Following Saturday’s dramatic 10-round shootout victory at Allianz Field, Minnesota United hoped their next MLS playoff game would be at home as well.
No such luck. Western Conference top seed San Diego FC beat the visiting Portland Timbers 4-0 on Sunday night and will play host to the Loons in the conference semifinals at 9 p.m. on Nov. 24, the Monday before Thanksgiving.
The MLS plays best-of-three series in the first round of the playoffs, but every subsequent round is a single game. That meant the Loons would have played at home had eighth-seeded Portland won Sunday.
Instead, Anders Dreyer and Amahl Pellegrino scored two goals each for San Diego, which earned the West’s top seed as an expansion team. Dreyer scored on a counterattack in the fifth minute, Pellegrino made it 2-0 on a rebound in the 17th and San Diego was in control from there.
Pablo Sisniega made his second career playoff start at goalkeeper for the injured CJ dos Santos and had two saves for San Diego. Dos Santos suffered a broken cheekbone early in the team’s penalty-kick shootout loss to Portland last week in Game 2.
The Loons split their two games with San Diego this season, losing at home 4-2 in June but winning at Snapdragon Stadium 3-1 on Sept. 13. That game was scoreless until Minnesota’s Anthony Markanich broke through in the 74th minute. Carlos Harvey doubled the lead moments later and Nectarios Triantis made it 3-0 in stoppage time.
The Loons-San Diego game is the final MLS conference semifinal matchup. Second-seeded Vancouver plays LAFC on Nov. 22 in the other West semi. Both Eastern Conference semifinals are Nov. 23, with second-seeded Cincinnati playing host to third-seeded Inter Miami and Lionel Messi at 4 p.m. and top-seeded Philadelphia taking on New York City FC at 6:30 p.m.
