Unbeaten St. Louis City set to face hurting Timbers

St. Louis City look to continue their unbeaten start in their inaugural MLS season when they visit the Portland Timbers on Saturday night.

St. Louis (2-0-0, 6 points) became the first expansion team to win its MLS opener since Los Angeles FC in 2018 when it came from behind to defeat Austin FC 3-2 on Feb. 25. St. Louis City repeated the feat in the home opener on March 4 by rallying for a 3-1 win over Charlotte FC.

The team recognizes it has received a few breaks. Joao Klauss has scored two eerily similar goals, one in each game, and each one created by an erroneous pass from an opposing defender. Against Charlotte, St. Louis also benefitted from an own goal and a penalty kick.

St. Louis manager Bradley Carnell acknowledges the importance of keeping his squad's mentality in check. His team also has a relatively clean bill of health.

"I think we've created a lot of internal competition within the group now, and there's a lot of minutes for a lot of individuals," he said. "And we keep guys fit and healthy, and we train with 23 players every single day. And obviously, we have to have some guys not making (game-day) rosters, where everyone kind of deserves to be on the roster."

Portland manager Giovanni Savarese hasn't been as lucky. Veteran attackers Sebastian Blanco, Dairon Asprilla and Yimmi Chara remain sidelined with knee issues. And their absence is felt more acutely in part because the team has yet to sign another striker.

On the plus side, attacking midfielder Evander scored his first MLS goal in Portland's 3-2 defeat at defending MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield champion LAFC on March 4, the day the home side lifted its title banner and received its championship rings

The Timbers (1-1-0, 3 points) may take confidence from a match in which they nearly came from three goals down after allowing first-half goals through a corner kick and a penalty kick.

"I thought we ended the game well," Timbers defender Zac McGraw said. "I thought if we had a couple more minutes, we could have stolen a point from LAFC. And obviously, their emotions were really high."