San Jose Earthquakes Vs Minnesota United: 3 things to watch for – Western elite
2. Minnesota continue to upset favourites
Minnesota United have been underdogs throughout the competition. Sporting KC and the Colorado Rapids were the attractive teams in the group stages. The Columbus Crew were meant to be the best team in the competition. And now the San Jose Earthquakes have been named the favourites for this contest, too.
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But Adrian Heath doesn’t mind. In fact, this is precisely the type of situation that he relishes. His team were consistently undervalued in 2019, making their first appearance in the playoffs of their existence. And that has been the case again this year, with Heath’s team continuing the upset the apple cart.
Speaking to reporters before the game, Heath said:
"“Probably on current form [they’d be favourites.] The bookies aren’t very often wrong, are they? You don’t see many poor bookmakers, certainly, I haven’t.”"
It is the line of argument he has made before every game this season, and his Minnesota team revels in being considered the underdogs. They like to be disrespected, overlooked, underestimated. So far, it has worked well. Can they now go one further?