St. Louis CITY SC (15-10-3, 48 points) heads to the Lone Star State for a matchup with Houston Dynamo (11-10-6, 39 points) on Saturday, September 16, at Shell Energy Stadium. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CT and can be watched on MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and be heard by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
In their last match, St. Louis CITY SC shared the spoils against LA Galaxy in a 2-2 draw at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Sam Adeniran opened the scoring in the fourth minute before João Klauss doubled the away side’s lead heading into halftime. LA Galaxy grabbed two goals in the second half through Riqui Puig (penalty) and Billy Sharp to snatch a point late in the game.
St. Louis remains at the top of the MLS Western Conference with 48 points, holding a seven-point advantage over Seattle and an eight-point advantage on LAFC. CITY SC has finished 22 of their 28 matchdays in the top spot and have not dropped below third place in the standings this season. CITY SC has scored 55 goals this season, the most in the league heading into Matchday 32. St. Louis has scored a goal in 23 of the 28 matches they have played in MLS.
Adeniran continued his red-hot streak in front of goal, scoring the game’s first goal against LA Galaxy in the fourth minute of play, which marks the second time in the last two games that he has scored the game’s opening goal. The forward has compiled five goals in his last six MLS matches. Adeniran increased his goal tally to seven goals this season, three behind CITY SC’s leading goal scorer Niko Gioacchini.
In his first start since his injury on April 8, Klauss etched his name on the scoresheet to record his sixth goal of the season. The forward now has 10 goal contributions (six goals, four assists) in 10 starts this season.
Aziel Jackson provided the assist for CITY SC’s second goal after dribbling the ball from his half before laying an inch-perfect pass for Klauss to tuck home. The midfielder now has three assists this season. Jackson’s performance against LA Galaxy earned him a spot in the Team of the Matchday 31 squad.
CITY SC are 4-4-2 in road matches against Western Conference teams and has a 5-7-2 overall record in away matches. Against Houston, St. Louis will look to close the gap on LAFC for the most away wins by an expansion team. CITY SC’s five away wins are two shy of LAFC’s record of seven road wins.
St. Louis’ vice-captain Tim Parker will return to Shell Energy Stadium for the first time since he was acquired by CITY SC in a trade from Houston. Parker spent two seasons with Houston, making 62 MLS regular season appearances. Parker has scored four goals this season for St. Louis.
When the two teams met earlier in the season, CITY SC stormed to a 3-0 win at home, with Eduard Löwen, Tomáš Ostrák and Gioacchini scoring in front of a sold-out crowd at CITYPARK. Since the first meeting, Houston have recorded a 6-3-3 record in MLS play.
Houston sits in 5th place in the Western Conference standings with 39 points, nine points behind CITY SC. The Dynamo are 9-2-2 at home this season, scoring 26 goals with a +18-goal differential in that span. Houston enters the match on a five-game MLS unbeaten streak (3-0-2), after tying their last match (0-0) with LA Galaxy. Amine Bassi leads Houston with nine goals followed by Corey Baird who has scored six goals this season, three of which came in the last four games.
The Dynamo have won only two of their last 18 matches against expansion sides (2-10-6 record) dating back to October 2012. Houston is 5-4-5 in eighteen all-time home matches against expansion teams, scoring 23 goals with a plus-five goal differential in those contests.
