Cameron Knowles believes Minnesota United have the right solutions within their squad to get back on track in the MLS after a slow start to their 2026 campaign.
After going unbeaten in their first two games of the season, Minnesota have lost their last two league matches, the latest seeing them thumped 6-0 by the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Brian White starred for Jesper Sorensen's side with two goals, with the only positive from the clash at BC Place for Minnesota was seeing James Rodriguez make his debut.
The Loons' recent results see them down in 13th in the Western Conference, with only Orlando City SC (12) conceding more goals than Minnesota's 11 in 2026.
"The message is that we are early on in the process which is obviously going to have its bumps," Knowles said on how he was going to help his players bounce back.
"When you're not at your best and trying to do something different, at the first sight of adversity within the game, we start to have some doubts creep in.
"We strayed away from some of those things, and we ended up getting punished. The message was to stick with and stay as a collective.
"We need to stay on board with the direction that we want to head in, because we have the solutions with the players in the locker room."
final pic.twitter.com/6Dpu6MBjee
— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) March 15, 2026
But Minnesota face a tough test this weekend against the Seattle Sounders, with Brian Schmetzer's side progressing to the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The Sounders beat Vancouver 2-1 in the second leg at One Spokane Stadium, which sealed a 5-1 aggregate victory, with Liga MX side Tigres their opponents in the next round.
Danny Musovski and Paul Rothrock both came off the bench to score in midweek, with the latter now on four goals in five appearances in all competitions this season.
"People are putting the egos aside to play different roles," said Rothrock when asked about the reasoning behind Seattle's early-season success.
"And you know, me and Paul [Arriola], for example, are switching off game to game and have a very good relationship with each other. I'm in for him, and he's out.
"And he pushes me, I push him, but I think that's happening everywhere. The right number of people are stepping up in some big ways."
Rothrock has become a key part of Seattle's side and extended his stay with the club through to the 2028-29 season back in December, and Schmetzer believes that piece of business will prove to be an inspired decision.
"He's on a roll," Schmetzer added. "Whether he starts, whether he comes on, I mean, Paul is really playing at a high level."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Minnesota United – Joaquin Pereyra
After back-to-back league defeats, Minnesota will be looking to call on Joaquin Pereyra's creativity to get them back to winning ways in the MLS.
Pereyra has created more chances (seven) than any other player for the Loons, while he also has two goal contributions, level with Kelvin Yeboah for the most for Minnesota.
Seattle Sounders – Paul Rothrock
After his goal against San Jose, Rothrock has now netted two goals in his first three MLS appearances this season, and he will be out to inflict more misery on Minnesota.
He has scored two goals in nine outings against Minnesota, only managing more against the New England Revolution, Vancouver Whitecaps and the Houston Dynamo (all three).
MATCH PREDICTION: SEATTLE SOUNDERS WIN
Seattle have won back-to-back regular-season matches, both by 1-0 scorelines. The Sounders have posted seven 1-0 wins in regular-season play since the beginning of last season, tied with FC Cincinnati for the most in MLS in that time.
And the two teams will reunite once again. Minnesota recorded a loss and two draws against Seattle in last year's playoffs, but advanced via two penalty shoot-out wins.
The Loons have recorded outright wins in just three of 22 all-time meetings with the Sounders, though two of those came during the 2025 regular season.
However, their thumping defeat to Vancouver was the largest margin of defeat in all competitions in club history. This was Minnesota's first set of consecutive regular-season losses since a six-match losing run between June and July 2024.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Minnesota United – 27.8%
Draw – 24.1%
Seattle Sounders – 48.1%