Sounders vs. Minnesota United: Highlights, stats and quotes

The Seattle Sounders won their second home game of the season, registering a 2-0 win over Minnesota United on Saturday behind goals from Jordan Morris and Paul Rothrock. The Sounders also moved into the No. 9 playoff position and improved to 9-0-0 all-time at home against Minnesota.

Highlights

Stats

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 2 – Minnesota United FC 0

Saturday, June 15, 2024 

Venue: Emerald Queen Casino Pitch at Lumen Field

Referee: Rosendo Mendoza

Assistants: Kevin Lock, Kali Smith

Fourth Official: Mark Allatin

VAR: Kevin Stott

Attendance: 31,026

Weather: 55 degrees and passing showers

SCORING SUMMARY

MIN – Miguel Tapias (caution) 27’

MIN – Caden Clark (caution) 59’

MIN – Moses Nyeman (ejection) 90’ 

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY 

SEA – Jordan Morris (Albert Rusnák) 28’

SEA – Paul Rothrock (Léo Chú) 57’ 

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan (Paul Rothrock 7’), Jackson Ragen, Yeimar, Nouhou (Jonathan Bell 90’+2’); Obed Vargas, João Paulo, Cristian Roldan, Albert Rusnák (Danny Leyva 90’+2’), Léo Chú (Josh Atencio 61’); Jordan Morris

Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Cody Baker, Dylan Teves, Danny Musovski, Raúl Ruidíaz

Total shots: 11

Shots on goal: 4

Fouls: 10

Offside: 0

Corner-Kicks: 6

Saves: 0 

Minnesota United FC – Clint Irwin; Devin Padelford (Jordan Adebayo-Smith 8’), Miguel Tapias, Michael Boxall (Morris Duggan 46’); Franco Fragapane, Robin Lod (Moses Nyeman 68’), Hassani Dotson, Kervin Arriaga (Victor Eriksson 68’), Caden Clark; Sang Bin Jeong (Zarek Valentin 81’), Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Patrick Weah 90’+2’)

Substitutes not used: Alec Smir, Keith Romanshyn

Total shots: 5

Shots on goal: 0

Fouls: 14

Offside: 0

Corner-kicks: 3

Saves: 2

Quotes

On the pre-match celebration:

“I just wanted to go on record as saying that the celebration we had tonight, obviously winning certainly helped put a good ending to it. But 50 years of this club certainly is a tremendous accomplishment. I have to give kudos to the office staff that worked long and hard on that presentation. There were a lot of moving parts. I actually loved the podium with all those trophies, that was pretty impressive. So, kudos to the front office for putting together a lot of things. Thank you to all the former players that came and spent their time and money in coming here to celebrate. It’s a proud tradition, it’s a proud franchise. Those players that I talked to the last couple of days, it means something to them. So, well done.”

On coming into the game early and scoring a goal:

“It’s a tough one, coming in like that. I hope Alex [Roldan] is going to be okay. But it’s a lesson in staying ready and always being ready. I had that earlier experience at Real Salt Lake, I didn’t play as well as I played tonight. So, I think that helped me a little bit. As far as the goal, I got that first chance in the second half with Jordan [Morris] and he played a great ball across. I didn’t quite get on the end of it. I’m just thinking to myself ‘if it comes again, I’m putting it in the back of the net.’ It was a great team goal. I was just lucky to be on the end of it. I think Obed [Vargas] and Léo [Chú] had a great play down the right together. Léo had some individual skill there and I was just hoping the ball popped through and it did.”

 On how it feels to be scoring goals lately:

“It’s better to be talking after wins, too. It was a really good performance, that’s more like us. More of what we know we can do. We just have to build.”

On the importance of getting the opening goal:

“It’s very important. [Minnesota is] a good team, they play an interesting style, really compact, so for us to get a goal early on I think it helped to open up the game a little bit. Then we created chances from there and played with more confidence and the second [goal] was a killer for them. To get an early goal, it obviously helps us a lot.”