John Hackworth has challenged St. Louis City to do better against Houston Dynamo after a disappointing loss to LA Galaxy last time out in MLS.
St. Louis had won back-to-back games before losing 1-0 to the Galaxy last time out in a game where they did not register a single shot on target.
They cannot make the playoffs, sitting 12th in the Western Conference on 34 points with just two games left, and Hackworth is looking to learn from their mistakes in the last game to end their final home match of the season on a positive note.
"We didn't play as well as we're capable of [against LA Galaxy], but I think that can be a good thing for us going forward," he said.
"I don't want anybody to accept that it was anything other than a loss. We can look at ourselves knowing we're much better than that."
Meanwhile, Houston bounced back from a defeat to Seattle Sounders with a 2-1 victory over New England Revolution.
With their playoff place already secure, their aim is to finish as high up the table as they can, currently sitting in fifth, with only four points separating them and Los Angeles FC in second.
Ben Olsen was particularly pleased with his defense against the Revs and believes that will be the key for them in the postseason.
"Our defense is what we hang our hat on," Olsen said. "Sometimes we get some credit for some of the build-up, but really we're a defensive team, and we can defend with the ball, but we've got a great back four.
"It's a collective effort, everybody's doing their part, but we're going to keep working so they know when they're good or when they're not up to snuff."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Cedric Teuchert
Cedric Teuchert has scored in each of his first three home appearances for St. Louis City, the only player in club history to do so.
Only one player in the last 20 years has scored in each of his first four career MLS home games: Federico Bernardeschi with Toronto FC in 2022 (first five).
Houston Dynamo – Adalberto Carrasquilla
The Dynamo have won a club-record eight away matches this season. Houston's 26 road points (W8 D2 L6) are the most they have ever collected in a single regular season in club history.
Adalberto Carrasquilla secured the record-breaking win for them against Austin on September 22 and added two more assists to his tally in the win over New England last time out.
MATCH PREDICTION: HOUSTON DYNAMO WIN
The home side have not lost any of the five meetings between St. Louis City and Houston, with St. Louis recording wins in both of its home matches against the Dynamo, including a 2-1 win in the first round of this season's Concacaf Champions Cup in February.
That bodes well for St. Louis, who have won 21 of their first 40 home matches in all competitions (D8 L11), scoring 75 total goals. They have won four of their last six at home in all competitions (D1 L1) after winning one of their previous seven at home (D2 L4).
However, Houston's 2-1 win over New England on Wednesday took them to 51 points for the season, equaling their total from last year. A win over St. Louis City would set a new club points record for the Dynamo, surpassing the 53 they earned in the 2012 campaign.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 32.9%
Draw – 25.6%
Houston Dynamo – 41.5%
Union Berlin 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: BVB's away struggles continue
Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 2-1 loss at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
In a match that took place just four days after BVB’s 7-1 demolition of Celtic in the Champions League for their biggest European win, their familiar domestic away woes returned in the German capital.
Union's Kevin Vogt ended a 10-year Bundesliga goal drought after converting a 26th-minute penalty.
Vogt's previous goal was scored on October 18, 2014, making it a record 275 Bundesliga matches between goals for an outfield player.
Dortmund showed none of the aggression they produced in the win over Celtic and before half-time they conceded another with Yorbe Vertessen's low strike from the edge of the box.
Julian Ryerson pulled a goal back for the visitors just past the hour, but they could not find an equaliser despite applying some late pressure.
The loss meant Dortmund dropped to seventh place in the standings on 10 points, with Union now one place and one point above them.
Data Debrief: Away woes for BVB
Dortmund had lost 5-1 to Stuttgart in their previous away game on September 22 and, dating back to the end of last season, have now collected just one point from their last five Bundesliga road matches.
They have failed to score more than once in any of those games.
Dortmund dominated the possession (67.1%) here but only converted that control of the ball into eight shots, four of which were on target, resulting in a poor accumulated expected goals (xG) total of just 0.66.
One of the few BVB positives was the performance of Julian Brandt, who created a game-high four chances and got the assist for Ryerson’s goal.
Midfielder Brandt has now created a goal in three straight games across all competitions and has four assists overall for Dortmund this season.
Leicester City 1-0 Bournemouth: Buonanotte hands Foxes first win
Leicester City finally got their first win of the Premier League season, defeating Bournemouth 1-0 at the King Power Stadium.
Facundo Buonanotte scored the winning goal for Steve Cooper’s side in the 16th minute with a stunning curling effort.
Bournemouth put on a much better display in the second half though, with Lewis Cook having a direct free-kick ruled out for offside 66 minutes in.
Illia Zabarnyi and Dango Ouattara also hit the woodwork as the Cherries continued to dominate, but they fell short of finding an equaliser.
The Foxes move up to 15th place, with six points from seven matches, while Bournemouth sit 13th – two points better off their opponents.
Data Debrief: Buonanotte at his best
While Leicester had to wait for their first victory since returning to the top flight, it came via a player who had already impressed under Cooper.
Buonanotte now has four goal involvements in six Premier League appearances this season – already his joint-most across a single campaign in the competition (also four for Brighton and Hove Albion in 2023-24).
Indeed, his four goal contributions in his last five league games is as many as he managed in his previous 36 matches.
Leicester had to come through plenty of pressure at the other end, but they held firm for their first home clean sheet in the Premier League since October 2022 – a 2-0 win over Leeds United that game 16 home top-flight games ago.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Holstein Kiel: Alonso denied win on landmark outing
Bayer Leverkusen again let a lead slip, having to settle for a 2-2 draw against Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga, in Xabi Alonso's 100th match in charge of the club.
Victor Boniface slotted in after just four minutes to put the hosts in front, netting his fourth league goal of the campaign.
And Leverkusen struck again before Kiel could recover, with Jonas Hofmann's low drive getting the better of Timon Weiner, who should have done better, to put them 2-0 up inside eight minutes.
Kiel, however, refused to back down and pulled one back on the stroke of half-time thanks to Max Geschwill's far-post header.
Jeremie Frimpong then brought down Armin Gigovic in the box, and Fiete Arp made no mistake from the spot as he got the promoted side back on level terms in the 69th minute.
Leverkusen missed the chance to go level on points with leaders Bayern Munich, and instead sit fifth.
Data Debrief: An early lead slips
Alonso would have been hoping to mark his 100th game in charge with a much more positive result, especially having won 66 of his first 99 in charge.
It was not for lack of trying though, as they had 23 shots in the game, seven of which were on target - a much-improved tally from their meagre three attempts against Bayern last weekend.
In fact, The Werkself have still taken the most shots (117) and had the most on-target (44) in the Bundesliga so far this season.
However, they have also dropped seven points from winning positions in the competition, with only Bochum and Wolfsburg (both eight) losing more, and that is something Alonso will be keen to stamp out sooner rather than later.
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