In the latest edition of MLS Rivalry Week, St. Louis CITY SC will resume their MLS campaign against cross-state rivals Sporting KC at CITYPARK at 8:30 p.m. CST this Saturday. The matchup will mark the first of three regular season matches, with CITY SC playing at home twice. The match can be seen on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and FS1 and heard by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
CITY SC is coming off a 1-0 loss to Chicago Fire FC, whose lone goal in the first half was enough to seal the victory for the home side. Rafael Czichos found the net for Chicago in the 40th minute, six minutes after he was substituted on to the field.
Despite the defeat, CITY SC hit another landmark with their first homegrown signing Caden Glover coming on as a second half substitute to make his MLS debut. Glover became the first-ever player born in 2007 to appear in an MLS game. The 16-year-old forward joined fellow Homegrown midfielder Miguel Perez with both Homegrowns now making first team appearances.
Perez, who scored his first professional goal in second-half stoppage time against Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, started the last match, bringing his season appearance total to 10 games in all competitions. With his goal, the midfielder became CITY SC’s youngest goal scorer at 18 years and 11 days old.
St. Louis CITY SC has played five games at home in league play this season, posting a record of 3-2-0 and scoring 12 goals in that period. In each of CITY SC’s home wins, they have scored at least three goals and have only been held scoreless on one occasion, their 1-0 loss to Minnesota on April 1.
CITY SC heads into the derby sitting in third place in the MLS Western Conference standings and fifth place in the Supporters’ Shield standings – and still has almost a full half of soccer to play when they travel to FC Dallas on June 7 to finish their match that was postponed after 50 minutes of play. The team also leads the league in goals scored with 22 goals, averaging two goals per game.
Sporting KC, who had a slow start to the season after recording three points in their first 10 games, have flipped a switch in the month of May. Kansas City is coming off a 1-1 draw against last year’s MLS Cup champions, LAFC, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The draw extends Sporting KC’s unbeaten streak to three games, after they recorded victories against Seattle and Minnesota earlier in the month.
Sporting KC has scored nine goals this season, with five of those goals coming in road games. Kansas City owns an away record of 1-4-3 so far this season. In their last eleven matches against expansion teams, Sporting KC has recorded five wins, posting a record of 5-2-4, while scoring 16 goals in that span. In road games against expansion teams in the last six seasons, Sporting KC has a record of 1-2-2 with their only away win in that stretch coming against LAFC in 2018.
