One place in MLS Cup has been secured. The Columbus Crew will host the MLS Cup final at MAPFRE Stadium next Saturday (8 pm ET on FOX). But will the Seattle Sounders or Minnesota United join them? Let's break it down:
Seattle Sounders vs. Minnesota United
Monday, Dec. 7 (9:30 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes in US; TSN, TVA Sports in Canada)
What Seattle will do: Get the ball on Nico Lodeiro's foot and let him run the show in whatever fashion he desires. The Uruguayan maestro is the league leader in basically everything that screams "work rate" — touches, touches per 90, usage rate, centrality and just simple distance covered. Lodeiro runs a lot, and running a lot if you're the No. 10 in a 4-2-3-1 that's designed to just be the structure built for you is an unambiguously good thing.
Because of Lodeiro's work rate and smarts, and because Seattle play two ball-playing CMs behind him (likely to be Joao Paulo and Cristian Roldan in this one), it's almost impossible to bottle this team up. They will get on the ball and use it through midfield, and because they're so good at that, they will also be able to bring both fullbacks up. And suddenly you have five or six guys capable of providing service to Jordan Morris and Raul Ruidiaz, and nobody's really been able to slow that down (let alone stop it) in the playoffs for three years.
Dallas decided to just drop everyone behind the ball and bunker in. Here's 80 seconds of Seattle being patient and precise with their movement on and off the ball as everyone but the center backs push up and buzz around in attack, working for very good looks against one of the best defenses in the league:
