St. Louis CITY SC (0-2-1) at LAFC (3-0-0) Saturday, March 14, 2026, 9:30 PM (CT) Los Angeles, BMO Stadium Apple TV Here is this week's MLS Match Information link St. Louis CITY SC Season: 0-2-1, 1 Point, 0.33 PPG, 1 GF, 4 GA, net -3. Form: DLL Home: 0-1-1, 1 Point, 0.50 PPG, 1 GF, 2 GA, net -1. Form: DL Away: 0-1-0, 0 Points, 0.00 PPG, 0 GF, 2 GA, net -2, Form L LAFC Season: 3-0-0, 9 Points, 3.00 PPG, 6 GF, 0 GA, net +6. Form: WWW Home: 2-0-0, 6 Points, 3.00 PPG, 4 GF, 0 GA, net +4. Form: WW Away: 1-9-0, 3 Points, 3.00 PPG, 2 GF, 0 GA, net +2, Form W St. Louis CITY SC has scored one goal in three matches. LAFC hasn't given up a goal this season. CITY has yielded four goals in three matches, LAFC has scored six, including a 3-0 thrashing of Miami. The good news is that, after this match, CITY will have played the two best teams in the Western Conference in their home stadiums, with a strong Seattle team squeezed in between. In theory, the most difficult part of the season will behind CITY after this match. Montreal's trip to RBNY and Toronto's trip to Cincinnati this past weekend show that seemingly impossible road trips aren't hopeless. But this is an exceptionally difficult road match for a team that is playing well, and CITY isn't there yet. There are a few positives: LA is a fun road trip, California is awesome, and the weather should be perfect. Discuss.
Matt Baker reports that Fallou Fall is training with the team this week, Mbacke Mamodou played extensively in CITY 2's match last week, likely an in-season "pre-season" session to acclimate to CITY's tactics.
Not a very suspenseful disciplinary report (pun intended). Disciplinary Report. St. Louis CITY SC. Suspended: none. YC Caution: none. LAFC. Suspended: none. YC Caution: none.
Broadcast Teams. Apple TV. English language: Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth. Spanish language: Diego Pessolano and Daniel Chapela. St. Louis radio. English broadcast, 98.1 FM, Joey Zanaboni and Dale Schilly (available by online streaming). Spanish broadcast, 102.9 FM, Santiago Beltran and Hector Vega (available by online streaming).
Combined Disciplinary Summary and Player Availability report. St. Louis CITY SC. Suspended: none. Out (illness or injury): Tomas Ostrak and Tyson Pearce. Out (not due to injury): Eduard Lowen. Questionable: none. YC Caution: none. LAFC. Suspended: none. Out (illness or injury) Lorenzo Dellavalle, Jeremy Ebobisse, Stephen Eustaquio, Igor Jesus, Aaron Long, and Jacob Shaffelburg. Out (not due to illness or injury): none. Questionable: none. YC Caution: none.
A lot of talk around the club, and even mentioned out loud here by Damet, about the tough stretch of 4 games to start the season. The only problem now is that stretch is over, and all that talk makes Saturday against the Revs a must win game. It may have been done to try and lower the temperature around the team, but not a calculated move. No more excuses after Saturday. No more moral victories. No more performances over points. Put up or shut up!
It isn't just the first four games. After New England, CITY plays five of the next six on the road. The first third of the season has nine matches against top opponents, including the return matches at Seattle and against LAFC. Simply put, CITY has the most difficult first third of a season in the entire MLS, and is doing it during a rebuilding season with players still trying to recover from last season's injuries. The top half of the Western Conference is eating the entire MLS alive at an all-time record pace. The top half is undefeated at home except against other top-half Western teams. The top seven Western teams are a combined 18-5-1, with 58 GF, 18 GA. At home, these teams are 15-1-0, and the lone defeat was San Jose to Seattle this week, with both teams in the top seven. The schedule is why I started this season saying that the first third of the season will be rough, but I hope to see improvement in the second third and - in isolation - a playoff PPG pace in the final third. There is ZERO chance any team outside the top seven in the west could handle this first third of a season. The second third of a season has the long World Cup break shortly after it starts, and then the second transfer window opens right at the return. Nobody knows how that will affect league play this season. Calling New England a "must win" is absurd. They just peeled the skin off of Cincinnati, 6-1. We're going to take our lumps throughout this first third of a season. What we need to focus on is building a team that can compete long term. Right now, we have five established, solid starting players: Burki, Hartel, Teuchert, Lowen, and Durkin. For obvious and heart-breaking reason, we haven't seen Lowen much this year, and it will take him some time to get back to match fitness. Teuchert is still on minute rationing as he tries to recover from last season's injuries. Damet has brought Teuchert's play back up to where he was pre-injury, and that's potentially a massive development. What does everyone think the score would have been this past weekend if Teuchert had been able to go 90'? Damet also has brought Durkin into the level of key players, and that's no small feat. CITY is still missing Totland. Yes, there are underperforming players. Yes, they are being revealed by the play on the pitch. And yes, there will need to be upgrades. But for once, CITY seems to have an actual system, actually seems to be able to play the ball out of the back, seems to be able to maintain possession, and seems to be able to get a ball into the offensive third. That's not nothing. It's a start.
