St. Louis CITY SC are back home to face Real Salt Lake this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CT at CITYPARK. The match can be streamed 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 fell 3-1 against Nashville SC in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. After a highly contested first half that saw CITY SC forward Niko Gioacchini equalize just before halftime, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar added two goals in the second half to earn the victory for the hosts.
Halfway through its inaugural MLS season, St. Louis owns a 9-6-2 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 17 games. St. Louis has scored 34 goals this season, the third-most by any team this season, behind Columbus (36) and Atlanta (35). CITY SC boasts a +14-goal differential, second behind Nashville who owns a +15-goal differential.
Gioacchini leads the team with seven goals after finding the back of the net for the third consecutive match against Nashville SC. The forward finished the match tied with defenders Tim Parker and Lucas Bartlett with the most aerial duels won on the team in that match.
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. With a win on Wednesday, CITY SC can tie LAFC for the fastest expansion team to 10 wins.
When the two teams played each other on Matchday 5 earlier this season, CITY SC ran away with a 4-0 victory, setting expansion team history in the process. João Klauss (2), Gioacchini and Rasmus Alm all scored in the second half to give CITY SC their fifth win of the season. Roman Bürki made eight saves in route to his second clean sheet of the season.
Real Salt Lake will play at CITYPARK for the first time this season. St. Louis has scored 23 goals and allowed seven goals in nine MLS matches at home. CITY SC has trailed just 52 of 900 minutes and has a 7-2-1 record at home across all competitions this season. St. Louis enters the bout on a four-match home undefeated streak (three wins, one draw). In that period, CITY SC scored 11 goals, conceded two and recorded two clean sheets. In each of their home wins this season, St. Louis has scored three or more goals.
Real Salt Lake comes into the match on a three-match unbeaten streak of their own. Salt Lake has a 2-0-1 record so far in June, earning points in their wins over Austin and D.C. United and a draw against New York City FC. Salt Lake is undefeated in their last five road matches, dating back to a goalless draw against Houston. In that span, they’ve posted a record of 3-0-2 in away matches, scoring eight goals and conceding five.
Salt Lake sits in seventh place in the MLS Western Conference standings with 23 points – six points behind leaders CITY SC and LAFC. Across their last ten matches against expansion teams playing in their inaugural seasons, Real Salt Lake is 4-5-1 overall. In the road matches over that span, the team is 1-3-0 with a minus-two goal differential.
