Five months ago, St. Louis CITY SC were languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference. Today, they’re rewriting the MLS record books, challenging for two trophies, and threatening to pull off one of the most remarkable turnarounds in league history.
St. Louis’ Strong Start, Swift Decline & Changes
St. Louis enjoyed a sensational start to their MLS journey by finishing 1st in the Western Conference (4th overall), only to lose 6-2 on aggregate to rivals Sporting Kansas City in the opening round of the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs. However, they failed to build on that momentum and regressed to a 12th-place finish (24th overall), prompting them to sack Bradley Carnell in July 2024 and replace him with interim coach John Hackworth.
As Carnell guided Philadelphia Union to the Supporters’ Shield, St. Louis stumbled to 13th place (24th overall) under Olof Mellberg and interim David Critchley. Desperate for a change of direction, St. Louis fired Lutz Pfannenstiel and brought in Corey Wray as their new Sporting Director. Wray appointed Yoann Damet as the club’s fourth head coach in 17 months, a dicey gamble on a coach whose CV had mainly consisted of assistant gigs. 10 months later, this gamble has undeniably paid off.
After starting his coaching career in France, Damet polished his skills with Montreal Impact, FC Cincinnati, LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew (where he came across Wray) and the U.S U-20 team. However, apart from a brief spell with the Galaxy’s reserves and two interim spells with Cincinnati which saw him become the youngest coach in MLS history, Damet had never actually been a permanent head coach until joining St. Louis.
Placing Faith in “Rookies”
St. Louis are flourishing thanks to these two ‘rookies’: Damet and Wray. Wray played a backstage role as Toronto FC became the only team in MLS history to win a domestic treble in 2017. After 13 years with TFC, he moved to Columbus Crew, where he won the 2020 and 2023 MLS Cup. But he never rose above the Assistant GM at either job. Before becoming St. Louis’ second-ever Sporting Director he was Director of Soccer at Montreal for less than one year.
Under his German predecessor Pfannenstiel, St. Louis recruited heavily in the German market and prioritized players like João Klauss, Tomas Ostrák, and Cedric Teuchert who could execute an aggressive pressing system, win second balls, and attack quickly after turnovers. Under Wray, however, they’ve moved toward assembling a squad capable of controlling possession, manipulating defensive structures and playing a more flexible brand of football.
St. Louis are no longer focused on overwhelming their opponents with tenacious pressing and long, vertical passes; instead, they’re comfortable luring their opponents in with patient build-up and positional rotations before exploiting the gap in behind the defense. The numbers back this up: St. Louis have gone from 348.4 passes per game and 47.2% possession in 2025 to 417.7 passes and 52.5% possession in 2026.
Damet’s Slow Burn
At first, it seemed that the job might have been too big for Damet, who mustered six points from his first 10 matches. This culminated in a 2-0 defeat at Austin FC on May 3 which placed them 14th in the West, 7 points outside the playoff spots. Since then, however, St. Louis have not lost a single game: they beat Colorado Rapids and LAFC before drawing to D.C. United, followed by a penalty shootout win vs. Houston Dynamo and a 3-0 win vs. Austin.
The World Cup gave Damet an extended opportunity to work with his players, refine their understanding of his system, and address weaknesses that had undermined their early results. This proved instrumental for players like Conrad Wallem, who, after initially struggling at wingback, returned with a better understanding of when to push forward and when to invert.
Wray on Bolstering St. Louis’ Attack
Back when St. Louis were starting their unbeaten run, Wray stated in an interview “We would like to improve our offensive output. I think it’s clear to see that that’s a piece that has been missing, and so we would like to invest in that area and hope that yields immediate results as we continue to improve the rest of the squad.”
“We are in the penalty box a lot. We have opportunities that are of high value. However, we’re not putting it away. There’s a couple of things we can do: we can increase the volume of chances that we’re getting, and the second is just pure quality. When you do get those chances, do you finish or not? That is where I think the difference can be made.”
“That is where I imagine if I put a couple players in different positions that have maybe more experience or more background making those final-third actions that are positive, that I think we could all imagine — again, it’s up to the player to do it — but if we do have that, we could probably change the game more, be ahead more, not chase as much and score those goals.”
Second Half Surge & Transfers
St. Louis returned from the break with three wins from three before alternating between draws and wins over the next eight matches. But after losing two of their most integral creative pieces in Marcel Hartel and Eduard Löwen, Wray knew that he needed to take a big swing in attack. It’s why, with just hours remaining in the summer transfer window, St. Louis signed Rafael Navarro from Colorado Rapids for $12 million plus $250,000 in bonuses.
