St. Louis City can maintain their hold on top spot in the Western Conference table when they visit a still-struggling Toronto FC on Saturday.
St. Louis (11-7-2, 35 points) has won two straight matches after going winless in its previous four, a span in which they were outscored 9-3. Most recently, the expansion side picked up its fifth clean sheet of the season in a 2-0 win against the Colorado Rapids on July 1.
The club’s points total is tied for second-most among expansion teams through 20 matches in MLS history.
“Right now I see a squad with a ton of confidence,” coach Bradley Carnell said. “We spoke about comfortable, never satisfied. We’ve been re-chatting about that and making sure we’re staying true to who we are. We’re playing with a re-energized group ethos at the moment.”
Twelve different players have scored at least once for St. Louis this season, and 10 have scored at least two goals. Niko Gioacchini, one of three players on the club to play in every match in MLS competition thus far, leads the way with eight tallies.
It’s been a season of nothing but struggles for Toronto (3-9-10, 19 points), which has languished at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference table for most of the campaign thus far.
That led to the dismissal of coach Bob Bradley on June 26, replaced on an interim basis by Terry Dunfield. Unfortunately for the Reds, the results haven’t changed, as they’ve dropped each of their first two matches since the change — shut out both times.
Toronto has failed to score in eight of its past 12 matches and has scored only five goals combined in the other four. The club has dropped four straight, its fifth losing streak of at least four matches since the start of the 2021 season.
“That’s what we’ve talked about as a group, finding that next piece,” defender Shane O’Neill said after their loss to Orlando City. “This is a results-based business. We know that: got to get wins, got to get three points. When you don’t do that, there’s a lack of that feeling. We’re trying to piece it together to get a result, to start to feel that feeling again.”
Four of Toronto’s last five goals have come from either Lorenzo Insigne or Deandre Kerr. The other tally belonged to Kosi Thompson, who connected for the game-winning goal against D.C. United on May 27. It was Thompson’s first and only goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
