Minnesota United’s playoff streak has penalties written all over it

St. Clair says he watches video and takes notes on potential penalty takers from the other team, but ultimately it comes down to intuition. “In the moment, you have to go with what you feel in that second,” he said. “Honestly, what I try to go into is try to make them miss the target, because then I don’t have to worry about whether I dived the right way.

“A miss is a miss. As long as the ball doesn’t cross the line, I’m happy.”

The shootout is not really a fair way to determine wins and losses; it’s a bespoke televised event, a way to eliminate the old custom of replaying the entire match, or staging endless extra time to decide a winner. But it’s now part of soccer and part of these playoffs — and so Minnesota United will do its best to be ready when the moment comes.