Two teams eager to reverse their fortunes tangle Saturday night when St. Louis City SC visit the Houston Dynamo.
St. Louis (3-10-6, 15 points) is coming off a 4-2 loss Wednesday night to Orlando City that dropped it to 1-10-4 in its last 15 matches. Meanwhile, Houston (5-9-5, 20 points) suffered a 3-1 defeat Wednesday night in Minnesota — its third straight defeat by the same score.
St. Louis put itself in a difficult spot early against Orlando, falling behind 3-0 in the 22nd minute after a series of poor plays defensively led to point-blank chances that the visitors converted.
Interim coach David Critchley said his team continues to try to find the best version of itself.
“This wasn’t a step in the right direction,” he said. “The structure is there for the guys. Players have to make decisions and feel free on the field to make decisions, as well, and that’s something I felt like we missed today.”
One bit of good news for St. Louis was that Joao Klauss scored his sixth goal of the year in first-half stoppage time, giving him four goals in the last two fixtures.
While St. Louis dug its hole early, Houston fell into one late in its most recent loss. The match was scoreless going into the 60th minute before the Dynamo caved defensively, conceding all three goals in an 10-minute span to decide the outcome.
Houston outshot and outpossessed Minnesota, but couldn’t make that translate into the result it needs to start gaining ground in the West table. The Dynamo enter Saturday’s match in 11th place, five points behind Colorado for the final playoff spot in the conference.
“It is about putting this puzzle together, putting our best team out there and continuing to grow,” said Dynamo coach Ben Olsen. “We know who we are.”
However, Houston won’t be able to put its best team out there until forward Jack McGlynn returns from U.S. National Team duty. The USMNT plays Costa Rica in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
