St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth says they will treat San Jose Earthquakes with respect as he is wary of their fighting spirit.
St. Louis sit 13th in the Western Conference, one place above Saturday's opponents, but are 10 points better off than San Jose on 28.
Their four-match unbeaten streak came to an end last weekend, as they failed to defend their early lead in a 3-1 defeat to Minnesota United.
Hackworth is still without an away win since stepping into the hot seat, and he expects a big challenge as he attempts to change that weekend.
"[San Jose] have a lot of consistency, and I've been really impressed by their spirit," Hackworth said.
"They don't look like a team that should be last in the west right now. They have a lot of fight left in them.
"They are not a team that we can take lightly, we need to give them our full respect, but focus on us because we believe we are a much better team than our record shows."
Meanwhile, San Jose returned to MLS after the Leagues Cup with a shock win over Real Salt Lake but are winless in three since.
They snatched a late 2-2 draw against Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, and interim head coach Ian Russell is targeting a strong finish to the season.
"We always come out and plan to try and push the game," Russell said. "As a coach, I want to be on the front foot and I want to attack, but you have to understand that being pressed is part of it.
"But you also have to hurt them as well. We always want to start fast. We've never had a gameplan where we're set up to absorb pressure, that's not part of it."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
San Jose Earthquakes – Cristian Espinoza
Cristian Espinoza delivered his 11th and 12th assists of the regular season on Wednesday against Seattle Sounders.
This is Espinoza's fourth regular season with more than 10 assists for San Jose (also 2019, 2022, 2023), with no other player in team history having more than two such seasons.
St. Louis City – Cedric Teuchert
Cedric Teuchert's fourth-minute goal for St. Louis on Saturday was the club’s sixth goal in the opening five minutes of matches.
The only team with more goals in the first five minutes of matches since St. Louis City joined MLS in 2023 is the Vancouver Whitecaps (seven).
MATCH PREDICTION: ST. LOUIS CITY WIN
St. Louis have won all three meetings with San Jose, outscoring them 7-1 over the three games. The Earthquakes are the only team St. Louis have faced more than once and won every match.
However, St. Louis are winless in 17 straight away matches in all competitions (D8 L9) dating back to the end of last season, though their last three on the road have all been drawn. They have never gone unbeaten in four straight away matches in all competitions before.
Meanwhile, San Jose came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Seattle on Wednesday. It marked the first time the Earthquakes had earned a point from a losing position since a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Colorado Rapids in May, after losing their previous 13 regular-season matches when going behind.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
San Jose Earthquakes – 34.3%
Draw – 25.8%
St. Louis City – 39.9%
Croatia 2-1 Scotland: Kramaric rounds off comeback as visitors denied by late drama
Andrej Kramaric's 70th-minute header was enough for Croatia to clinch a 2-1 victory over Scotland, with the visitors denied a last-gasp equaliser.
The forward completed the comeback after Igor Matanovic cancelled out Ryan Christie's opener, but Kristijan Jakic's blushes were spared as his last-second own goal was disallowed for an offside against Che Adams.
In a fairly even first half, Christie got the breakthrough, latching onto Luka Sucic's sliced attempted clearance, and bundling the ball over the line with help from Duje Caleta-Car.
However, just under four minutes later, Croatia were back on level terms as Ivan Perisic cushioned the ball to Matanovic, who drilled his low shot into the bottom-right corner.
The hosts upped the pressure after the break, and Sucic thought he had given them the lead, only to have his goal chalked off for a foul in the build-up.
And they got their reward when Craig Gordon pushed away Borna Sosa's volley, with Kramaric on hand to nod it in from close range when it looped into the air.
Adams had already sent a looping effort wide of the far post in his search for an equaliser and thought he had finally got it after pressuring Jakic into poking it over the line. However, he had done so from an offside position so VAR ruled it out, and Scotland were denied a first point this Nations League campaign.
Data Debrief: Scotland suffer more late heartbreak
Late drama seems to follow Scotland everywhere in this competition at the moment - they lost their first two games in the competition due to late goals despite putting up a fight.
As such, Scotland extended their longest winless run in competitive matches in their history (P9 D3 L6), while they have now lost four consecutive games for the first time in five years, last doing so in October 2019.
