St. Louis CITY SC travels south to take on Nashville SC on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT. The match can be viewed on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and heard by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
CITY SC is coming off a 1-1 draw against LA Galaxy in front of another sold-out crowd at CITYPARK. After a scoreless first half, Niko Gioacchini found the back of the net in the 68th minute to give St. Louis the lead before LA Galaxy’s Daniel Aguirre leveled the scoring in the 85th minute. With the tie, St. Louis extended their unbeaten run to four matches while outscoring their opponents by 11-2 in that period.
St. Louis owns a 9-5-2 record and sits in the top spot of the MLS Western Conference standings with 29 points – the second-most points by an expansion team after 16 games (1st - LAFC, 30 points). St. Louis has scored the opening goal in their last four matches and has not trailed in any of those matches. CITY SC remains undefeated in MLS when they score first, owning a 7-0-2 record and outscoring their opponents 27-6 in those matches.
St. Louis forward Gioacchini leads the team in goals (six) and etched his name on the scoresheet for the second consecutive match, becoming the first CITY SC player to have multiple instances of scoring in back-to-back games. With his assist in the last match, Indiana Vassilev now has five goal contributions (two goals, three assists) this season. Vassilev created the most chances (six) and had the most successful dribbles (two) for CITY SC against the Galaxy.
CITY SC captain Roman Bürki made four saves in the tie against LA Galaxy on Sunday afternoon. Bürki’s save total jumps to 61 with a 78.2 save percentage, good for second-best behind Nashville's Joe Willis for goalkeepers with more than 10 appearances in MLS. Bürki has made 18 clearances (third among goalkeepers) and has recorded four clean sheets in 16 games this season.
St. Louis’ vice-captain Tim Parker had a colossal performance on the backline against LA Galaxy. The defender had a game-high 10 duels won and made a team-high four successful tackles against the Galaxy. Parker tied Eduard Löwen for the most passes completed (42 with 87.5% accuracy) and led both teams in aerial duels won with six. Parker has faced Nashville SC twice in his career, both with his former club Houston Dynamo last season and has earned victories on both occasions – 2-1 in Nashville and 2-0 in Houston.
CITY SC has another chance to add to their nine wins this season and can make expansion club history with another victory against Nashville SC. Excluding the shootout era, LAFC (2018) holds the record for the fastest expansion club to 10 regular season wins, accomplishing the feat in 18 matches. If CITY SC secures their tenth win Saturday, they will have done so in 17 matches.
Nashville SC sits second in the MLS Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings with 32 points, just eight points behind FC Cincinnati. Nashville is unbeaten in nine straight league matches (6-0-3). Nashville has won four straight home matches during the streak, the longest home winning streak in the club's MLS history.
Nashville SC has won all three of its home matches against expansion teams, including defeating Miami twice at home in both team's inaugural 2020 season (including a 3-0 win against them in the Play-In Playoff round). Nashville has kept clean sheets in all three of its home matches against MLS newcomers.
Nashville’s talisman and last year’s Landon Donovan MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar has contributed at least one goal in each of his last five games at GEODIS Park (5 goals, 4 assists). Mukhtar has been involved in 48 regular-season home goals (31 goals, 17 assists) since the start of the 2021 season, 11 more than any other player in the league in that time, per Opta.
