Crank up the rivalry: City SC heads west for first meeting of the season with Sporting Kansas City (2024)

St. Louis City SC right Tomas Totland got his fourth yellow card of the season April 16 against Dallas, and if he gets a fifth, he has to serve a one-game suspension. Prior to City SC’s game with Austin on Sunday, he got reminders from teammates: Don’t get a yellow card in this game.

“Everybody has been, ‘Yeah, don’t miss out on the Kansas City game. That’s going to be massive,’ ” he said. “So yeah, it’s gonna be super. My first derby; it’s a normal game, but with more meaning to it.”

In a rivalry both old and new, with roots on and off the field, going so far as to argue over which city has earned the right to be called the Soccer Capital of America, City SC takes on Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas (7:30 p.m., Apple TV Season Pass). In Year 1 of the rivalry, City SC had the upper hand early by taking two of three regular-season games, outscoring it 9-3, but SKC was the undisputed leader after sweeping the teams’ best-of-three playoff series, outscoring City SC 6-2 and bringing a quick end to City SC’s dream first season.

This is the first of three regular-season meetings between the teams this season — Sporting Kansas City makes its one trip to St. Louis this season on Sept. 28 — though if the season ended today (which it doesn’t) the teams would meet in the playoffs again this season, in the 8 vs. 9 play-in game. City SC goes into the match in eighth place in the Western Conference, Sporting Kansas City in ninth, one point back.

“For sure it’s a rivalry,” said midfielder Tomas Ostrak. “We saw it last year, it was difficult to play in Kansas, but our fans pushed us very good, and it was an amazing atmosphere. So, it’s just something special, and I’m looking forward for this game. Just looking forward and just positive and happy.”

This was a week that City SC could be happy. The team is coming off a second consecutive shutout, beating Austin 1-0, but more importantly, its first win in over a month. The 1-0 win over Austin was just the second win of the season for City SC, alongside five ties and one loss.

“It’s three points,” said defender Joakim Nilsson. “You want that always but especially when you have a streak of ties you kind of have the feeling like, ‘Come on now we have to get the win,’ and obviously you can say this is a relief, I think for the mental part, like it’s good for the guys, for us as a group to finally get rewarded. I think we’ve been playing well. We’ve been conceding goals into the last minute, we’ve been scoring goals in the last minutes and not always, but oftentimes it ended up with a tie. Too many ties you don’t go too far in the table. So those three points are the ones we need. And especially in this moment now we show that we are a hard opponent to beat, absolutely. But we also want to be a team that wins those battles as well.”

“I think the big stat everybody talks about is zero shots on goal” against Austin, said midfielder Chris Durkin who, like Totland, has four yellow cards. “And I think that’s something to be proud of. I think that there were moments where they found themselves in dangerous places, so there was still stuff to work on, 100 percent. But, I think it gives us confidence going into this weekend, having two clean sheets in a row. That’s not only a goal of ours to score goals, but also to keep them out of the net.”

Nilsson said he’s feeling fine after missing two games with a fractured rib. He played six minutes plus stoppage time off the bench against Austin and while he was not a regular participant in practice this week, Carnell said Nilsson looks good to go.

But several others aren’t. City SC will still be without midfielder Eduard Lowen, who is both rehabbing from a hamstring injury and dealing with a family matter, which Carnell expanded on for the first time this week, saying Lowen’s been given extra time off for medical issues going on with his family. This will be the sixth game in a row Lowen has missed. Forward Samuel Adeniran is healthy but was left off the game roster last week and is training separately from the team, with Carnell citing intensity and work rate in training. Adeniran, who had two of his eight goals last season against Kansas City, is out until further notice. Defender Josh Yaro and midfielder Njabulo Blom are also out with hamstring injuries.

That will leave City SC with just 19 players, one shy of the game-day limit, for the second game in a row. Asked if the team would call a player up from City2, Carnell said that was a decision they were still analyzing, which likely means seeing how City2’s game on Friday went.

After starting its season with three ties and a win, SKC has lost two of its past four games, including 3-2 last weekend to Inter Miami and Lionel Messi in front of 72,610 fans at Arrowhead Stadium. SKC is back at its usual home across the state line in Kansas this week, where it has gone 1-1-2 this season.