ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis City SC's 2024 season has not gone according to plan, from quick exit in the CONCACAF Champions Cup to posting the second-worst points tally in all of MLS this season at 23, ahead of only the San Jose Earthquakes.
City SC's next match in their MLS campaign will not be until Aug. 24 at Portland, but for now, the club is hoping to make a mark in their second Leagues Cup campaign, which begins Saturday as they host FC Dallas at CITYPARK.
City SC President and General Manager Diego Gigliani knows the season has been quite a tough year for the club and thinks the League Cup can be energize the club and lead to better performances.
"It hasn't been an easy season for us at all," said Gigliani. "Our goal has been to qualify for playoffs and we starting to feel far way from that. Last year, the League Cup felt like a cherry on top for a tremendous season and it didn't really matter that much...we got the opposite situation this year."
City SC will hope their second campaign in the Leagues Cup is better than last year, which saw the club bow out quickly in the group stage and failed to win either of their games.
Granted, the group City SC was in last year featured Columbus Crew, who would go to win the MLS Cup later that season, and Club America, one of the strongest clubs in Liga MX.
"We have this opportunity to start fresh," said Gigliani. "We all start with zero points and we kind of start with an advantage based on our performance last year in which we are seeded with two home games. That is thanks to last year's performance in MLS play so it gives us a little bit of an advantage."
This year's City SC doesn't have a group as strong as last year's was, with FC Dallas only seven points better than City SC this season in MLS play, while FC Juarez is currently eight points out of a playoff spot right now, but they have won three of their last four matches.
"Both of those teams are teams that we should be able to compete well against," said Gigliani. "So hoping for a fresh slate, playing two home games in front of our crowd and having some new players, we hope all of that will give us momentum and allow to progress further in this tournament."
The club will also have some new additions to the club to help them this League Cup campaign, with Marcel Hartel and Cedric Teuchert among the newest players to join City SC in the Summer Transfer Window. Teuchert made his MLS debut in City SC 1-1 draw against Sporting Kansas City, while Hartel has not yet appeared.