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%

St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth says their recent struggles have been a "test of character" as they look to bounce back against Sporting Kansas City.

St. Louis have lost their last three games by an aggregate score of 10-2, leaving them 13th in the Western Conference, eight points off a playoffs place.

With only one win in their last 13 MLS matches, Hackworth is keen to snap their current losing streak and says he saw positives in their 2-0 defeat to Seattle Sounders in midweek.

"The players made a huge step [against Seattle], played much better than we did previously," Hackworth said.

"[We] gave ourselves a chance to be in that game, had some unfortunate things again happen to us, but it wasn't for lack of trying to play with a lot of heart and soul, being collective, having each other's backs, so those are positives we can build on for sure.

"We have had all season to deal with a lot of hardships, it's a test of our character."

Meanwhile, Kansas City sit one place and one point ahead of their opponents but lost their most recent match 2-1 against Vancouver Whitecaps after back-to-back wins.

Head coach Peter Vermes expressed his disappointment with the defeat in Vancouver and is eyeing a quick improvement on Saturday.

"We're slow with the ball in situations that catch us out with fast transitions, and we need to be better there," Vermes said.

"We need as much energy and as many players as we possibly can for this weekend, so hopefully, we'll be there."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sporting Kansas City – William Agada

William Agada scored on Wednesday, bringing his total up to four goals in his last four matches in all competitions.

Prior to his recent form, Agada had notched just two goals in his previous 17 matches.

St. Louis City – Nokkvi Thorisson

Nokkvi Thorisson attempted two shots in the loss to the Sounders on Wednesday, tying him with Eduard Lowen for the most by any St. Louis player in the match.

It was the fifth consecutive match in which Thorisson had either the most or joint-most shots for the team.

MATCH PREDICTION: SPORTING KANSAS CITY WIN

Sporting are unbeaten in three straight meetings with St. Louis (winning two, drawing one), including winning both matches in the 2023 playoffs after St. Louis won two of the first three meetings between the sides.

Kansas City are also on a three-match home winning streak in all competitions, the most recent of which was a 2-1 extra-time victory over FC Dallas in the U.S. Open Cup. This is the 'longest home winning streak since winning four straight in May-June 2023.

Meanwhile, St. Louis lost 2-0 at Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, their third straight defeat, all by at least two goals. City are looking to avoid becoming the first team to lose four straight MLS matches, all by multiple goals, since Inter Miami did so in March 2022.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sporting Kansas City – 50.1%

Draw – 25.2%

St. Louis City – 24.7%

St. Louis City will play their first MLS game without Bradley Carnell after the head coach was dismissed ahead of Thursday's meeting with San Jose Earthquakes.

Carnell's departure was confirmed this week after failing to triumph since mid-May, slipping down to 12th in the Western Conference standings after a nine-game winless run.

St. Louis were guided to a first-place finish in the West last season, their maiden campaign in MLS, yet they are preparing for a new era with technical director John Hackworth in interim charge.

"Given Bradley's many contributions to the club, this was not an easy decision,” said City's sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel.

"Unfortunately, based on our results to date, we believe a coaching change is in the best interest of the club as we regroup and look to improve, both our performance and our results."

Hackworth has almost 30 years of coaching experience, including positions within the United States men's national team and MLS rivals Philadelphia Union.

His first task will be downing an out-of-form San Jose, who sit at the bottom of the West standings with just three wins to their name all year.

The Earthquakes are also without a manager after Luchi Gonzalez's dismissal, falling to a 3-0 defeat against LA Galaxy in their first match since his dismissal.

Gonzalez's assistant coach Ian Russell took interim charge for that home humbling, and will be desperate to turn things around as San Jose remain in search of a new full-time boss.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

St. Louis City – Njabulo Blom

Njabulo Blom's seventh-minute goal on Saturday was St. Louis' 10th from outside the box in regular-season play in MLS, with Blom the ninth different player to record one of those strikes.

Blom may fancy his likelihood of adding another long-range strike in this outing, considering the Earthquakes defence is far from convincing.

San Jose Earthquakes – Hernan Lopez

Hernan Lopez has contributed to a goal in each of his first four MLS road games (two goals, two assists), with the midfielder hoping to extend that impressive run here.

However, only two players have recorded a goal contribution in each of their first five MLS road games: Cucho Hernandez (six straight in 2022) and Romain Alessandrini (also six in a row in 2017).

MATCH PREDICTION – ST. LOUIS CITY WIN

The hosts are the heavily backed favourites for victory in this encounter, despite their woeful run of form of late.

St. Louis are winless in their last nine matches, losing six of those. Prior to this run, they had only lost as many games in 27 league matches dating back to June 2023.

Yet, the home side will fancy their chances of arresting that streak given St. Louis beat San Jose twice last season, winning 3-0 and 2-1.

The Earthquakes' form is poor, too, having lost 15 of their first 20 matches this season. Only Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001 suffered more such losses in the post shoot-out era since 2000.

Only four teams have collected fewer points than San Jose's 11 this year at this stage of a campaign, most recently D.C. United (10) in 2013, and that drab spell could extend here.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

St. Louis City win – 52%

Draw – 24.5%

San Jose Earthquakes win – 23.5%