St. Louis City has won one match in MLS play since March 15 and currently sit 14th in the Western Conference.
They are 11 points out of the last playoff spot, with nothing to suggest they have another gear to make a postseason charge.
But interim coach David Critchley is eager to see what his team can do Sunday night in a rematch against the visiting Portland Timbers.
When the teams last met at Portland on June 8, St. Louis (3-12-6, 15 points) had a 1-0 lead before Portland equalized in the 55th minute, then won with a David Ayala goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.
“It was one of the better performances for me and it was unfortunate that we didn’t have the result,” Critchley said. “We’re back in front of our fans and combined with a really good week of training, I’m excited to see what we can do.”
Critchley’s mood was brightened this week with the likely return of midfielder Eduard Lowen from a hamstring injury that kept him out since May 31. Lowen has also spent time away from the team to be with his wife as she battles stage 4 brain cancer.
Portland (9-5-6, 33 points) enters the contest fourth in the West and is fresh off a 2-1 home win July 5 over New England. All-Star midfielder David Da Costa scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute, enabling the Timbers to bounce back from a dispiriting 3-0 loss in their previous match at Toronto.
It was the impact coach Phil Neville has wanted to see from Da Costa, the team’s highest-paid player who has done everything except score goals. He has contributed to 14 assists but his game-winning goal was just his third.
“We spoke to him at midweek, about how you have to win us games of football,” Neville said. “That’s the pressure. That’s why we brought you in.”
Portland owns a 2-1-2 edge in the all-time series with St. Louis, going 1-0-1 at home.
–Field Level Media
