A pair of Western Conference sides who made big statements last weekend will clash for the first time in the MLS regular-season as the Vancouver Whitecaps head to CityPark on Saturday to face St Louis City.
In their previous encounter, St Louis snapped a three-match winless run in league play by hammering their state rivals Sporting Kansas City 4-0, while the Caps knocked the Seattle Sounders out of firs place in the west with a 2-0 victory at BC Place Stadium.
Match preview
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Coming off multiple subpar performances and an exit from the US Open Cup, many questioned if the early success in St Louis might be a case of beginners' luck.
Although one game will not completely silence all of the naysayers, Bradley Carnell's men showed at home to SKC that they could come back from adversity and that this group did not always have to depend on one player to get the job done.
Seven different players in fact, including all four of their goalscorers on Saturday night, have found the back of the net multiple times in St Louis' inaugural campaign, more than any team in MLS.
When they can get out to an early lead, this team have proven to be hard to catch, unbeaten when scoring first in 2023, while winning all six of their encounters in which they have netted in the opening half.
At the moment, St Louis find themselves third in the Western Conference, just three points off first place currently occupied by Los Angeles FC, while they have scored the second-most goals in MLS (26) this year.
St Louis have won four of their six MLS home fixtures, scoring three or more goals each time, while holding a 100% record this season when finding the scoresheet multiple times in a single game.
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Vancouver ended a two-match losing run with an impressive triumph against the Rave Green a week ago, holding their Cascadia rivals to just one shot on target throughout the encounter.
That marks the first time the Caps have triumphed against the Sounders and Portland Timbers in the same MLS regular season campaign as they moved up to seventh in the Western Conference, two points above the playoff line.
The Caps have done well to silence the home crowds in their away fixtures, scoring first in half of their MLS road contests (3/6) but they cannot seem to finish the job, without a win as the visitors this season, including a 2-1 defeat at Dallas last time out.
Vanni Sartini's men have five clean sheets in league play this season, one of which came on the road versus Austin FC, equalling the most for them away from home from 2022.
While this will be their first regular season meeting against St Louis, they have recently fared well against Missouri-based sides, winning three of their last four matches versus Sporting KC.
They will have an opportunity to defend their Canadian Championship after blanking Pacific FC in the semi-finals of that competition on Wednesday.
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Team News
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Joakim Nilsson missed the previous St Louis match due to a knee strain, Rasmus Alm was unavailable because of an abdominal issue, John Nelson is eligible to return from suspension, former Caps defender Jake Nerwinski has started every regular season encounter this year, while their leading scorer Klauss could be ready to return from his right quadricep injury.
Indiana Vassilev became the third St Louis player to record a multi-goal game across all competitions, notching a brace in their victory over KC, with the other strikes coming courtesy of Eduard Lowen and Nicholas Gioacchini, while Jared Stroud had a multi-assist night, the third player in franchise history to achieve this.
John Klein made his MLS debut, coming on for Lowen in the 78th minute, and Roman Burki picked up his third clean sheet in the league, making six saves, the fifth time over the domestic campaign that he has stopped five or more shots, tied with Brad Stuver and Djordje Petrovic for the most in the league this year.
Ranko Veselinovic missed the previous Vancouver game for personal reasons as Tristan Blackmon returned from a right knee contusion, while Ryan Gauld was back in the lineup, having missed the match against Dallas due to left hamstring tightness.
Pedro Vite had the winner for them last Saturday, his second in successive matches, while Gauld thought he notched his first of the campaign, only for their insurance marker to be credited instead as an own-goal from Sounders' goalkeeper Stefan Frei and Yohei Takaoka collected his fifth shutout of the season.
Goals from Julian Gressel, Ali Ahmed and Simon Becher were more than enough for them to advance to the Canadian Championship final.
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Nerwinski, Hiebert, Parker, Nelson; Lowen, Perez; Stroud, Vassilev, Gioacchini; Klauss
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Takaoka; Brown, Blackmon, Laborda, Martins; Gressel, Berhalter, Cubas; Vite, Caicedo; White
We say: St Louis City 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps
The Caps have fought hard in their road fixtures this season but have yet to find a way to kill a game off, which has proven costly.
Should Klauss return to the lineup, it would be a tremendous boost for St Louis, but even if he does not, they look a more confident side at home, and we believe they will get the job done on Saturday.
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