Match Preview - St. Louis City SC
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:39pm CT
Watch: Apple TV+
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 1W-1D-3L record against St. Louis City SC.
The lone victory for ATX came in the first meeting between these clubs in 2025, a lightning delayed 1-0 road win thanks to Myrto Uzuni’s first ever goal for the club.
St. Louis City SC is the lone remaining Western Conference opponent that Austin FC has not beaten at Q2 Stadium, a stat that ATX would love to remedy come Saturday.
St. Louis City SC Recent Form
It has been a disappointing ride for St. Louis fans this season. After a promising start that saw them open the year on a four-game unbeaten streak, things crashed and burned once they got out of that first month, leaving them to limp to the finish line this month. Having officially been eliminated from playoff contention last week in their 3-0 loss to LAFC, St. Louis is doing their best to avoid winning the wooden spoon, and looking to the future by rotating younger players into their lineup.
It was a different vibe coming into that March fixture after STL jumped out of the gates with draws against Colorado and San Diego as well as victories over LA Galaxy and Seattle. St. Louis did not concede a single goal in all four of those contests, largely in part to the ultra-defensive style head coach Olof Mellberg was employing. The vibes were high and after some pundits were convinced that St. Louis had “decoded” MLS after their impressive debut year in 2023, it appeared they were well on their way to another successful season.
In the 11 league games that followed, St. Louis did not record a single win and mustered a measly three points thanks to draws against Vancouver Whitecaps, Sporting KC, and LAFC. The incredibly conservative approach that Mellberg asked his team to play stalled the offense entirely and ultimately led to his firing on May 27th on the heels of a 1-0 loss to Colorado Rapids.
The keys to the club were handed off to David Critchley, a relatively unknown coach with no first division games on his resume and just 11 games at the helm at the MLS Next Pro level. The departure of Mellberg didn’t improve the results much for STL, as they currently sit on 28 points from their 32 games, good for 13th place in the West – a mere four points clear of the wooden spoon leading LA Galaxy.
The youth movement has begun in the Show Me State as they’ve begun to clean house. Once heralded Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel was shown his pink slip on August 25th as the club searches for a new identity. The position remains vacant as of this writing.
St. Louis uses the 2/4/GAM roster build. Some of Pfannenstiel’s final moves were filling two U22 initiative slots in the summer window with the signing of Fallou Fall, a Senegalese center back who has seen significant time as of late, and a trade that landed former Minnesota United U22 forward Sang-Bin Jeong. The Loons also sent homegrown fullback Devin Padelford to St. Louis on loan, who is being utilized plenty by Critchley as the season winds down. Brandon McSorley, one of Zac’s most despised players in MLS Next Pro, has been called up and is eating up minutes in the midfield.
Despite the youth that St. Louis is trying to evaluate, they are still paced by some dangerous veteran players João Klauss and Eduard Löwen, two players that Austin FC fans should remember from previous clashes between these two teams. Neither player has reached the lofty bar they set for themselves in St. Louis’ inaugural campaign, but both are still high-quality players at the MLS level. Löwen, who has only logged about 1,300 minutes this season, is reportedly dealing with personal issues this week and may not be available for the game on Saturday.
In the net, you’ll find Roman Bürki, who dominated in 2023 after leaving Borussia Dortmund where he appeared in 176 games over seven seasons. His play this season has left something to be desired, but the defensive unit for St. Louis has been a sieve at best and has put the former Swiss national team keeper in many difficult situations this year. Bürki still has a post-shot xG ranking in the 77th percentile and has shown flashes of his former self with big saves this season.
This is not a quality team, but they have nothing to lose, which can always make things dangerous and unpredictable.
Austin FC Recent Form
Well, I don’t know about you, but I am still in pain after Austin’s loss to Nashville SC in the U.S. Open Cup Final on Wednesday night. Despite all our feelings, it’s important to remember that nobody is hurting more than the team, who laced them up to compete for a trophy less than 72 hours ago at Q2 Stadium. I am incredibly proud of how hard the team competed on Wednesday and am grateful to them for what was an incredible and exciting run in the U.S. Open Cup. Thank you to the coaching staff, organization, and the players.
But now we turn our attention to the MLS Cup Playoff race, the show must go on. Austin will have the difficult task of bouncing back emotionally and physically on short rest for this important matchup against a Western Conference foe. There is still much to play for, as Austin can lock in a top seven spot in the Western Conference with a victory over St. Louis on Saturday.
Whether it be soccer, water polo, basketball or ping-pong, you should be familiar with the term “trap game.” A contest where one team is decidedly superior to their opponent, but the context surrounding the match makes the favorites ripe for an upset. I would absolutely classify this contest as one. With the likes of LAFC looming next week and the wounds of the championship defeat still fresh, Austin’s coaches and players will need to put the blinders on and focus on the task at hand, which is defeating a team that you’re simply better than.
For what it’s worth, I do believe Austin FC has the right amount of veteran voices in their locker room to be able to move on from the heartbreaking defeat. That said, the players are still human beings, and we humans are illogical, emotional beasts. Here’s hoping the likes of Ilie Sanchez, Bradley Scott Stuver, and Diego Rubio can provide emotional stability (as they did post-match on Wednesday) in this time of emotional and physical volatility.
In terms of lineup and tactics, I expect some changes. A return to the five-back look that Austin had been using for the majority of the last month, is definitely on the table. But I’m not sure what the coaching staff will roll out given some of the other variables present. Guilherme Biro is suspended on yellow card accumulation, Julio Cascante has logged 390 minutes in his last four games, 34-year-old Ilie Sanchez played 85 hard-fought minutes in the final, Mikkel Desler has been dealing with nagging hip tightness for weeks and Myrto Uzuni was visibly drained walking off the pitch on Wednesday.
Expect some rotation out of Austin. I anticipate Zan “Big Tex” Komanic to enter the starting lineup for the suspended Biro. I don’t think we should be surprised if Desler is put on the bench in favor of Jon Gallagher to keep his hip in good shape and we could see a midfield that includes one or both of Nico Dubersarsky and Besard Sabovic.
Regardless of who gets the call for ATX, this team will be talented enough to get the job done, and the toughest part of this one may be emotionally bouncing back after a heartbreaking defeat.
Injury Report
ATX:
Guilherme Biro (Out - Yellow Card Accumulation)
Brandon Vazquez (Out - Knee)
STL:
Cedric Teuchert - Lower Body (Out)
Nashville SC Players to Watch
Joao Klauss - The Brazilian striker is still the most dangerous player on the team with nine goals and two assists to his name in 2025. Klauss is very sneaky with his positioning in tranisition and uses his body well in the box. He will never blind you with overwhelming speed but he’s solid in the air and has a dangerous right foot. He is a big body (listed at 6’3”) and commands respect from oppositing defenses. He has 26 league goals for St. Louis City SC in 83 career appearances and has been the most lethal goal-scoring threat in the club’s short history.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
It’s A Trap! - The most important opponent for Austin FC tomorrow night might not be St. Louis, but their own emotions. Battling through adversity and heartbreak is part of the experience when you’re an athlete and it’s certainly a unique experince to have a championship game while the regular season is still rolling along. Some players can manage the highs and lows very well, while others struggle. Each individual who laces them up will be tasked with navigating the devastation and disappointment that was the loss to Nashville SC on Wednesday night. If Austin is able to put the loss behind them, at least for these 90 minutes, then the rest should take care of itself as they take on an opponent that is not nearly as talented as they are, especially in their current state.
Predictions
ZG - 2-1 Austin FC
E - 3-1 Austin FC
