St. Louis CITY2 v MNUFC2
CITYPARK | St. Louis, Missouri
06.22.2023 | MLS NEXT Pro Game No. 14
7:00 p.m. CT | Streaming on AppleTV’s MLS Season Pass
MNUFC2 is approaching the midway point in their 2023 MLS NEXT Pro schedule, with this week’s match against St. Louis CITY2 marking their 14th game of the season. Following an impressive 2-0 win against Whitecaps FC 2 this weekend, the Twos will be hoping to bring some positive momentum on the road with them and reignite the away form they had early this year.
Head Coach Cameron Knowles was pleased with this weekend’s performance, crediting the resilience of his team to remain focused and strike twice in the second half. As he looked ahead to St. Louis this week, he cited last season’s results as reason for optimism.
“Fortunately, we had a good result there last time, so the guys have a positive feeling about that,” Knowles said. “We’re on short rest, so we’ve got to make sure the guys get turned around and recovered; that’s the most important thing. We need to understand that there’s a lot of parity in the league. There's a lot of opportunity for us over the next few games to start getting back to where we think we should be. And if we can continue to be tough and continue to defend like we did and keep creating chances, then I think we’ve got as good of a chance as anyone on any given week.”
Goals from MNUFC2’s Emmanuel Iwe and Kameron Lacey ultimately fired the Loons to victory last weekend, but solid play from everyone on the pitch was the real key to success for the home side. Goalkeeper Alec Smir’s penalty save in the first half set the tone for a gritty, hard-fought win, rallying the troops and inspiring an extra pep in his teammates’ steps. With such a solid performance under their belts, they’ll be hoping to take the chance to leapfrog CITY2 in the standings this week.
Much like the Loons, St. Louis CITY2 is fresh off a much-needed win. They took down Real Monarchs 4-1 in their last match, bringing them to a 4-6-5 overall record. Their 21 points are good enough for 7th place in the Western Conference at the moment, but with 15 games played, they run the risk of being caught by several teams with games in hand. That list includes MNUFC2, who are just two points and two places behind Thursday’s hosts.
St. Louis hasn’t been the most efficient team this year, conceding 27 and only scoring 22. Leading scorer John Klein has six goals on the season, and defender Michael Wentzel has played all but 26 of his team’s available minutes. There are plenty of players to watch in this squad, but nothing that the Twos should have to shift their game plan to cover.
With the added boost of Sunday’s win, the mood in the MNUFC2 locker room is on the upswing. Forward Kameron Lacey is excited for the chance to keep the momentum going, regardless of who the next opponent is.
“All we needed was one win,” Lacey said. “We know we can go on a run now. So, we put the other games behind us and we use this game as fuel. We’re going to use this game as fuel, and when Thursday comes, we’ll be ready to fight again.”
Thursday’s match is scheduled to kick off at 7:00 p.m. CT, with streaming available exclusively on AppleTV’s MLS Season Pass. Tune in to see if the Loons can extend their form and get the edge over CITY2 in the league standings.
