It’s the Gateway to the West, Mound City, home of toasted ravioli galore, and the site of MNUFC2’s next match. That’s right, the Twos are heading to CITYPARK to take on St. Louis CITY2 this Sunday. Both teams are coming into this match fresh off good results, making this a must-watch for Loons faithful as the MLS NEXT Pro season winds down.
This will be the third meeting between these two sides in the 2024 season, but the first in St. Louis. In each of the previous matchups, CITY2 came out on top, with a scoreline of 2-1 in May and 3-0 in August. The Loons will be hoping to avoid a season sweep when they take to the pitch this weekend, and given their form, they should be feeling confident that they can nick a positive result this time around.
The Twos are riding some positive momentum into Sunday’s match, with a 3-2 win over Austin FC II in their most recent game. A host of first-team players earned minutes in that match, including Anthony Markanich, Hugo Bacharach, Loïc Mesanvi, Jordan Adebayo-Smith, Moses Nyeman, Samuel Shashoua, and Alec Smir. Goals from Shashoua, Mesanvi, and Adebayo-Smith proved to be the keys to victory in a match that the Loons led for nearly the entire 90 minutes, after their fourth-minute tally put them ahead early.
CITY2 is enjoying a good run of form at the moment as well, riding a four-game winning streak into this weekend’s showdown. A dominant 4-0 win over Western Conference leaders North Texas SC a few weeks ago stands out as some of their best work, while the rest of their wins in that span—including their 3-0 win against the Loons—came against teams in the bottom four of the conference standings.
It’s been an impressive season overall for St. Louis’ second team, having already secured a playoff berth with four games remaining in the regular season. Their 49 points from 24 games have them firmly in second place in the West, and their +14 goal difference is fourth-best in all of MLSNP thus far. They’re tied with Tacoma and LAFC 2 for the most home wins this year with eight apiece, but Sunday’s hosts aren’t infallible, having lost two home matches in 2024. It’s going to be a tough—albeit doable—task for MNUFC2 to come out of this one with three points.
MNUFC2’s match will be just a day after the first-team game at CITYPARK, meaning that it’s not out of the question for some first-teamers to stay behind to join the Twos for this one. Look for some of the same names from the last match to be involved in this one as well, alongside the MNUFC2 regulars and several of the academy’s finest.
A loss on Sunday would eliminate the Twos from playoff contention, as would several combinations of shootout outcomes. A win would keep the season alive, though, and that’s always the goal in the end. Tune into this weekend’s match on AppleTV’s MLS Season Pass at 6:00 p.m. CT to see if the Twos can take down one of MLSNP’s top teams.
