A victory this weekend could put St Louis City within striking distance of a playoff spot as they continue their MLS campaign on Saturday against the Portland Timbers at CityPark.
Last Saturday, St Louis failed to hang onto three separate leads in a 3-3 draw with Inter Miami, putting them three points below Portland for that final Western Conference post-season berth, with the latter claiming a 2-2 result versus the Houston Dynamo.
Match preview
© Reuters
Their MLS club-record three-match losing run may be over, but Bradley Carnell is still searching for answers as his St Louis side have just a single point from their previous four league fixtures.
To this stage of the 2024 domestic campaign, they have dropped seven points in three of their encounters in which they have drawn first blood while collecting the joint-most draws in the league this year, alongside the Philadelphia Union (eight).
On their current winless run, this side have been unstable defensively, conceding multiple strikes in each of their previous four matches in this competition while allowing three goals on five separate occasions.
The flip side of that though is that this team have netted three or more times on 15 occasions in the regular season, the most in MLS over that span, while boasting a 12-0-3 record in those matches.
Although their only three domestic triumphs this year occurred at CityPark, St Louis are currently on their longest MLS home losing run (two) in franchise history.
If St Louis suffer another draw or defeat this weekend, they will match their longest stretch without a victory in the regular season (five).
© Reuters
Thanks to their current three-match unbeaten run in MLS, the Timbers find themselves back above the playoff line in the Western Conference.
Defensively, they still have work to do with Portland conceding the second-most goals in the West this year (32), but allowing just three strikes on their current unbeaten run is a small step in the right direction.
At the midway point of their domestic campaign, the Timbers have already matched their total number of away victories from last year (two), and on Saturday, they can win consecutive regular-season road games for the first time since August-September 2021 (four).
Phil Neville coached in his 100th career MLS game last week, and the former Inter Miami boss has this side on 20 points after 17 league contests, the same amount they had at this stage a year ago.
The Timbers have collected eight points in the 2024 regular season when conceding the opening goal but have squandered 12 when scoring first.
In their only previous visit to CityPark, Portland walked away with a 2-1 triumph, their first away victory of the 2023 regular season.
Team News
© Reuters
Tomas Ostrak will not return to the St Louis fold this season after undergoing ankle tendon surgery, while the club signed Jake Girdwood-Reich on Monday from A-League side Sydney FC until the end of the 2027 campaign with an option for 2028.
Kyle Hiebert is away on international duty for Canada, who face the Netherlands in a friendly on Thursday before battling the 2022 World Cup runners-up France on Sunday in their final encounter ahead of the Copa America.
An own-goal from Luis Suarez nearly earned them three points last weekend, with their other strikes coming courtesy of Indiana Vassilev and Chris Durkin.
Portland were missing Marvin Loria in their previous encounter as he is recovering from knee surgery, Larrys Mabiala is dealing with an upper-body injury and Diego Chara will be forced to sit out because of yellow card accumulation.
Neville will have to make some changes to his squad, with first-choice goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau and central defender Kamal Miller called up to the Canadian squad, while Miguel Araujo is with Peru.
Goals from Nathan Fogaca and Felipe Mora helped Portland claim a single point in their previous encounter, with the latter now tied with Dairon Asprilla for the fourth-most goals in club history (33), while Jonathan Rodriguez has a goal contribution in six successive encounters.
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Totland, Parker, Nilsson, Markanich; Durkin, Lowen; Alm, Vassilev, Pompeu; Klauss
Portland Timbers possible starting lineup:
Pantemis; Mosquera, Zuparic, McGraw, Bravo; Williamson, Paredes; Moreno, Evander, Rodriguez; Antony
We say: St Louis City 2-2 Portland Timbers
Both sides have an array of quality individuals, though neither have been all that strong defensively, with each struggling to maintain leads throughout the campaign.
When you combine all of those elements, an entertaining draw seems to be a likely scenario for this upcoming fixture.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
