Pre-match Preview: CITY SC looking to break winless streak with road trip to Dallas

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis CITY SC is looking to snap a five-match winless streak as they head south to face FC Dallas for the second time this season.

Last weekend’s match delivered a very familiar result for St. Louis fans. It was the third scoreless draw of the year for CITY and the ninth draw overall. Points are becoming increasingly essential for CITY to keep a foot in the playoff race. And they’ll have a great opportunity to secure some with No. 13 FC Dallas on the horizon.

Last Time Out

St. Louis CITY SC took a single point from their last match against Portland Timbers at home. The match started off fiery from an offensive standpoint. But as the game progressed, the finishing didn’t. An early, overturned goal by João Klauss and a goal-line clearance by Portland off a shot from Tim Parker ended up being the main missed opportunities.

A positive from this match was the stellar performance by St. Louis’ captain Roman Bürki. The Swiss keeper proved once again why he was last year’s goalkeeper of the year, as he denied multiple opportunities to one of the highest-scoring teams in MLS.

This was just the third time in 18 matches that the Timbers failed to find the back of the net. Bürki recorded his fifth clean sheet on the year, making him tied for third in the league.

Although the pitch was covered in CITY red and Portland green, another color seemed to dominate this match; yellow. St. Louis received six yellow cards to Portland’s two. Now, CITY SC will be without Chris Durkin against Dallas due to yellow card accumulation, with three other players also in danger of missing time due to infractions. This could mean a few changes are in store for CITY’s starting lineup going into a match against Dallas.

What’s Next

These two sides were unsuccessful at scoring the last time they met. Earlier this year at CITYPARK, thanks to strong performances by both goalkeepers, Dallas and St. Louis played to a 0-0 draw. Last year, both sides managed to take a win from one of their two meetings. This included a game that was delayed due to inclement weather, which saw Dallas win 2-0 when the match resumed a month later.

“We are preparing in a certain way, but we’ve been mostly preparing for ourselves because we’ve played some really good games against some strong opponents,” said coach Bradley Carnell.

St. Louis CITY SC has not moved from the 11th spot in the Western Conference. With 18 points, they have a slight lead over Dallas (14) who sits at No. 13. Dallas is currently winless in their last four matches, with their last win coming in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on May 22. Their last regular season win was against Austin FC earlier in May. As for St. Louis, their five-match winless streak is one of the largest in MLS. CITY has been especially unproductive on the road this year, with two losses and five draws.

FC Dallas will enter this match under the direction of interim head coach Peter Luccin, who will make his first head coaching appearance after serving as assistant coach all season. The Toros typically play in a 3-4-3 but Luccin may revert to the 4-3-3 that Dallas played for many seasons before 2024.

“What I’ve learned is that we can compete with everybody in this league, playing this system,” said right-back Tomas Totland. “So, yeah, I see a lot of good things every match, and we’re hoping for three points against Dallas.”

Bottom Line: St. Louis is very capable of taking three points from this match. The West isn’t as congested as it once was, points are essential now as the first half of the season closes out. With leadership in question on the opposing side, it’s a perfect opportunity to break the door wide open in the scoring column. After leading 3-0 in their last home match, FC Dallas gave up three goals in 30 minutes to Real Salt Lake. Their momentum is low and CITY SC can take advantage of that. Despite being winless on the road, St. Louis averages 1.86 goals per away match. And considering they outshot Dallas 26-10 earlier in April, one could expect to see the offense on full display this time around.

“We’re on a good pathway, we just have to prove it,” Carnell said.

Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Stadium.

For more on St. Louis CITY SC, click here.

Copyright 2024 KMOV. All rights reserved.