We\u2019re 27 matches into the 2024 Major League Soccer season, and we STILL haven\u2019t played every Western Conference opponent. Crazy, right? I\u2019ve been trying to figure out the formula the season planners use to determine who plays who at what time, and I\u2019ve decided that I need to return to college for additional math courses. That said, I\u2019d like to announce my temporary departure from mnufc.com as I pursue a degree in Major League Soccer Mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On second thought, that sounds like a lot of work, and the only school offering that course seems kind of sketchy. Nevermind, you\u2019re stuck with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Loons\u2019 second-ever visit to CITYPARK will finally complete the Western Conference set this year, and with just six games remaining, it\u2019s BEEN crunch time for a few weeks now. As the Black and Blue jockey for playoff positioning and hope to secure their postseason spot, CITY will be hoping for a miracle to get them back into that conversation. Last season\u2019s Western Conference regular-season points leaders have fallen quite far this year, meaning that my preseason prediction from 2023 was just a bit early, not wrong<\/em>, per se (I know I was wrong, just let me have this).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not so Easy, is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems that year two has been a bit of an adjustment period for the newcomers, and pretty much every stat backs it up. Despite relatively little change in personnel, STL is 20 points back from where they were at this point last season, with just 28 points from as many games. They\u2019re sitting in 13th place at the moment, 12 spots below their first-place finish in 2023. Looks like that hot start to life might have been a bit too good to be true, huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s hard to account for luck, especially when you\u2019re on the receiving end of so much of it. If you look at the numbers behind St. Louis\u2019 inaugural year, you might be surprised. Not only did CITY outperform their expected goals tally by 19.4 (xG was 42.6, actual goals scored was 62), they also outperformed their expected goals allowed tally by an additional 5.1 (xGa was 50.1, actual goals allowed was 45). That\u2019s almost a 25-goal swing in their favor. The miracle that the newbies are looking for to get them into the playoffs this year? I think it already happened last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With 53 goals conceded in 2024\u2014already eight more than last season\u2014and six games still to play, the odds haven\u2019t been in their favor to nearly the same extent this year. They\u2019ve conceded about seven more goals than expected this time around, and that includes giving up at least three goals in 10 of their league matches this season. It\u2019s been tough going in Mound City, but if last season proved anything, it\u2019s that these guys are capable of creating their own luck in some pretty confounding ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was Then, This is Saturday<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last season, the Loons ended St. Louis\u2019 historic run to start their time in Major League Soccer, a run that saw them earn five wins in their first five matches. MNUFC then went into CITYPARK and came out the 1-0 victors, ending their impressive unbeaten start and bringing the league\u2019s newbies back down to Earth. Fast forward to the end of the 2023 season, and St. Louis repaid the favor, coming to Allianz Field and claiming a 2-1 victory that contributed to the Loons missing the playoffs. Touch\u00e9, St. Louis, touch\u00e9 indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with the Loons in a similar position to last September while their adversaries are reeling in the midst of a tough second year, Saturday\u2019s game has a very different look to it than their previous two matchups. A win for the visitors would go a long way toward ensuring a shot at the postseason, while a win for the home side would keep the dream alive, even if by the thinnest of threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With very little to lose and the memory of last season\u2019s loss at CITYPARK still relatively fresh in their memories, St. Louis will definitely be up for this weekend\u2019s game. Their current three-game unbeaten run has seen them put together a few decent performances, including a 2-1 win over the high-flying LA Galaxy. We\u2019ve seen some pretty impressive highs and some unexpected lows from this CITY side. The only thing we know for sure is that anything could happen in this one; you won\u2019t want to miss it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u2019re 27 matches into the 2024 Major League Soccer season, and we STILL haven\u2019t played every Western Conference opponent. Crazy, right? I\u2019ve been trying to figure out the formula the season planners use to determine who plays who at what time, and I\u2019ve decided that I need to return to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":278564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-286746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=286746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286747,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286746\/revisions\/286747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/278564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=286746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=286746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=286746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}