After a mixed bag of a performance in Los Angeles, St. Louis City SC is heading to the Pacific Northwest to face the Seattle Sounders in Matchweek 11. Olof Mellberg’s men have shown some signs of progress in the attack in recent weeks while a few cracks emerged in what is one of the top defenses in the West. Historically, City has not had much luck against the Sounderse and they have never won in Seattle. Can St. Louis get their first win at Lumin Field? Let’s dive into the match up.
White reports from training are trending in the right direction, City will still be without several players this weekend. During Thursday’s press conference Mellberg noted that Rasmus Alm, Roman Bürki, Jay Reid and Edu Löwen are unlikely to feature in the squad despite having a full week of training behind them. Bürki is still seen as being at least a week away. Löwen, Reid and Alm are all working their back into fitness and there isn’t a timetable for when they will be eligible for selection. Further complicating squad selection for the weekend is the suspension of Alfredo Morales, who is ineligible after being sent off for a tackle that earned him a second yellow card in Los Angeles last weekend. This leaves Mellberg with a squad heavy with attacking players and center defenders ahead of the trip to Seattle.
“We have a little unbalance in the squad. We have the suspension and the injuries in the full back position and the central midfield but more options up front and at the back.”
Despite the challenge of having his preferred players unavailable, the St. Louis gaffer is undeterred from his goal of getting the best of the players who will be available and fitting them into his plans to remain “unpredictable”.
“The main goal is to try take as much out of our qualities as possible,” Mellberg told reporters Thursday. “The unpredictable side of it is that we need to do it in various ways; direct attacks, faster attacks, longer balls, sometimes through possession. I think we need to continue to do that and try to find ways and help them to get good combinations in to find more attacks like the one we scored the goal in last week.”
Want even more player availability information? Good, because Seattle has issues of their own in this department. The Sounders will be without Jordan Morris, Paul Arriola, Jackson Ragen and could also be missing Jesús Ferreira according to reports out of Seattle.
While those are some key players, Seattle still has some firepower in the final third as Daniel Musovski, Cristian Roldan, Paul Rothrock, Albert Rusnák and Pedro De La Vega should be available for Brian Schmetzer.
In terms of results, The Sounders have taken points in four of their last five games with a 2-2-1 record in that span. They are coming into this match on the heels of a 1-1 draw in Colorado. Seattle likes to possess the ball, boasting the 4th highest mark in that metric in the league. They tend to build and progress using through balls to create a high volume of chances, so the City defense could be tested this weekend despite the Sounders missing key pieces.
Starting XI and Prediction
This one might be the toughest squad and XI to project this season. Mellberg could go a number of ways with the formation and the bench is almost certainly to be a mystery until we see what City opts to do with short term loans ahead of the game. I think the safe bet, especially on the road is a three man back line. From left to right, I’m going with Jannes Horn, Timo Baumgartl and Josh Yaro. I know Yaro wasn’t at his best against LAFC, but I think his pace and ball movement are the reason why he stays in the XI.
Wingbacks should be Conrad Wallem on the left and Kyle Hiebert on the right. Definitely far from the preferred position for Hiebert, but I don’t think City has an option for this match up. The two center midfielders I’d expect to he Marcel Hartel alongside Akil Watts. It just makes the most sense, in my opinion, given what we’ve seen this season.
I think we’ll see Célio Pompeu back in the XI in this game for his 1v1 ability. I expect him to be on the left with Cedric Teuchert shifting to the right and João Klauss in the middle of the attacking trio. Again, it’s just thinking about what we’ve seen this season.
When it comes down to it, I think this is a game City sets up to earn a draw. I expect to see a very defensive game plan from the start and I think Mellberg will set up his side to hit on the counter, hence the inclusion of Célio. I’m going with a 1-1 draw. I think St. Louis finds a way to get their first ever goal in Seattle, but I also expect the Sounders to test the defense at home and find a way to get one past Ben Lundt.
Taking his passion for soccer and St. Louis to the next level, Jeremy aims to provide analytical coverage of all this St. Louis City SC.
