Match Preview - St. Louis City SC
Game Info
Kickoff: 4:40pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 1W-1D-4L all-time record against St. Louis City SC.
Fans of the Verde & Black will never forget the fact that St. Louis City SC played their first ever league match at Q2 Stadium, killing Kipp Keller on their way to a 3-2 upset win that ignited a fever dream of an expansion season with the club eventually finishing first place in the Western Conference.
It hasn’t gone much better for ATX in this matchup since then, although they did get their first ever victory over STL in March of last year, a 1-0 win on the back of Myrto Uzuni’s first goal for the club. Things went south in the return leg later in the year, a 3-1 St. Louis victory that was played less than 72 hours after Austin FC was defeated in the U.S. Open Cup Final at Q2 Stadium.
St. Louis City SC Recent Form
It’s been a rough go for St. Louis City SC fans since their record setting expansion season in 2023. The club has missed the playoffs each of the last two seasons and it hasn’t been close, with finishes of 12th and 13th in the Western Conference, respectively.
Coming into 2026, the team made big changes at the top, hiring Corey Wray as the franchise’s second ever sporting director and Yoann Damet as the club’s third head coach. Wray arrived to St. Louis after front office stints with CF Montreal, Toronto FC and Columbus Crew. Damet has also made multiple stops around MLS, twice named the interim for FC Cincinnati before becoming an assistant coach for Greg Vanney at LA Galaxy and Wilfried Nancy at Columbus, where the team won the 2023 MLS Cup and the 2024 Leagues Cup.
There wasn’t quite the same overhaul when it came to the roster, but Wray did make some important transactions, both outbound and inbound. The club traded away their first ever DP signing and all-time leading scorer, Joao Klauss, to LA Galaxy in the preseason after Riqui Puig suffered a second consecutive ACL injury. Klauss was on an expiring contract and not expected to be retained, so recouping $2.4 million for him is good business. The team also saw the departures of centerback Henry Kessler and midfielder Rasmus Alm.
They brought in a few key additions, most notably trading for midfielder Daniel Edelman in exchange for $700k GAM and a sell-on fee from New York Red Bulls. Edelman, who captained the USYNT at the most recent U-20 World Cup, is one of five field players that has started all nine league matches for St. Louis this season and he leads the team in assists with three.
After the season opener, the team acquired forward Sergio Cordova on loan through the summer from BSC Young Boys in Switzerland, who filled in the vacant DP slot left by the Klauss trade. Cordova is a physical presence up top and already an MLS veteran, most famous to Austin fans for scoring a brace in the first 15 minutes of the Verde & Black’s first ever playoff match against Real Salt Lake, which ATX was eventually able to recover from to advance in penalties.
Also arriving in the off season were names like Mamadou Mbacke Fall, a 23-year-old centerback who made his MLS debut with LAFC and has already made stops with Villareal and Barcelona’s B-team in his young career. Fall has only appeared once this season due to injury. Two other back line additions in Rafael Santos and Donte Polvara have been on the field much more in 2026, with Polvara returning to the states from Scottish side Aberdeen FC after coming up with the NYCFC academy.
The results have left a lot to be desired in league play as the calendar turns to May. STL is one of only two teams below Austin FC in the Western Conference standings, with just one win through their first nine fixtures. However, the vibes are trending upwards amongst the St. Louis City fan base this week.
Granted, Saturday’s home loss to first place San Jose was a letdown, especially after the team took a 2-1 lead early in the second half on goals scored so close together that Apple TV still had the graphic of the first goalscorer on screen when the second goal hit the back of the net. The Earthquakes eventually broke through for an equalizer and then a subsequent winner, but it was a more competitive performance than we’ve seen at times in 2026, where STL has only scored nine goals and conceded 16.
What’s got the fans buzzing is the team’s midweek road victory over Chicago Fire in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16, a 2-1 scoreline that sent St. Louis to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in club history. Another storyline to follow is the return of the team’s original captain, Eduard Löwen, after dealing with a personal matter for the better part of two years. His presence instantly raises both the talent floor and ceiling of this team on the pitch.
To really tie the potential of this roster together, the team will need goalkeeper Roman Bürki to step his game back up to the levels on display when he first arrived in MLS back in 2023. Bürki was the best shot stopper in the league that season and has declined, showing a steep drop off early in 2026, currently sitting as the sixth worst keeper in American Soccer Analysis’ G-xG metric, allowing 2.93 more goals than expected. For reference, Brad Stuver is second best in that category, allowing 6.39 fewer goals than expected.
No matter who the coach has been for St. Louis City SC through their first three seasons, the team has consistently lined up with wingbacks in a 3-4-3 formation. Damet has continued this trend and from a player personnel perspective is what Austin FC fans should expect to see from the opponent’s formation on Sunday afternoon.
Austin FC Recent Form
Not suggesting we forgot what winning felt like, but last Saturday’s Copa Tejas clean sheet against Houston Dynamo was a much needed breath of fresh air for the Verde faithful. It was the club’s second victory of 2026, pulling the team (at least momentarily) out of a seven game tailspin in league play, with a loss to USL side Louisville City FC in the middle.
