Minnesota United will be playing for playoff seeding Saturday night, at home against St. Louis City, the team’s final regular-season game. The Loons, currently seventh in the Western Conference, want to at least stay there — thus avoiding the 8-versus-9 wild-card game, a one-off to qualify for the first round of the playoffs.
They can do that by winning against St. Louis, the third-worst team in the West, or if the Vancouver Whitecaps lose or draw — which, given that the Whitecaps are visiting fourth-place Real Salt Lake, is a very real possibility. (There are also complicated scenarios in which Minnesota finishes above Vancouver, even if the Loons draw and the Whitecaps win — depending on how many goals Vancouver would win by, and even how many goals both teams score.)
Minnesota could also finish as high as fifth place — but in terms of first-round playoff opponents, there are no desirable matchups. “I think you can make arguments for any of the teams,” manager Eric Ramsay said. “It’s probably not worth us reading all that much into that, and focusing on getting over the line with St. Louis, and attacking whatever comes our way.”
The LA Galaxy and LAFC will finish 1-2 in the West, with the top seed still up for grabs, but playing either team is a tall order. The Galaxy have won three in a row, LAFC four in a row, and either would be heavily favored to advance against the Loons.
As for the other two top-four spots, one will be filled by Real Salt Lake and the other by Seattle. Playing RSL means at least one road trip back to high altitude, and possibly a second trip for a deciding game in the best-of-three first-round series — and for all the Utah side has struggled down the stretch, they’re still unbeaten in their past five games.
Seattle, meanwhile, is Minnesota’s nemesis. Even if the Sounders weren’t the league’s hottest team, the Loons have already lost to Seattle three times this season, and have lost every game they’ve ever played in the Emerald City.
It’s hard to imagine Minnesota winning that playoff series, unless you’re Loons midfielder Hassani Dotson, who hails from the Seattle suburbs. “I know we don’t have the best history against them, but when we played them recently at home, I thought we were unlucky to come away with the loss,” he said. “We’ll see how the ball falls.”
On the flip side, Minnesota is probably the one team in the bottom half of the West playoff bracket that no team wants to play. Houston is beset by injuries, Colorado and Vancouver have both lost three in a row, and Portland failed to score in consecutive home games despite having plenty to play for.
