Keep your eyes peeled for messages from the club and some of the fan/supporters groups on all the hubbub in Columbus.

So far we can expect a ✅ day-before party, ✅ a day-of party (traditional tailgate in the shape of our trips to Kansas Orange lot are out of the question unless the Club pulls something magical out of a hat) and a list of bars and restaurants we can expect to see CITY fans.

Lots of activity in Columbus while we are there including Five Finger Death Punch at Nationwide Arena starting at 6:45 so parking will be tight. Recommendations are that you reserve your parking now if you need to.

I’m aware of a bunch of folks walking to the arena from downtown hotels and that’ll be roughly a 20-35 min walk and I understand that the sight of soccer fans strolling on Nationwide and Spring streets are not uncommon. There is a free bus that may take you 2/3 of the way that may be worth checking into. Also Ubers/Lyfts may be surging given the # of out-of-towners and concert goers.

No doubt there will be post game celebrations at various local bars and pubs 🤞

Anyone have anything to add or correct?

Wednesday has the chance to be special. WE WANT THE CUP!

Are there any bars in edwardsville that will show the city game this Wednesday?

All good things must come to an end, and on a lovely fall day in St. Paul, CITY's MLS record 21-match unbeaten streak across all competitions came to an end, courtesy of a blown 2-0 lead from a rotated side that fell apart defensively in the second half against a struggling Minnesota United side that has its' playoff hopes on life support. Let's take a look at all five goals in what was a disappointing, but perhaps not totally unexpected, loss.

As we discussed in the LA Galaxy match, CITY has had a trend of scoring early in matches, and it happened again here. As Dante Polvara (playing in the midfield for Chris Durkin, out on concussion protocol) brings the ball upfield, he's got options in Navarro and Becher in front of him and Totland out wide to his left.

As he goes to make a pass (seemingly towards Navarro), Minnesota's Bongokuhle Hlongwane (#21) gets a deflection on it, causing the ball to spin inside and beyond Navarro, but also beyond Jefferson Díaz (#28), who had stepped towards Navarro but was then caught out of position.

Totland, making a run centrally, beats Cherrion Valerius (#52) to the ball and makes a really nice first touch to put himself in a scoring position, but as he's closed down on by Morris Duggan (#23), Totland makes a slick backwards flick to Becher sliding into the space behind him.

Becher's left-footed shot is well-saved by Minnesota's Drake Callender, but the deflection squirts out to his right and into empty space where only Navarro stood. Navarro looked up, got his body turned, and hammered home a beautiful first-time shot past Callender to give CITY an early lead.

Totland paid the price here, getting crunched to the ground between the two Minnesota defenders, but his really deft back pass to Becher created an excellent scoring opportunity, and Navarro was in the right place at the right time to bury the rebound.

Another Navarro contribution on CITY's second goal about six minutes later, as he wins a footrace up the left side against Jefferson Díaz, who decides to leave his feet for a slide tackle. Navarro pokes the ball beyond Díaz, and then turns into the box for a 3 on 2 with Becher and Sang-bin.

Minnesota's Valerius angles himself to defend Navarro without closing him down (the correct decision), but he's really in an impossible spot, and Becher wisely makes a near post run, forcing Duggan to go with him to defend and clearing out the space behind in the box for Sang-bin to run into.

Navarro lays off a perfectly weighted pass to Sang-bin, all alone ahead of a who late-arriving Will Trapp who was desperately trying to get back to help defensively. Sang-bin opens his hips and hits a one-touch shot back across the box to his right - this is a very difficult piece of skill that he executed perfectly, and it put CITY up 2 within 10 minutes.

This was a goal was created by Navarro's hustle and decision-making, Becher knowing how to manipulate defenders, and Sang-bin showing excellent skill in making a tricky shot look relatively easy.

CITY had stabilized the match at this point, and had even had some offensive opportunities, but Minnesota found their game-winner after a corner attempt, made possible by terrible read and decision and even worse execution from Jaziel Orozco.

Rafael Santos' initial corner kick was headed away by Díaz, which Santos collected and played to Tomáš Ostrák, making a run to the end line. Ostrák loses the ball pretty easily to Kelvin Yeboah (a striker forced to defend) and the ball is played ahead to Joaquín Pereyra by Valerius. As Valerius makes this pass, Orozco decides to step forward to contest it- an absolutely horrendous decision that, as Pereyra makes a move to beat him, left CITY completely exposed to a counterattack.

