Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Having already played on the road to the Western Conference winners, runner up and regular season champions, Saint Louis FC now face 2014 USL champions Sacramento Republic at Bonney Field on Saturday night. This will be the fifth road game of the season compared to the single 0-0 tie in the home opener last weekend against Tulsa Roughnecks.
The Tulsa game was frustrating to say the least. With the mantra of #packthepark and a sold out crowd of 5,500 for STLFC, David Irving’s side took it to heart and played nine men behind the ball and packed their defense in their attempt to eek out a point from the game. Whilst Saint Louis had a few chances to score, notably early breakaways from Irvin Herrera and a late rasping shot from Parker Maher, a tie was a fair result given Saint Louis inability to break the Roughnecks down.
Mark Pais won man of the match honors as he stood tall in the lone Tulsa chance and beat away a first half shot in a one on one breakaway. That was all Tulsa offered in a game in which stout defense was key for them. I suppose a silver lining could be said it was such a game STLFC would have lost last year, and GM Jeremy Alumbaugh was content to take the unbeaten run to three games.
Brandon Barklage looks on as Patrick Doody makes a defensive clearance against Tulsa last Saturday – Mick Lite
Sacramento will be a different proposition however. An expectant crowd of 11,000 will want their own reaction to their 1-0 loss last time out to Portland Timbers 2, and may in fact benefit Saint Louis in that Sacramento will have to come out and take the game to Saint Louis. As we saw in the 3-1 victory against OC Blues, the counter attack is key this season on the road. The defense has been stout, the move of James Musa into defensive midfield has allowed coach Dale Shilly to play AJ Cochran, Sam Fink and Musa on the pitch at the same time.
Saint Louis come into the game in 10th in the Western Conference with 5 points, while Sacramento occupy 5th position with 7 points. It is a little early to put such prominence on a game however a loss for Saint Louis will see a gap form between the playoff places and themselves. A point or maybe all three puts STL back into the mix and would extend an unbeaten streak coming back to WWT Soccer park on April 30th.
