In their only meeting of the 2025 MLS campaign, St Louis City host Austin FC in a matinee affair on Sunday at Energizer Park.
St Louis lost their first match of the season last weekend, 1-0 to the Philadelphia Union, while the Verde and Black handed San Diego FC their first defeat, 2-1, the following day.
Match preview
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It has been a promising start to Olof Mellberg's coaching tenure in St. Louis, particularly on the back end, where this team have conceded the fewest goals in the league so far (one).
His approach has not made them an appealing team to watch, but it has been effective, as his players' discipline has enabled them to sit fifth place in the Western Conference table early on.
They are unbeaten in three consecutive league encounters at home, conceding just one goal over that stretch, which dates back to 2024.
On Sunday they can collect a third successive clean sheet at home in this competition, which would be a first in club history.
After five matchdays, they have picked up eight points domestically, one more than they had at this same stage a year ago.
This weekend will be just the third time they host Austin in an MLS fixture, with St Louis winning the previous two home meetings against them by a combined margin of 7-3.
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Weeks of disappointing attacking displays for Nico Estevez in Austin changed against San Diego last week, with the Verde and Black as lively as we have seen all year going forward.
Despite having 23% of the possession, they were dangerous on the counter, firing five efforts on target to claim another narrow victory.
All of their domestic fixtures in 2025 have been decided by a single goal, with the Verde and Black winning on three of those occasions.
Another victory on Sunday would give them three in a row, making it their longest such run in MLS since June-July 2022 (four) when they made the playoffs for the only time to date.
So far this season, they have yet to drop a single point from a winning position, claiming maximum points in their last five MLS affairs in which they drew first blood.
Austin will be seeking their first triumph against St Louis in the regular season, claiming just a single point in four prior meetings with them despite having the lead in two of those instances.
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Team News
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Several players were unavailable to St Louis last week versus the Union, including Michael Wentzel due to a leg issue, Tomas Totland had a sore hamstring, Jayden Reid was dealing with a foot injury and Jake Girdwood-Reich sat out because of an ankle strain.
A hand injury kept first-choice goalkeeper Roman Burki on the sidelines last week, while Rasmus Alm was recovering from a hip problem.
Eduard Lowen must sit out of this encounter following his two cautions versus Philly, while he was also fined an undisclosed amount of money for failing to leave the field in a timely manner after being sent off.
Austin did not have Mikkel Desler available last Sunday, as the Danish defender is recovering from a hamstring strain, while Leo Vaisanen transferred to BK Hacken.
Several players, including Myrto Uzuni, Oleksandr Svatok, and Jimmy Farkarlun, will return to this squad from international duty this weekend.
Brandon Vazquez and Jon Gallagher scored within the opening 20 minutes of their previous encounter to propel them to another one-goal triumph.
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Lundt; Hiebert, Kessler, Horn; Watts, Durkin, Morales, Pompeu; Hartel, Klauss, Becher
Austin FC possible starting lineup:
Stuver; Gallagher, Hines-Ike, Cascante, Kolmanic; Sabovic, Sanchez, Pereira; Wolff; Vazquez, Rubio
We say: St Louis City 0-0 Austin FC
Austin showed a little more quality than we are used to last time out, but we expect plenty of tight marking with little space for these two sides on Sunday that have been defensive-minded throughout the year.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