It hasn’t taken long for the Brazilian striker to justify the club-record expenditure. After scoring braces in his first two starts vs. Portland and Minnesota, Navarro was kept under wraps vs. Toronto FC before breaking the deadlock within five minutes at New York Red Bulls. And he was the star of the show vs. LA Galaxy, chipping in two goals and two assists in a 6-2 home victory.
Whilst Navarro has immediately emerged as the team’s attacking talisman, there are several other Wray signings who are gradually starting to take flight. Fallou Fall, Dante Polvara, and Lukas MacNaughton have injected composure and discipline into a backline that was sorely lacking in it. With just five matches remaining, St. Louis have conceded 20 fewer goals than they did in 2025.
Daniel Edelman has become a cornerstone in midfield alongside Chris Durkin, whilst Carlo Holse, Sang-bin Jeong and Alexandru Mățan have added to their attacking quality. Meanwhile, veterans like Tomas Totland, Timo Baumgartl, and Roman Bürki (the lone member of the 2023 side still in the starting line-up) have helped St. Louis remain consistent and hungry for success.
Record-Setting Run
Their winning streak came to an end in a goalless draw vs. reigning Western Conference champions Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday, but St. Louis nevertheless made history by becoming the first MLS team to go unbeaten in 21 straight matches across all competitions. More importantly, they sealed their return to the MLS Cup playoffs.
Influenced by his time alongside Wilfried Nancy at Columbus, Damet has gone with a 3-4-3 that tasks its three center backs to create passing angles and attract opposition pressure, and that impulses its players with interchanging positions to open passing lanes and disrupt defensive marking.
Apart from Vancouver, there haven’t been too many teams that have slowed down St. Louis in recent weeks. They’ve scored 2+ goals in 9 of their last 10 matches (3+ in 7 of those). Even with Navarro cup-tied and unavailable, they still managed to steamroll Colorado 3-0 in their own backyard to secure their spot in their first-ever U.S. Open Cup Final.
Damet’s Influence & Improvements
This is down to St. Louis’ newly configured ability to create chances against organized defenses. Under Damet, the team uses positional rotations and combinations to disrupt opposition defensive structures, with wingbacks Wallem and Totland having the freedom to remain wide and stretch the opponent or drift inwards and create numerical superiority in midfield.
Back at the start of the season, when St. Louis scored once in their first four, it seemed that every attacker was playing to a different beat. Today, however, we’re seeing a chemistry manifest between the front three, who can drop into the half-spaces, drift around the pitch, and open up space for passing combinations, and we’re also seeing a St. Louis that is far more capable of stretching the opposition to one side of the pitch before immediately switching it to the open flank.
St. Louis are now far more amenable to retaining possession as opposed to immediately launching into an attack, but they’re still a deadly threat on the counter. Only Philadelphia are averaging more interceptions per 90 than St. Louis, who, despite being more conservative in terms of using their energy to press, are still winning the ball back and preventing the opponent from picking up steam.
We saw an example of this on Wednesday as St. Louis snapped into action and intercepted a pass immediately after losing the ball, with Totland finding Mățan, who unleashed Navarro down the left. Rather than leave it for the onrushing Rafael Santos, Navarro fired a tame shot into Yohei Takaoka’s gloves, as Vancouver narrowly clung onto the top spot in the West.
Looking Ahead to the Post-Season
St. Louis sit second in the West (fourth overall), one point behind Vancouver, one above Dallas, four above San Jose, five above Houston, and six above Los Angeles FC. They’ll be looking to put an end to their three-match losing streak in Minnesota as they take on a Loons side that has not won since August 22, and that has taken two points from their last seven.
They’ve already matched Columbus Crew 2004–05, FC Dallas 2010, and Inter Miami 2024–25 as the only MLS teams to go 19 regular season matches unbeaten. However, if they can escape Allianz Field with a draw or a win — something they haven’t done in 3 years — then they will become the first team to go 20 unbeaten.
But whilst Damet will be looking to put his best foot forward, he’ll also have one eye on Wednesday’s match, which will see them travel to Columbus Crew for the first cup final in their entire history: the U.S. Open Cup Final. St. Louis will then travel to Real Salt Lake and host Portland and San Diego before heading to Houston in their season finale.
Out of the Shadows
Three years after playing supporting roles in Columbus Crew’s MLS Cup triumph, Wray and Damet have stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight for a St. Louis side that has roared into life over the second half of the season. And on Wednesday, they have a chance to write their own chapter of history at the expense of their former employers and win St. Louis’ first-ever trophy.
