match because of visa issues, as well as defenders Anthony Markanich, Matus Kmet and Jefferson Diaz. The Loons will be without top scorer Tani Oluwaseyi (eight goals), who has a hamstring injury.

Seattle (10-8-7, 37 points) enters the match in seventh place and comes in off a 3-0 home loss to Los Angeles FC on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup.

“Now we need to shift to Minnesota and make a good game this weekend,” midfielder Joao Paulo said. “We need to move forward and try to improve.”

–Field Level Media