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When the St. Louis City and Seattle Sounders meet at CityPark on Saturday, it will be the end of their 2023 Major League Soccer season.
The home team leads the Western Conference table with 56 points after 33 games and will seek to shatter the regular-season league points record set by an expansion team this weekend.
St Louis City experienced their largest league setback since July, losing 3-0 to Vancouver Whitecaps just before the international break, with the euphoria of capturing the Western Conference title still in the air.
Following a scoreless first half at BC Place, Vanni Sartini’s side exploded in the second, with Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter, and Richie Larves all finding the back of the net.
Prior to then, St Louis had gone unbeaten in four straight games, picking up two draws and two wins, including a 4-1 triumph against Sporting Kansas City on October 1 to earn first place in the West.
With their loss to the Whitecaps last time out, Bradley Carnell’s men have now won just one of their previous eight road games in all competitions, while losing five and drawing two.
While results have been difficult to come by on the road, the Missouri team now returns home, where they have gone unbeaten in each of their previous six league games, collecting five wins and one draw since a 3-1 loss to Real Salt Lake in June.
St Louis presently has the second-best home point total in the Western Conference and the second-most for an expansion team, with 35 points from 16 games at CityPark.
Carnell’s team, which leads the Western Conference by five points, will be looking for all three points this weekend in order to shatter the regular-season league points record established by Los Angeles FC in 2018, when they finished with 57 points.
Seattle Sounders, like this weekend’s hosts, have had a strong regular season and will enter the season finale seeking to jump Los Angeles FC into second place.
After finishing 11th in the Western Conference a year ago, Brian Schmetzer’s team has picked up the pieces and secured post-season football with a remarkable display of resolve.
The Seattle Sounders won 13 of their 33 league matches, drew 11 and lost nine to finish with 50 points and third in the conference table, one point behind second-placed Los Angeles FC.
While the Green are not a goal-scoring force, they have been defensively resolute this season, maintaining 13 clean sheets — the second most in the MLS this season — and surrendering the second-fewest number of goals (32).
This was highlighted last time out as they drew 0-0 with the Vancouver Whitecaps at Lumen Field in their final game before the international break.
As a result, the Seattle Sounders have now gone eight games without losing, with five draws and three wins since a 2-0 loss to Atlanta United on August 21.
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