St. Louis City SC at San Jose Earthquakes Betting Preview
For the first time in their inaugural season, St. Louis City FC have hit a road bump. Not only have they gone four straight games without a win, knocking them out of first place, but City are without their two Designated Players. With Joao Klauss and Eduard Lowen out with injury, the goals have dried up, and City head to San Jose this weekend with just three goals scored over the last four games.
On the flip side, San Jose has just one win in four games this month. They were ran off the field 4-1 at Houston on Wednesday night after a scoreless game against Portland at home last weekend. San Jose have not lost at home in nine games this season, and they are in fifth place overall in the Western Conference.
Saturday’s game is set to kick off at 10:30 p.m. ET at PayPal Park in San Jose. The game will air on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass. When these teams met in March in Missouri, St. Louis City won 3-0.
St. Louis City Look to Bounce Back
In addition to the overall struggles of St. Louis City mentioned above, they have just one point from their last five road games. In those contests, they have just two goals total, quite a contrast from the team that scored nine times in winning their first three road games in March.
Center-back Joakim Nilsson joins Lowen and Klauss on the injury report, and their collective absence tests the depth of an expansion squad. Tomas Ostrak, Rasmus Alm, and Celio Martins have all taken turns filling into the starting lineup and have combined for five goals on the season.
Nicholas Gioacchini has stepped up his game as far as taking over the goal-scoring role. He is the second player this season for City to score in three straight games, a record he looks to extend on Saturday. If he does, he will be the sixth player in MLS history to score in four straight games for an expansion team.
Goalkeeper Roman Burki is the captain, and he has started every single MLS game this season. He has allowed 23 goals in 18 starts and hasn’t kept a clean sheet since June 3 against Sporting Kansas City.
San Jose Finds Another Gear at Home
Over the last two years, PayPal Park has been a fortress for the Earthquakes. They haven’t lost in their last ten games, and they also haven’t allowed more than one goal in any of those games. The team record is 16, and they are charging forward to that mark.
To keep their run going, they will have to do so without Judson, who is suspended for yellow card accumulation. Cristian Espinoza has been playing well, with eight goals and six assists on the season. He has 50 assists since joining the Earthquakes in 2019, second most in all of MLS in that span.
Jeremy Ebobisse has also started all 19 games in attack with Espinoza and tallied seven goals. No other Earthquakes player has scored more than two goals on the season. Daniel has taken over the starting goalkeeper role and allowed two goals in five starts before surrendering four goals in Houston on Wednesday.
Odds and Prediction
San Jose is favored at home in this game at +110 on the money line. St. Louis is a +205 moneyline underdog, and a draw is +265. Over 2.5 goals is -136, and under 2.5 goals is +120.
San Jose is a much better team on the home field, and they are playing a lot better than St. Louis at the moment. Given City’s roster and road issues, it is hard to imagine they come through with a win after traveling across the country after Wednesday’s home loss to Real Salt Lake. Look for San Jose to grab a 2-0 or 2-1 win in this one.
