When Major League Soccer hit pause nearly two months ago for the World Cup break, there were serious questions about how it might impact the rest of the season and how MLS squads would prepare.
Going into the break, St. Louis CITY SC had an uphill battle, with the team having one of the toughest schedules in the league. At the same time, it saw some major transitions, including a new front office, manager, system, and roster.
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Yet after the first 14 matches, there’s a renewed sense of confidence among a group of players looking forward to the next chapter.
Where CITY SC left off
The last time Energizer Park hosted an MLS game, CITY SC dominated Austin FC 3-0 ahead of a nearly eight-week break. Daniel Edelman and Fallou Fall scored their first goals for CITY SC, and Chris Durkin picked up his fifth yellow card of the season, triggering a one-match suspension.
With the win against Austin, St. Louis moved within four points of the final Western Conference play-in spot, with more than half of the season left to play.
On Thursday, CITY SC can send an important message against Sporting Kansas City, with a chance to make it 13 points out of a possible 15 over the past five matches in MLS play.
Despite the hot finish to the first half of the season, there’s still a sense of unfinished business with the CITY SC roster.
Sporting director Corey Wray loaned CITY SC original Josh Yaro to USL League One’s AC Boise, declined the buy option on loanee striker Sergio Córdova, and declined the option of Cedric Teuchert’s contract for the second half of 2026.
Those moves indicate that Wray intends to refill the cupboard with players more suited for CITY manager Yoann Damet’s preferred formation and system. Combined with Timo Baumgartl recently acquiring his green card, opening up another international roster slot, Wray has space in the salary cap and on the roster for the secondary transfer window, which closes September 2.
So far, the season has reflected a duality: The squad played above expectations through the first five matches, but the results didn’t match the performance. Then, when the fixtures congested, CITY picked up points, despite Damet’s dismay with how his team had executed the system.
The break offered a key opportunity for the first-year manager: a chance to reflect on a frantic spring and to reinforce the next layer of his system.
“No one is training as hard as we are.”
Last month, CITY SC players from their MLS Players Association-mandated break and were thrust into late-morning training sessions in the heavy St. Louis humidity.
“We want to put that into our identity,” Simon Becher said while seeking reprieve after a sun-soaked training session. “We want to be one of the hardest-working teams and really push the teams that come here, use this intensity to make it difficult for them, make them say they don’t want to be suffering with us.”
“I can say for a fact that there’s no team training as hard as we are right now,” MLS veteran defender Lukas MacNaughton said. “There’s no team out-training us, and that’s giving us confidence heading into the first game. We know we’ll be fitter than other teams.”
Damet has been envisioning the press as a more proactive tool following a stretch of matches that forced the manager to dial back the intensity on the front foot. It’s a different type of intensity than St. Louis fans are accustomed to hearing after the club’s first three seasons, but Damet wants to win the ball high up the pitch, with enough composure to keep possession and find creativity in the attacking spaces. CITY exhibited those qualities at times during the first 16 matches of the season, but he’s yet to see the full picture. That’s been the impetus for the hot restart—a Red Hot Restart even.
Record vs. Sporting Kansas City.
It’s been more than a year since St. Louis and Kansas City played. Since then, both sides have reimagined their approaches, with Sporting KC hoping to dig out of one of the worst two-year stretches in league history and CITY attempting to set a new tone.
The rivalry has been tight through the first 10 matches, but KC still owns the pivotal moment, ending CITY SC’s inaugural season in playoff heartbreak. Last time out at Energizer Park, the two fought to a 2-2 draw after CITY charged ahead 2-0 at half time, marking the first time St. Louis hasn’t beaten KC at home in MLS play.
With a rematch on the horizon, CITY players are laser-focused on executing a game plan against their rivals—and seeing the results of all their hard work on the training pitch.
