The Seattle Sounders host St. Louis City on Saturday night in a meeting of the top teams in the Western Conference standings.
Last season, the Sounders couldn’t even make the playoffs and City weren’t even in the league.
Still, Seattle (4-1-1, 13 points) has reached four MLS Cup finals, winning two championships since 2016, and in May 2022 became the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League.
Meanwhile, St. Louis (5-1-0, 15 points) is enjoying dizzying success as an expansion side, become the first MLS team to win its first five games. It finally lost a game last week, after Minnesota United converted a penalty kick in the 78th minute.
But the home side was its most dangerous after falling behind, with team scoring leader Joao Klauss and Samuel Adineran both narrowly missing quality chances in second-half stoppage time before St. Louis lost 1-0.
“I think the energy of the group … this never give up, never die attitude, this don’t go down without a fight attitude, I think that’s what continues to impress me,” St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell said this week.
For the Sounders, Jordan Morris continued his MLS-leading scoring pace last weekend a 2-1 victory at the Los Angeles Galaxy with his eighth goal in six games.
Leo Chu, who has assisted on a league-best five goals, scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 35th minute, and Seattle withstood the Galaxy’s furious second-half pressure.
Sounders’ keeper Stefan Frei has yet to concede a goal in three games at Lumen Field this season, but St. Louis has scored 15 goals in six games, tied for most in the league. Klauss is second in the league in scoring with five goals.
Despite the potential implications in the conference race, coach Brian Schmetzer said he was more focused on continuing the team’s undefeated home form than in buying into the notion of a potential playoff preview in early April.
“It certainly adds a little bit of spice for you guys to write about,” he said. “But it’s another home game. We want to make sure that Lumen Field is a hard place to play. And I have confidence that if our team plays to our potential, chances are we’ll come out with a good result.”
–Field Level Media