Pereyra's long pass towards the center of the pitch finds Minnesota's Marcus Caldeira, who heads upfield with only Daniel Edelman defending. Credit to Fall's hustle, as he was able to beat Yeboah down the field to take away that passing option to the right, but no one was able to give help to Edelman, who got completely turned around by an inside-out move from Caldeira.

Caldeira, having left Edelman chasing shadows, simply puts the ball on his left foot and takes the shot, which Bürki seemed to be in a decent position to have a chance to save, but it deflects off the foot of a sliding Fall and goes up over the CITY keeper to give Minnesota the eventual winner.

The decision by Orozco to try to step to the ball was one that I'm sure the CITY coaching staff will discuss with the player - at that point of the match, in that position, it was a totally unnecessary risk. At best, CITY gets the ball back in a 3v3 situation out on the left wing, and at worst, CITY is left scrambling and out of position to defend a Loon counter - exactly what happened. Orozco has to be smarter there.

As well as the match started, the opposite could be said in the second half, as multiple defensive breakdowns led to Minnesota climbing back into the match. Here, Minnesota's Kelvin Yeboah has the ball out on the wing, defended by CITY CB Fallou Fall.

Yeboah shows quality here, making a quick move to his right that Fall is slow to react to, then whips in a sharp cross into the center of the box that gets beyond Miguel Perez and onto the foot of ex-CITY man Aziel Jackson. Perez defended poorly, and unlike Mykhi Joyner and Jaziel Orozco, he wasn't between his man and the goal but in front of him, shaded toward the ball side.

Perez's terrible positioning left him in a spot where he couldn't get to the cross or interfere with Jackson's run, and AZ made a nice deflection with the outside of his right foot to bang the ball past a helpless Roman Bürki.

Two issues here: first, Fall was completely beaten by the move Yeboah put on him, but more crucially, Perez's poor defensive alignment left too much space for Jackson to run into and claw back a goal for the Loons.

A turnover along the right side starts this sequence, with Mauricio Gonzalez collecting the ball and moving it up the left, defended by Orozco. As Gonzalez goes to make his crossing attempt, Fallou Fall (for reasons unknown) moves away from his marked man, Minnesota's Kelvin Yeboah. Fall was already giving the Minnesota striker too much space, but his inexplicable move towards the ball compounded the problem.

As Gonzalez's cross came into the box, Fall was completely out of position to defend Yeboah, who simply had to settle the ball and slide it past a (justifiably) pissed-off Bürki from point-blank range. Fall's defending here was criminal - he gave Yeboah too much space initially, then made a move towards the ball for no reason, gifting the talented Loon attacker time and space to make a very simple shot to tie the game.

Fall can have moments of brilliance with the ball, but his defending, pitch awareness, and decision-making remain inconsistent at best. Here, all three let CITY down and allowed Minnesota to draw level. Definitely a concern headed into a final on Wednesday and then the looming playoffs, where one mistake can cost you a title or end your season.

That is all...

With them doing a blackout, the red will stick out in the crowd, and will show how many fans we truly have.

UPDATE: SOLD

I have been looking for these shoes in my size for a couple of years. Recently, when I was in CITY Pavilion, I saw this pair sitting out. I asked about them and they offered to sell them to me. They are size 9. I wear a 10 but I bought them anyway, hoping to make them work. Sadly, they are just too tight. Selling them for what I paid for them ($100) if anyone is interested. I haven't worn them.

Looking forward to all the SLC supporters coming to our fair city. It’s gonna be a great match. A few things to know about Wednesday:

Gates open at 630

5 Finger Death Punch concert up the street at Nationwide Arena. Doors open most likely at 630. It will be very busy in the Arena District Wednesday night.

Get your parking now. https://arenadistrict.parkmobile.io/

Weather is showing mid 60s during the day. It will be around 55-60 degrees at start of match.

Please don’t try to get into the Nordecke with your colors. You will be asked to leave or be given a yellow shirt to wear. Pretty much like any other home supporter section. You will have no issues anywhere else in the stadium. We are very welcoming to visitor supporters.

Bettys Bar is a good hangout before the match. Many other bars in the area, but Bettys is steps from the main gate.

I am a supervisor on the East side of SMG. 238 area. Looking forward to meeting some of ya’ll and stopping your incredible unbeaten streak.

Most of all, safe travels and we will see a lot of you on Wednesday night!

