Matchday 8 Information:
- Who: St. Louis City SC (5-2-0, 15 points) vs FC Cincinnati (5-0-2, 17 points)
- When: Saturday, April 15, 2023 – 8:30 PM EST
- Where: CITYPARK – St. Louis, MO, USA
- How To Watch: Apple TV – MLS Season Pass
Past Matchups
This will be the matchup between St. Louis City SC and FC Cincinnati in club history.
FC Cincinnati is riding high as they won at home against the Philadelphia Union over the weekend. Now they face another Western Conference team in St. Louis CITY SC, the new expansion team in MLS.
First off, FC Cincinnati will most likely be without the services of their captain, Luciano Acosta, who could potentially miss several weeks after injuring his shoulder in a collision will Union GK Andre Blake which ultimately led to his first goal of the season. Obinna Nwobodo and Yuya Kubo were training individually on Wednesday, with the latter not training with the full team since his injury against Seattle on March 11th. Combine that with Brenner seemingly picking up a knock in Tuesday evening’s practice, as he was seen alongside Acosta and not partaking in the team’s practice Wednesday, and FC Cincinnati’s Starting XI may look very different from their last match just a few nights ago.
St. Louis City SC Scouting Report
St. Louis has changed their formations a lot to start the season, coming out in 3 different formations in their first 7 matches. They started the season winning their first five straight and ending matchday 5 at the top of the Supporter Shield Table. Since then, they’ve suffered two consecutive defeats to Minnesota at home and on the road in Seattle. They’ll look to get back on track against an undefeated FC Cincinnati side.
In their last match, St. Louis suffered a 3-0 loss to Seattle. They came out in a 5-3-2 formation for the first time this season and played a solid 60 minutes until Joshua Atencio of Seattle scored a screamer in the 66th minute. It looked like CITY wasn’t entirely comfortable in the 5-3-2, as the attacking trio of Klauss, Gioacchini, and Löwen didn’t seem to press as high and as aggressively as in previous matches. After giving up that goal, CITY was visibly stunned. A mistake by Löwen directly led to the second goal and the third was an own goal, courtesy of Jakob Nerwinski.
Regardless of what formation Bradley Carnell and his side come out in, expect them to press aggressively. They’ll look to João Klauss, the Brazilian striker that’s had a goal contribution in every one of their wins, and none in their last two losses.
Key Player: Matt Miazga (FC Cincinnati)
Matt Miazga, alongside FC Cincinnati teammates Brandon Vazquez and Roman Celentano, was called up to the US Men’s National Team to be a part of the Continental Clásico roster. Miazga was last called up in 2021, and told reporters on Wednesday that he felt “screwed over” by those in charge of the 2022 Qatar World Cup roster decisions for the USMNT, but is “excited to be back”.
But before that match can kick off, Matt Miazga will have a lot on his plate as he and the Orange and Blue travel to St. Louis. With uncertainty on the availability of Obinna Nwobodo, Yuya Kubo, Luciano Acosta, and Brenner, the team will need to be incredibly strong defensively. With the high pressing play that St. Louis plays so often, Miazga will need to be able to organize his defensive line well and be in constant communication with his fellow USMNT goalkeeper Roman Celentano to hopefully record the team’s sixth clean sheet of the season.
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