St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth says his team have more to give, but need to find consistency, starting against New England Revolution.
St. Louis snapped a five-match winless streak in MLS last weekend, beating high-flying LA Galaxy 2-1 at home.
It was just their fifth win of the league season, and they remain second-from-bottom in the Western Conference, nine points off the playoff places.
However, Hackworth says he was waiting for a performance like the one they put in against the Galaxy, and hopes they can replicate it more often.
"We expect this [good performance]," he said. "We'd been talking about it.
"We believed we could do that, and then, the next step is to continue to do that. You have to have that belief in yourself - the players do, the staff do.
"That's what sport is. I was satisfied, but I don't think that is the end of it. We've got more."
Meanwhile, New England followed up a 5-0 thrashing of CF Montreal with a 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake.
They sit 13th in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the playoff places, but Caleb Porter believes his team can only improve as more of his players return to the fold.
"I'm glad that those guys [Giacomo Vrioni, Ian Harkes and Dylan Borrero] are going to be close to being able to play major minutes now," Porter said.
"They needed another game. We felt they were kind of 30 to 45 minutes fit, max. Now, we feel like they will be close to 60, hopefully, with a good week of training. That gives us a lot of optimism for the next game."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New England Revolution – Carles Gil
Carles Gil has recorded an assist in each of his last two MLS home appearances and has 38 total assists in home MLS matches (incl. playoffs) since joining the league in 2019, second only to Luciano Acosta's 40 in that time.
St. Louis City – Cedric Teuchert
Germans Marcel Hartel and Cedric Teuchert scored St. Louis's goals in their 2-1 win over LA Galaxy on Sunday - it is the second time in MLS history that two German players scored for a single team in a match.
The first: Teuchert and Eduard Lowen for St. Louis the week before.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION WIN
This is the first-ever meeting between New England and St. Louis in any competition.
After suffering their first three-match home losing streak in nearly a decade in April-May this year, New England have lost only two of their last nine matches in all competitions at Gillette Stadium (W4 D3), though three of the last four matches in Foxborough have ended in draws.
Meanwhile, St. Louis won the first three road matches in the club's history in February-March 2023. Since then, they have managed just three wins in 31 away matches in all competitions, including going winless in 16 straight away from home (D7 L9).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New England Revolution – 41.3%
Draw – 26.7%
St. Louis City – 32%
Portugal 2-1 Scotland: Ronaldo's late heroics seal comeback win
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score the winner as Portugal earned a 2-1 victory, condemning Scotland to another late defeat.
The 39-year-old, who started on the bench in a competitive match for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, added to Bruno Fernandes' strike after Scott McTominay had given Scotland the lead early on.
The home crowd were just as stunned as Portugal's defence when McTominay snuck in behind, thumping Kenny McLean's cross past a stranded Diogo Costa after just seven minutes.
The hosts certainly had their chances to get back into the game though – Angus Gunn made a brilliant save to deny Rafael Leao, who also fired a number of efforts wide of the left post.
Though Scotland tried to continue soaking up the pressure, their defence was eventually breached nine minutes after the break, with Fernandes marking his 30th birthday with a sweeping finish from 20 yards out.
Gunn smothered Joao Felix's low shot in the 78th minute before Ronaldo came within millimetres of a winner as his header hit the inside of the far post.
But Ronaldo would have the final say as he stretched out a leg in the six-yard box to turn Nuno Mendes' cross into the back of the net.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the hero once again
Steve Clarke could not have asked for more from his team in the first half, as they scored with their only effort, but also resolutely defended as Portugal racked up 16 shots (three on target), creating 1.21 expected goals (xG).
It was a regular creator that got the Selecao back on level terms though, as Fernandes got his 21st goal involvement under Roberto Martinez in all competitions, at least five more than any other Portugal player (11 goals, 10 assists).
And Ronaldo is now up to 901 career goals, with only Aleksandar Mitrovic (14), Erling Haaland (12) and Romelu Lukaku (10) bettering his nine-goal tally in the Nations League.
Switzerland 1-4 Spain: Fabian brace leads 10-man La Roja to victory
Fabian Ruiz’s double helped 10-man Spain claim a comprehensive 4-1 win over Switzerland in the Nations League on a rainy night in Geneva.
Joselu opened the scoring after just four minutes as he latched onto the end of Lamine Yamal’s pinpoint cross to flick goalwards.
The goal was confirmed after some controversy as Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel thought he had clawed it away before it crossed the line.
Switzerland thought they had an immediate response three minutes later but Becir Omeragic had a goal ruled out for a handball in the build-up. Instead, Spain doubled their lead on 12 minutes as Fabian powered home the rebound from Nico Williams’ parried shot.
The Swiss were handed a lifeline as Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red for bringing Breel Embolo down as he went through on goal, and Zeki Amdouni rattled the crossbar from the resultant free-kick.
Amdouni did find the net to bring scores level just before half-time, sweeping home Embolo’s flick-on from a corner after finding himself unmarked at the back post. He nearly had a brace after the restart, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Instead, it was Fabian with two goals to his name by the final whistle, after he tucked away at the far post in the 77th minute against the run of play before Ferran Torres added further gloss.
Data Debrief: Spain's run rolls on
The writing was on the wall early for Switzerland who have not won any of their last eight matches after conceding first in the Nations League. Spain, on the other hand, are undefeated in their last five matches when they have scored first in the competition.
It means, excluding friendlies, Spain are now unbeaten for 17 matches in all competitions (W15 D2). It is their best unbeaten run under a single manager since Vicente del Bosque was in charge in June 2013.
Italy boss Spalletti expects to make five changes for Israel match
Luciano Spalletti is expecting to make up to five changes for Italy's Nations League clash with Israel owing to the tight turnaround between matches.
Italy produced a shock 3-1 victory over France on Friday, just three days before they face Israel in Hungary.
But their opening three points in Group A2 took their toll, with starters Riccardo Calafiori and Lorenzo Pellegrini both leaving the squad after sustaining injuries in the match against France.
As such, Spalletti feels it is necessary to rotate for their upcoming match.
"It's difficult to put the same team out as Friday. It's not possible to get over the fatigue after just two days. Let's see how the guys are, but it's not unusual to change three, four, five players," the Italy boss told the press.
Some players, however, will have to play due to the injuries sustained in that victory, which saw them register their first win against France since June 2008.
"Bastoni will play tomorrow because it becomes tricky taking both him and Calafiori out of the team. He has the most experience, he brings things to the table that can help the whole team," Spalletti added.
"Frattesi will be evaluated in today's training, but he says he is fine and good to go. He was substituted earlier than planned, to avoid any unnecessary dangers. We need to see after a bit of training."
Italy play Israel in the Nations League on Monday at the Bozsik Arena in Hungary.
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