The match-winner, Kramaric, scored his 30th goal for Croatia on his 99th appearance, with more than half of these (16) coming since he turned 30, while he has scored twice as many goals (eight) than any other Croatian player since the start of 2023.
'It certainly doesn't help' - Eidevall fails to concede Arsenal title hopes after Chelsea loss
Jonas Eidevall failed to concede Arsenal's hopes of winning the Women's Super League title after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at the Emirates on Saturday.
The defeat leaves Arsenal in sixth place in the early-season standings having taken just five points from their opening four games of the season.
Mayra Ramirez and Sandy Baltimore handed the visitors a two-goal advantage early on, with Caitlin Foord's fine individual effort before half-time proving to be just a consolation.
It brought an end to a dismal week for Eidevall, having watched his side lose their Champions League opener 5-2 to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
"It certainly doesn't help, but as I said before, the only way is to go game by game," Eidevall said on his side's hopes of winning the title after their poor start to the campaign.
"We are disappointed with the result and the start today, but I am very proud of the heart that the players showed."
But following Chelsea's first two goals, it was Arsenal who were in the ascendency, creating the better of the chances in north London but failing to make them count.
The Gunners registered 20 attempts during the contest, but only four of which were on target, rarely troubling visiting goalkeeper Hannah Hampton for the most part.
Though Arsenal find themselves already four points behind the early-season pacesetters, Eidevall still believes he is still the right man to lead the Gunners forward.
"I gave my absolute everything. You can see that the players certainly gave everything on the pitch too, and that is the thing you can control," Eidevall said.
"I think the way that the players played with the heart on the pitch, I can't ask for anything more," he added when asked if he had the backing of his players.
"It showed in the way that they played that they were giving their absolute everything on the pitch."
Chelsea, meanwhile, continued their fine start under Sonia Bompastor, building on their impressive win against Real Madrid in midweek with a triumph over their fierce rivals.
But it was anything but comfortable for the Blues, who managed an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.35 from their efforts during the second half.
"For sure it was a tough game, we were expecting that. It's always good to win, three points are three points," Bompastor said.
"But I wish my team were able to play the ball better in the second half. The quality of the players we have, we should be able to produce more.
"Good moments, we need to enjoy them and have fun."
Ederson lauds 'sometimes annoying' Guardiola
Ederson says it is an honour to be a part of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, though admitted the manager can be "sometimes annoying".
The goalkeeper joined City in June 2017 and has since kept 113 clean sheets in 257 Premier League appearances, more than any other goalkeeper in the competition since his debut.
He has won 15 major trophies with City, including six Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and a Champions League title, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup under Guardiola.
While on international duty with Brazil, Ederson attended an event for Children's Day and was asked if Guardiola was nice, annoying or angry by one child.
"You're going to get me in trouble," Ederson told ESPN Brasil. "He's all three.
"He's a nice guy, he's sometimes annoying, in the sense of [being] demanding, because he has to [be] demanding to a professional [player], and he's also angry when he has to be angry.
"So he has a mixture of all three. But he's a nice guy off the pitch, and he's a very, very demanding guy on it. And he's also a guy who gets angry like any other person, like any other coach, when things don't go well or when the team doesn't play well.
"Of course, we know that we're not going to be able to play 70 games at a brilliant level. Of course, in one game or another, there's going to be a dip."
Under Guardiola, City became the only English club in history to hold all five trophies – Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, Super Cup and Club World Cup – in a calendar year (in 2023).
In the English top-flight, Guardiola has overseen 311 games since July 2016, winning 230 of those (D43 L38). He has a 73.95% win percentage in the competition and averages 2.36 points per game.
And Ederson believes the Spaniard, who has been named the Premier League manager of the season five times, has changed football in the competition.
"I've been able to play a big part in the project," he said. "You take everything Guardiola has built up with the group, with the squad and everything he's been able to reformulate practically.
"You see every Premier League game today, how the teams try to play more football, have more possession. It's completely different from when he arrived.
"So to be able to be part of this project and achieve everything I've achieved, I feel very honoured, it really is a childhood dream."
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