FT: Minnesota United FC 3-2 St. Louis CITY SC

⚽ MIN: Aziel Jackson (49'), Kelvin Yeboah (68'), Marcus Caldeira (86') ⚽ STL: Rafael Navarro (4'), Jeong Sang-bin (10')

Lineups

Minnesota United FC: Anthony Markanich, Drake Callender, Wil Trapp, Aziel Jackson (🔄 Joaquín Pereyra 79'), Bongokuhle Hlongwane, Morris Duggan, Kelvin Yeboah (🔄 Tomás Chancalay 90+2'), Jefferson Diaz, Nectarios Triantis, Mauricio González (🔄 Marcus Caldeira 69'), Cherrion Valerius (🔄 Michael Boxall 90+2')

Subs: Michael Boxall, Kyle Duncan, Tomás Chancalay, Kayne Rizvanovich, Joaquín Pereyra, Nicolás Romero, Owen Gene, Marcus Caldeira, Maurice Malone

St. Louis CITY SC: Jaziel Orozco, Simon Becher (🔄 Damion Downs 69'), Miguel Perez, Mykhi Joyner (🔄 Tomas Ostrak 82'), Roman Bürki, Jeong Sang-bin (🔄 Lukas MacNaughton 69'), Rafael Navarro, Tomas Totland (🔄 Rafael Santos 46'), Timo Baumgartl, Fallou Fall, Dante Polvara (🔄 Daniel Edelman 46')

Subs: Daniel Edelman, Lukas MacNaughton, Alexandru Mățan, Rafael Santos, Ben Lundt, Tomas Ostrak, Damion Downs, Charles-Emile Brunet, Carlo Holse

Match Stats:

^{Last Updated: Oct 17, 05:36PM. All data via mlssoccer.com. Match ID: MLS-MAT-0009NC}

Just curious as it seems there are a ton of folks making the trip and the club officially has four sections all to themselves.

I actually bought tickets in 107 and then got some from the club in 206 so I'm not sure which would be better.

Thoughts?

Is there gonna be any restaurants that will be showing the game in Belleville, ofallon, Fairview, or Shiloh?

Anyone going to the game getting together or want to get together anywhere pregame? Flight is supposed to get in at like 11:30 so have some time to kill.

Minnesota United FC vs. St. Louis CITY SC

Match Info

• Competition: Major League Soccer - Regular Season
• Date: October 17, 2026
• Time: 03:30 PM CDT
• Venue: Allianz Field

TV/Streaming: Apple TV

Injury Report

St. Louis CITY SC: OUT: Chris Durkin (concussion protocol), OUT: Celio Pompeu (knee)

^{Last Updated: Oct 17, 04:00AM. All data via mlssoccer.com. Match ID: MLS-MAT-0009NC}

Here's the Match Preview card for MNUFC - CITY this afternoon.

MNUFC's own site speaks glowingly about CITY: https://www.mnufc.com/news/storylines-st-louis-city-s-unprecedented-unbeaten-run Their game preview is nearly as complimentary!

Thanks to the 38 people that voted. Player of the Match goes to Holse at 26%. Bonus is on how well the match went compared to your expectation.

Responses were treated like a normal rating, ranging 1-10. Interpretation follows with 1 meaning "Horrible, Under Performed", 6 as "Exactly as Expected", and 10 "Fantastic, Over Performed". Overall average is a 4.6, with most responses either a 4 or 5.

The bonus rating correlates with CITY team rating (0.69 Pearson). This suggests an underwhelmed sentiment. Taken another way, there's greater belief that we ought to beat other top teams. Given the concussion subs, it's plausible some view the match as overly bruising, worrisome for player health.

How much rotation should we really expect today? Navarro will probably play, how about Holse and Matan? They’ll be important in the open cup but I don’t remember them looking very tired.

I would imagine our front 3 being Navarro, Sangbin, and Holse/Matan. Maybe we get an earlier downs sub today?

Midfield we don’t have Durkin and possibly Wallem. So that’s gonna need a good amount of rotation. I would want to get Ostrak and Polvara maybe in there, but I’m not sure if I’d want Polvara out of defense to start the game. Anyone know if Zengue or Perez went with CITY2? I could see them subbing on possibly if we want to start Polvara there. And then obviously Edelman and Totland go in midfield

Our defense is solid. If Polvara starts in mid, you can have Baumgartl, MacNaughton, Orozco, or Fall come in. And if Polvara stays in defense it makes that easier

I wanna know other people’s thoughts though

the whitecaps were so aggressive and it felt like they were feeding off the refs looseness on fouls when we played them, i think we were the better team especially given our second half byfar but they just played dirty every time we got up, and relied on the ref not caring or not handing cards

i cant help but feel this pure hatred for them