It was Austin’s ninth all-time win over Houston, the most victories the club has had against any team in the world, continuing the theme of “first, last and most” over the franchise’s closest geographic rival.
The team suffered an injury scare or two along the way, including Jayden Nelson being subbed off late in the first half due to calf tightness after scoring the opening goal in the 13th minute. According to head coach Nico Estévez, Nelson being taken off early was more of a precaution for a player who has dealt with lower body issues throughout the first two months of the season.
There has been more good news injury-wise as the week has progressed, helping me lean into the positivity I claimed I was headed into the week with on Episode 302 following the win over Houston. As we covered on Wednesday’s Episode 303 previewing this match, Owen Wolff and Dani Pereira are primed to make their respective season debut and return to the team on Sunday as long as there are no setbacks in training. For Wolff, being listed on the team sheet against St. Louis would mark his first gameday appearance since last season’s first round playoff exit against LAFC after undergoing surgery for a sports hernia in the preseason. Pereira on the other hand would be trying his hand (or rather, his hamstring) at a second go-round after starting against Louisville City two and a half weeks ago before being pulled from the game eight minutes in due to a re-aggravation of his sore hammy.
But there’s one more bit of positive news surrounding Austin FC’s lengthy injury report and it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. DP striker Brandon Vazquez will make his season debut off the bench after missing just over nine months following surgery for a torn ACL suffered last July. Before Vazquez went down, he was the leading goalscorer for an Austin team that was finding it’s stride.
As long as there are no unforeseen hurdles that pop up before Sunday afternoon, Austin FC will be as close to “full health” as they have been since Day 1 of the preseason back in January. For a team that continues to struggle when it comes to finding the back of the net on a consistent basis, regaining the services of three of the club’s most important and talented players is something I’m looking at as a “light at the end of the tunnel” of sorts for the frustrating start to the season.
The strength of schedule has eased up on Austin as we head into the month of May. With five games left until the World Cup break, ATX will host the two teams below them in the table (St. Louis and Sporting KC) and then will meet STL at their house on May 23 for the return leg of the regular season series, with road fixtures against Minnesota United and a reeling San Diego FC sprinkled in the middle.
Of course, an easier run of games on paper does not guarantee improved results, but it sure feels like things are coming together at the right time for Austin FC to start changing the narrative surrounding the 2026 version of this club before we adjourn for the World Cup.
Injury Report
This is an estimate until the league releases official injury reports on Saturday afternoon.
ATX:
Owen Wolff (Probable - Sports Hernia)
Dani Pereira (Probable - Hamstring)
Brandon Vazquez (Probable - Knee)
Jayden Nelson (Probable - Lower Body)
Robert Taylor (Out - Knee)
STL:
Jaziel Orozco (Questionable - Concussion Protocol)
Sangbin Jeong (Doubtful - Knee)
Celio Pompeu (Out - Knee)
St. Louis City SC Players to Watch
Marcel Hartel - Arriving in the 2024 summer transfer window, Hartel has been one of the few bright spots for St. Louis City over the past two seasons. Prior to his move to MLS, the 30-year-old midfielder spent the entirety of his career in Germany, with two championships and almost 15k minutes in 2. Bundesliga and another 2k minutes in the Bundesliga. His 29 goal contributions in the 2023-24 season helped lead St. Pauli to promotion in the months leading up to inking a four-year contract with STL. Though the results haven’t followed, Hartel picked up where he left off statisticlally, leading St. Louis in contributions last season and doing so again through the first nine matches of 2026. He acquainted himself rudely with Q2 Stadium and the Verde faithful last October, netting a first half brace en route to a 3-1 win.
Eduard Löwen - After wearing the armband in the expansion season where he recorded six goals and 15 assists, Löwen has been put through an awful lot off the field. His wife passed away earlier this year after a two-year battle with brain cancer, which unsurprisingly led to the player missing nearly half of the last two seasons as he cared for his family. Löwen is back in the mix with the squad this month, playing a half with the St. Louis City second team a few weeks back and making three appearances off the bench with the first team since. He’s made an immediate impact, scoring two goals including the game winner on the road on Wednesday night to send the club to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup for the first time in team history.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Department of Energy - I’m not sure if the energy I expect to be permeating Q2 Stadium in the middle of the second half on Sunday has been topped since the U.S. Open Cup Final. As long as the game isn’t a blowout at that point in favor of the visitors, one would expect a standing ovation (at the very least) for the season debuts of both Vazquez and Wolff. But it’s up to everyone else involved to get the proceedings to that point. I’m certainly not worried about the fans, who will be ready to roar for the full 90 minutes as per usual, with a little extra juice saved up for the star players expected to enter in the last half hour. But can the Austin FC players produce another first half success like they showed last Saturday against Houston? Like the Dynamo, St. Louis will be coming in on short rest following a midweek fixture. Unlike last week, ATX was able to rest in the midweek and return to a more “normal” cadence leading up to this match. I see no excuse for the energy to be lacking in any part of Q2 Stadium and while I don’t expect a letdown, if there is one, the likely culprit would be a shortcoming of energy and sharpness on the pitch from the home team. All together now!
Predictions
ZG- 3-1 Austin FC
E- 3-1 Austin FC
