Phil Neville believes Portland Timbers can use their recent defeats as motivation in the second half of the season, starting with St. Louis City.
The Timbers' Leagues Cup run came to an end against Saturday's opponents, losing 3-1 in the round of 32 nearly three weeks ago.
They were in good form in MLS before that, and sit eighth in the Western Conference, but lost their last league game 3-2 against LA Galaxy before the break.
Now, Neville is targeting a strong finish to the regular season.
"In life sometimes you get a jolt or a little reminder of the work that needs to be done, and we got that," Neville said.
"We've had a lot of plaudits and people saying good things about us, but our last result was a wake-up call to the work we still need to do to be successful in this league.
"We've got nine games left in the season, and we need the mentality to win these games."
After knocking out the Timbers, St. Louis were left disappointed in the quarter-final of the Leagues Cup following a 4-2 defeat to Club America.
They return to MLS action sitting 13th in the table, 10 points off the playoff places, and interim head coach John Hackworth is hopeful they can take the positives from their Cup run into the second half of the season.
"There are little details that slip, and we let guys have too much time on the ball, don't get matched up in the box, don't recover in the right way," Hackworth said.
"Those are things that teams can learn to do for sure. We can create really great chances and have lots of positives to take away from games."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Portland Timbers – Evander
Evander has recorded a goal contribution in each of his last six regular-season appearances. The only longer streak in Timbers' history was a nine-match run with a goal contribution by Diego Valeri in 2017.
St. Louis City – Roman Burki
St. Louis have managed just three wins in their last 30 MLS road games in all competitions and are winless in each of their last 15, dating back to last October (six draws, nine losses).
They have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last seven such matches, and if Roman Burki is able to get a clean sheet, he may be able to help them end that streak.
MATCH PREDICTION: PORTLAND TIMBERS WIN
St. Louis defeated the Timbers 3-1 in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 at home on August 9. It was the first home win by either team against the other in four all-time meetings.
Portland have scored at least twice in an MLS-high 19 of their 25 matches this regular season, including the last seven in a row. The Timbers have scored two or more goals 20 or more times in an MLS season just once before, doing so in 2014 (21 times).
Meanwhile, St. Louis have managed just one win in their last 14 regular-season matches (four draws, nine losses), a 2-0 victory over league-worst San Jose Earthquakes in July.
In fact, since that run began in mid-May, San Jose (four) are the only team that have collected fewer points than St. Louis City (seven).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Portland Timbers – 51.5%
Draw – 24.7%
St. Louis City – 23.8%
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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