Despite the weather getting colder, Minnesota is heating up. On Monday night the Loons will face their most pivotal game of the season so far. The MLS Cup quarter finals bring hope and a slim chance to host the MLS Cup final in December. After a hiatus for the international break, which saw a few Loons travel abroad to play for their home countries, the MLS Cup returns. Minnesota is coming off the back of a huge win against the Seattle Sounders that was decided in penalty kicks. The fixture saw Dayne St Clair, Minnesota’s MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, score the winning penalty. That match ended Minnesota’s long history of bad results versus Seattle and has given the Loons a spark for the post season. 

Now Minnesota will face high-flying newcomers San Diego, with the winner advancing to the Western Conference final against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Looking back to earlier in the 2025 season the Loons beat San Diego 3-1 in an exhilarating smash and grab in Southern California in September, but fell 4-2 at Allianz in June. In a head-to-head, San Diego has scored more goals as well as conceding fewer this season, while both teams tended to score later in the half. Where the teams diverge is in their playing styles. San Diego prefers a fast paced open game, with the ball while Minnesota slows the game down and prefers to hit the teams on the counter. This can be seen looking at the average possession of both teams where San Diego currently averages about 62% possession, Minnesota has an average of only 39%. The disparity won’t faze head coach Eric Ramsay, but it does hint at the type of match we can expect on Monday. 

Minnesota will look to replicate their road win from earlier in the season by absorbing San Diego’s pressure and punishing them with clinical counter attacks. The Loons have one thing going their way. San Diego’s main danger man at the beginning of the season has moved on and now plays for Philadelphia. Iloski started the season on loan at San Diego and scored 10 goals in 14 matches, but San Diego was unable to come to terms with his parent club, Danish side FC Nordsjælland, who in turn sent him to the Union. 

The loss of Iloski hasn’t slowed San Diego down though as they retained the services of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders Dryer. Lozano has faced a rocky first season after an internal conflict at the club saw him exiled from the first team for a stretch of games at the end of the season. Still, Chucky has scored 10 goals in 29 matches for the expansion side. San Diego’s main threat though will be from the Danish midfield maestro, Anders Dreyer, who has scored 22 goals and assisted 20 times this season. 

On the other hand Minnesota has found goals harder to come by since selling striker Tani Oluwaseyi to Spanish side Villarreal in the summer.  Currently, defender and fan favorite, Anthony Markanich leads the Loons in goals scored with 10 goals in the MLS season. He is followed closely by DP striker, Kalvin Yeboah, with 9 goals. The Loons will hope that Yeboah, who is just returning from injury, can find his form quickly to support Minnesota’s attack. The Loons will also be relying on Joaquin Pereyra, who has 13 assists on the season, to be the creative spark in the midfield and orchestrate the MNUFC attack. 

If Minnesota are able to upset the number one seed in the West they will face the Vancouver Whitecaps who bested LAFC in their playoff match late Saturday night. The winners of that match will take home the title of best in the West and will play the MLS Cup final on December 6th. As of the writing of this, Minnesota has a slim opportunity to host the final if the Eastern Conference final goes their way. The scenario requires NYCFC to beat Inter Miami in order for Minnesota to play host for the final. While MNUFC will be taking the playoffs one game at a time, Minnesota United fans can continue to dream of playing the Cup final at Allianz and experiencing what may be in store for fans once MLS flips to a European calendar with regular season games going up until mid December. 

For now, the Loons fans will continue to believe maybe this is our year.