With a busy stretch behind them and their first-ever trophy secured, St. Louis City can focus on a push for the top Western Conference playoff seed when they welcome the Portland Timbers on Wednesday.
St. Louis (14-8-9, 51 points) is back home after playing three consecutive matches on the road. That included the U.S. Open Cup final last Wednesday at Columbus, where St. Louis City beat the Crew 5-3 on penalties after a scoreless draw.
St. Louis City played league matches at Minnesota United and Real Salt Lake on either side of that final, losing both as they rotated their squad to stay fresh. That put an end to a 13-0-6 unbeaten streak in league matches that tied the MLS record.
Still, the club is in fine position with three matches to go. A playoff berth is already secured, and St. Louis sits third in the West, four points behind first-place Vancouver.
“Everything is important. The way we perform, the result, the momentum we can create,” St. Louis coach Yoann Damet said of the home stretch. “I think we’re at a point where we have a lot of confidence in terms of how we’ve played, how we’ve performed all season.
“At the same time, creating a bit of momentum now could be key to enter the playoffs.”
Goalkeeper Roman Burki remains in concussion protocol after a scary injury at Columbus led him to be removed from the field on a stretcher. Ben Lundt has played in net since, and he let in three goals against RSL.
The Timbers (10-14-7, 37 points) are 11th in the West and four points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, current holders of the ninth and final playoff spot. Portland has one game in hand.
Portland ended an 0-4-3 rut with a 3-2 win over Charlotte FC last Saturday, with Ariel Lassiter potting two of the goals.
Kristoffer Velde has scored eight goals for Portland, the most among players still on the team, but he has gone seven games without a goal contribution. Coach Marti Cifuentes isn’t concerned.
“I’m not looking just at the stats … He’s contributing a lot into the team,” Cifuentes said. “He knows, as well, which areas he can improve (in). But I’m very happy, for instance, the last game, I think he understood really well that especially sometimes we attract a lot of pressure, a lot of attention on the left side, so sometimes it’s about releasing the ball quicker to make sure that we can attack the other side of the pitch.”
Simon Becher paces St. Louis with nine goals, and Rafael Navarro has scored eight in nine games since arriving via trade from Colorado.
–Field Level Media
