Minnesota United head coach Eric Ramsay insisted he would not be making excuses for his squad despite citing he had seen fatigue within his ranks.

Ramsay watched on as his team fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Colorado Rapids in their last MLS fixture, leaving them five points adrift of Western Conference leaders San Diego FC.

The Loons will be hoping to get back on track at Allianz Field this weekend against the Seattle Sounders and avoid three consecutive home league losses.

However, looking ahead to the match, Ramsay explained his squad were thin on the ground, but he was not looking for any sympathy regarding the situation.

"I'm not one of those coaches that is going to make excuses in that sense, but we are running with some players at the moment, and we have played a lot of games," Ramsay said.

"We're getting to that point where we need some help in planning the squad and making sure we can finish this season as we want to, which is with real energy, real freshness and a real change of dynamic, similar to what we experienced last year.

"We trust that the work going on behind the scenes will result in that, but the flip side of that is that we’re a group that is very inward-looking and all the conversations there have been in that tone.

"The players, they look at themselves, they look at the culture, the level of detail and are we turning over every stone? I think all we can do as a group is make sure we are doing that and trust that translates into a performance on Saturday."

Seattle, meanwhile, are riding high following their run at the Club World Cup, going unbeaten in their last seven MLS matches since returning from the tournament.

The Sounders put on a stunning showing last time out, thumping Western Conference strugglers LA Galaxy 4-0, with Danny Musovski netting either side of half-time.

And Brian Schmetzer's side will be out for revenge against Minnesota, having been handed their only home league defeat of the season against the Loons in June.

A defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps followed that result, the only time Seattle has lost back-to-back MLS games this season, though Schmetzer was confident of a result here.

"We will probably take a look at it," Schmetzer said. "But obviously, players were making a statement at that time, and I don't think the two games were particularly good.

"That game in Vancouver, they pushed past that. I don't think that is an issue any more. I think this will be a totally different match. I think we match up well with Minnesota.

"We prepare for different styles all the time, but it is about the players' execution. Right now, Minnesota has been executing.

"When you look at their underlying numbers, they have been doing pretty good this year. We're in a good run of form, and we’re going to give them a game."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Minnesota United – Tani Oluwaseyi 

Oluwaseyi scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season in Minnesota's loss to the Rapids, though he will be out for a better result this time round.

It marked the first time Oluwaseyi scored in a loss in 2025, as Minnesota had lost just twice in the last two seasons (W9 D4) when he had netted a goal in the regular season.

Seattle Sounders – Danny Musovski

Against the Galaxy, Musovski scored his second brace in his last three MLS matches to bring his 2025 total to 10 goals in league play.

Prior to this season, the American had never scored more than five goals in an MLS regular season, doing so with Real Salt Lake in 2023 and LAFC in 2020.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Seattle have won four of their seven road matches against Minnesota (D2 L1) and are unbeaten in their last three visits to St. Paul (W2 D1). The four victories are the most MLS regular-season wins by any team in away matches against the Loons.

The Sounders are also unbeaten in their last 10 matches in all competitions (W7 D3), including scoring multiple goals in each of their last eight matches. It's the first time since joining MLS in 2009 that Seattle have scored at least two goals in eight consecutive competitive matches.

Minnesota, meanwhile, have suffered back-to-back home losses in all competitions for the first time in 2025. The Loons' only longer home losing streak in competitive matches was a three-game skid last season in June and July.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Minnesota United – 35.4%

Draw – 26%

Seattle Sounders – 38.6%