The Seattle Sounders continue the longest road trip in club history on Saturday night when they visit St. Louis City SC.

Seattle (1-1-0, 3 points) opened the season with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Colorado Rapids on Feb. 22. The Sounders followed that up with a 2-1 loss at Real Salt Lake last week to kick off a stretch of five league matches on the road as Lumen Field undergoes upgrades in preparation for hosting matches for the FIFA World Cup this summer.

The Sounders don’t play another home match until April 12 when they host Real Salt Lake on the brand new turf that is being installed. That begins a run of six of Seattle’s next seven matches at Lumen Field.

Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer was asked what his team’s goal was heading into Saturday’s match.

“The goal is to collect points,” Schmetzer said. “It’s hard to win on the road. Against RSL, (it) was maybe one of our better games there although (it) still wasn’t a result. But the soccer was good, and we have to finish games on the road. So, the objective is to come away from St. Louis with some points.”

St. Louis (0-1-1, 1 point) opened the season at home with a 1-1 draw against Charlotte FC and then fell at San Diego FC, 2-0, last week.

First-year St. Louis head coach Yoann Damet, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant under Wilfried Nancy with the Columbus Crew, blamed a slow start for his team’s loss.

Anders Dreyer scored in just the third minute to give San Diego the lead, and Marcus Ingvartsen added another goal in the 54th minute to seal it. St. Louis had possession for just 34.4% of the contest while getting outshot, 10-6, and managed just two corner kicks to seven for San Diego.

“I think the way we came out lacked a little bit of belief, a little bit of energy as well,” Damet said. “That was the message at halftime, and that was the message at the end. We gave them a little too much respect.”

–Field Level Media