MLS-best San Diego hosts West showdown with Minnesota

The top two teams in the Western Conference standings meet on Saturday night when second-place Minnesota United visits first-place San Diego FC.

The Loons (14-6-9, 51 points) are five points behind San Diego (17-7-5, 56 points) with just five games and a possible 15 points to go, so it's a must-win match for Eric Ramsay's squad if they hope to catch the expansion team for the top spot and remain in the race for the Supporters' Shield.

"Undeniably, the decisive game of the year, certainly in terms of the Western Conference title and Supporters' Shield standings," Ramsay said.

It won't be easy. Minnesota lost the first meeting on June 14 in Saint Paul, 4-2, as San Diego rallied from a 2-1 second-half deficit with three goals in a 26-minute span, including a brace by substitute forward Milan Iloski.

Danish forward Anders Dreyer, challenging Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award, led the comeback with two goals and an assist. Dreyer has scored 14 goals, including six game-winners, and leads the league with 18 assists. He forms arguably the MLS's top 1-2 punch with fellow designated player Hirving "Chucky" Lozano, a Mexican international who has nine goals and eight assists in 23 matches.

Lozano and Dreyer, who joined Josef Martinez (2017) as the only player in MLS history to earn multiple Player of the Month honors for an expansion club in its debut season, both scored goals in San Diego's last match before the international break, a 2-1 victory on Aug. 31 at Los Angeles FC. Dreyer scored the game-winner in the 66th minute on a breakaway, making a nifty cutback move against two LAFC defenders in the middle of the box before booting a left-footed shot past Hugo Lloris.

"Their talent always shines through when the collective is (humming)," San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. "These guys are guys with a lot of talent. They also work really hard. They press and they run back and defend low, and they do those little things, and we know when they do those little things, their talent will shine through. I think they've been great."

--Field Level Media