Minnesota United faces a Seattle team likely missing star Raúl Ruidíaz

LOONS GAMEDAY

Saturday: 9:30 p.m. at Seattle • Apple TV (Free for this game), 1500-AM

Preview: Minnesota United (3-2-2) aims to end a two-game skid against Seattle (5-2-1), which is unbeaten at home (3-0-1) on the Lumen Field artificial playing surface. But Minnesota is 0-7 in all-time MLS play at Seattle. Coach Adrian Heath said this week, "They're a very, very good team. They've got really good players. [Nicolás] Lodeiro, [Albert] Rusnák, Jordan Morris, [Alex] Roldan. All internationals, they've all been DPs [designated players]."

Key development: Sounders forward Raúl Ruidíaz, who has four career goals against the Loons, is out with a hamstring strain suffered in training this week. In addition, Morris is expected to see less action after playing almost the full 90 minutes Wednesday with the U.S. men's national team. Should Morris, a forward and the Sounders' scoring leader with eight goals, enter the game, Heath warned, "He is one of their guys you can't leave alone because he is always coming up big in big moments." Midfielder Wil Trapp said, "They can score in multiple ways. They're great on the break. They're comfortable defending. They're comfortable keeping possession. It's a team in which they have guys that are confident scoring goals at the moment. I think for us it's being disciplined defensively. That's been our strong suit to start the season, and we have to get back to that."

Injuries: The Loons will be without D Bakaye Dibassy (quadriceps tendon), D Ryen Jiba (knee) and MF Emanuel Reynoso (suspended). Also, D Kemar Lawrence had not joined the team in Seattle as of Friday afternoon due to his mother's health concerns. Heath said the team is giving Lawrence "time to sort the issues out."