Prediction, team info, and lineups for St Louis City vs. Seattle Sounders.
| 22h | Joshua Ojele
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 goalless first half at BC Place, Vanni Sartini‘s side ran riot in the second period as Brian White, Sebastian Berhalter and Richie Larves all found the back of the net to fire the Whitecaps to their first win in five matches.
Prior to that, St Louis were unbeaten in four consecutive matches, picking up two draws and two wins, including a 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on October 1 which saw them secure top spot in the West.
With their loss to the Whitecaps last time out, Bradley Carnell‘s men have now managed just one win in their last eight away matches across all competitions while losing five and picking up two draws since mid-July.
While results have proven hard to come by on the road, the Missouri outfit now return home where they are unbeaten in each of their last six league matches, claiming five wins and one draw since June’s 3-1 defeat against Real Salt Lake.
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.
Like this weekend’s hosts, Seattle Sounders have enjoyed an impressive regular season campaign and will head into the season finale looking to leapfrog Los Angeles FC into second place.
Twelve months after finishing 11th in the Western Conference, Brian Schmetzer’s team has picked up the pieces and secured post-season football with a fine 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, preserving 13 clean sheets — the second most in MLS this season — and surrendering the second-fewest number of goals (32).
This was highlighted last time out as they played out a goalless draw with Vancouver Whitecaps when the side squared off at Lumen Field in their final outing before the international break.
With that result, Seattle Sounders have now gone eight consecutive games without defeat, picking up five draws and three wins since a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Atlanta United on August 21.
