St. Louis CITY SC is back in town to host Liga MX heavyweight Club América, wrapping up the team’s group stage matches in the inaugural Leagues Cup competition. Kickoff is slated for 9:00 p.m. CST on Thursday, July 27, and the match will be streamed free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, UniMás, and FS1 and can be heard by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
In their opening Leagues Cup match, St. Louis played away against Columbus Crew. After a nearly four-hour weather delay, the home side struck first when Lucas Zelarayán curled in a free kick and then Cucho Hernández extended their advantage when he converted a penalty shot in the 29th minute. CITY SC made a push late in the second half, getting on the scoresheet courtesy of a corner kick from Indiana Vassilev deflecting off a Columbus player and into goal, but the team could not find the equalizer afterward.
Vassilev has shined in set-piece situations this season, with two of his assists (in matches against Inter Miami and Real Salt Lake) coming off his corner kick services. The 22-year-old midfielder has six (6) goal contributions (2 goals, 4 assists) for CITY SC this season.
Against Columbus, CITY SC goalkeeper Ben Lundt made his third start of the season for CITY SC and recorded a season-high seven (7) saves. It was his highest single match saves total since recording eight (8) saves on June 12, 2021, while playing for USL side Phoenix Rising FC.
CITYPARK has become one of the toughest environments in MLS for opponents to play in, with CITY SC boasting a 9-3-1 home record across all competitions and 8-3-1 home record in MLS action. St. Louis has a plus-19 goal difference (29 goals scored, 10 goals allowed) through twelve home MLS matches thus far, tying the team with New England Revolution for the largest home goal difference in MLS.
Thirteen (13) different players have broken onto the scoresheet across all competitions at home this season, with Sam Adeniran, Tim Parker and Eduard Löwen doing so the last time CITY SC took the pitch at CITYPARK in a 3-0 victory over Inter Miami CF on July 15. Goalkeeper and captain Roman Bürki has recorded five clean sheets at home, which is tied for seventh in MLS this season, four behind Seattle's Stefan Frei.
Club América, which will be beginning its Leagues Cup campaign Thursday night, enters the match with a 1-1-0 record in the young Liga MX Apertura. The Mexican side last matched up with a MLS team when they battled Philadelphia Union in the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League Semi-Final, shutting the Union out on a 4-0 aggregate across the two legs of the competition.