Miss me with all the analytics. We hear about field tilt, possession, PPDA, xG...blah blah blah. SCOREBOARD! Damet is on a learning curve too. He complains that he had his subs ready to come on when the second goal was scored. But anyone watching the game could see the subs were needed 10-15 minutes earlier. His game management needs refining, hopefully it will come with time and experience. The fact that we lost the game late is worrying. We should have been the fresher team down the stretch. LAFC is the team playing midweek games and having to balance priorities, and it was Edelman and Durkin (to a lesser degree) that were gassed at the end. It's frustrating that you can see the improvement on the eye test of this group, and you can see how easy it would be to make the playoffs in MLS if we even marginally spent money on the squad. But we refuse to fully invest. We only shop at the discount superstore. Lastly, if we are going to have any hope of the playoffs, Saturday is a must win! Maybe you have given up that hope, but CKB told us we would be in playoff contention. You can't contend for the playoffs with 1 or 2 points from 9 in your home games in MLS, especially with 5 of our next 6 on the road. Gotta get points at home! Lastly lastly, if we are just looking to build for the future, signing Burki to a DP contract was stupid. Not getting Joyner minutes is stupid. Either commit to the long term project or let's go for it in the short term. Trying to do both means we are doing neither.
LAFC tactically wore CITY down. They have a deeper bench than CITY, and their second team is equal to our Starting XI. That's why they are THE top team in the entire league. Damet has been pushing the players to have better game fitness and duration. They did that. I noted that under Carnell, Olof, and the interims, our team consistently hit the wall at the 57-62' mark. Against LAFC, we made it another 8' before hitting the wall. The subs should have been ready at the 70' mark, but weren't. That is an issue. I like Joyner. I can't agree that looking at his brief performance against LAFC equals concluding that he should be getting more playing time. He came in after LAFC was up 2-0, after LAFC dropped back to a defensive posture, and after LAFC was just trying to run out the clock. That let him play almost entirely in the offensive third, without having to play touchline to touchline like the starters did. The same for Celio, with an additional note. Celio isn't starting because he isn't producing. He's fast and he runs around a lot. He averages 1/7 of a goal per 90', 1/7 of an assist per 90', only has 74% passing, and commits 1.74 fouls for every foul suffered. We already have nonproductive players, but they have better passing stats and (except for Durkin) aren't foul machines. A fast nonproductive player isn't an upgrade over a medium speed nonproductive player. I'm concerned with Becher and Wallem. They had tough games, but also had their hands full with much more talented LAFC players. This match was a huge test. CITY has a long way to go to be at LAFC's level. CITY didn't look awful, and played well the first half. LAFC showed its dominance in the second half. I haven't seen CITY as a playoff team this year. I do think that if things break right as the season progresses, CITY could be in the hunt for the last playoff spot. The dominance of the top seven teams in the West means that IF that dominance continues, the bottom eight teams are going to get bludgeoned. That moves the last two playoff spots down the points earned scale quite a bit. Getting the 8 or 9 spot wouldn't be a great prize, if it happens. It would only extend the season a couple days. One last note. Yes, we didn't score against LAFC. But NOBODY has scored on them. They beat Miami 3-0,
You won't catch me arguing for Celio, he's always been overrated by the fanbase. All I'm saying with Joyner, if we don't have playoff expectations, let's test our 19 year old future star and see what we got. I'm not necessarily say throw him in the deep end, but let's increase his minutes. Becher is being Becher. The drop in quality from Wallem is alarming.
This. He seems trapped between two minds on plays. He's hesitating on passes, then either too heavy or passing behind his man. IMHO, if Joyner is to get more minutes, four matches before the Cup break look most promising for him to get those minutes: New England, Dallas, Colorado, or DC United.