St. Louis CITY SC faces Minnesota United once more at Allianz Field, but this time in Round of 16 of the US Open Cup. The encounter comes just a couple of days after suffering a 3-0 loss in MLS action at the same stadium and puts CITY in a tricky position. The team is going through a low run this season, having failed to win in its past ten consecutive league games.
Minnesota United has the upper hand in the game
Minnesota United's head-to-head against the two teams is more favorable. Out of five games, they've won four. During their previous match, in MLS, Tani Oluwaseyi, Joaquin Pereyra, and Julian Gressel scored goals. The 3-0 gap represented the superiority of the home team. Minnesota sits currently second on the Western Conference table with seven wins, three draws, and four defeats.
The player of the moment has been Oluwaseyi with six goals and five assists, while Pereyra has provided seven assists. Minnesota won 1-0 away from Louisville City FC in the previous US Open Cup match. The only target was achieved through Darius Randell, who was the youngest player in the tournament's history to make his debut and score for the team. The team featured a heavily rotated group with nine of the players belonging to MNUFC2 and six of the squad members making first-team debuts. In spite of this, they were able to progress. That is an indication of faith in the team and smart management of the main group's fitness.
St. Louis has more starters in the Open Cup
This year's installment had CITY advance by beating Union Omaha 2-0 in the fourth round. The two goals were scored in the second half by Joey Zalinsky and João Klauss. The team had more possession time but only managed to score in the 68th and 87th minutes. Cedric Teuchert had an assist on the second goal. The match had about 6,000 spectators, a decline from 2023, when over 22,000 turned up to see the team thrash the same opponent 5-1.
While Minnesota picked a younger squad in the last round, CITY chose to use old players. Maybe that means the club is committed to playing hard in this tournament or, at least, perhaps they do not feel like using their bench in a game of this level. Either way, the need to climb the cup seems obvious. In MLS, the team is bottom of the Western Conference with just two wins, seven draws, and five losses. They've scored but 11 goals through 14 games.