St. Louis CITY SC are back on the road facing Real Salt Lake at America First Field on the heels of becoming the first MLS expansion team to win their first four matches in history. CITY SC sits atop of the Supporters’ Shield standings with 12 points and is the only team left in MLS with a perfect record, 4-0-0. The match is set to kick off at 8:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 25 and will be televised on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and broadcasted by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
Only one club in MLS history has won at least five games to start a season, excluding the shootout era, the 2012 Sporting Kansas City, who recorded seven consecutive wins to start the year.
Last time out, CITY SC recorded a 3-0 win over San Jose Earthquakes with goals from forwards Niko Gioacchini, João Klauss and midfielder Tomáš Ostrák sealing another impressive performance at home this season. CITY SC goalkeeper and captain Roman Bürki made two huge saves to record his and the club’s first MLS shutout.
CITY SC forward and Designated Player Klauss continues to impress in the attack and following his goal last match, he has now been directly involved in at least one goal in all four matches this season. Klauss will look to join the company of only five players in the last 20 years who have been involved in a goal in each of their first five MLS matches: Sporting KC’s Alan Pulido in 2020, Portland’s Brian Fernandez in 2019, Montreal’s Blerim Dzemalli in 2017, Seattle’s Nicolas Lodeiro in 2016, and Columbus’ Federico Higuain in 2012.
On defensive end, CITY SC are sticking to their principles and has seen rewards for their high press with eight players winning at least five tackles this season. No other team in MLS has more than five players with five tackles won.
Offensively, CITY SC has scored 11 goals in the league which is tied for first with Atlanta United and is second in the league with a goal differential of seven. The team has seen seven different goal scorers so far this season: Klauss (3), Jared Stroud (2), Tim Parker, Eduard Löwen, Gioacchini, Kyle Hiebert and Ostrák.
CITY SC will look to become just the sixth team in MLS history to open a season with multiple goals in each of the first five games, and the first to do so since 2019 LAFC and 2019 Toronto FC. Each of the previous five teams to accomplish the feat advanced to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and two of the five advanced to MLS Cup – 1996 LA Galaxy and 2019 Toronto FC. The 1996 LA Galaxy hold the record for the longest multiple-goal streak to start a season, doing so in 12 consecutive games in MLS’ inaugural season.
CITY SC has been represented in the team of the matchday in all four weeks since the start of the season. With their performances on the weekend Klauss has notched his third feature in four matchdays while defender Jake Nerwinski was honored for the first time this season.
Following last week’s result, St. Louis CITY SC will now look to join LA Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting Kansas City in 2012, as the only teams to have collected 15 points in their first five matches of a season in MLS history.
Real Salt Lake comes into the match on a two-game losing streak, after falling to Austin FC and Seattle Sounders following their 2-1 opening day victory against Vancouver Whitecaps. Real Salt Lake has won nine of its 14 home matches against expansion sides (D2, L3), including two wins over Chivas USA in 2005. The only three expansion sides to win at Salt Lake are Toronto FC (2007), Atlanta United (2017) and Los Angeles FC (2018).
