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St. Louis City SC has clearly made some progress under new coach Olof Mellberg. In two games, it has allowed just one shot on goal, the fewest in the league, and hasn’t allowed a goal. Its expected goals allowed through two games is 1.1.

But there’s a big thing remaining on the team’s to-do list: Scoring a goal.

City SC brings four clean sheets, two for them, two against them, into its Sunday night game with the defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy in Carson, California. City SC’s offense looked good at the end of last season and showed promise in the 2025 opener before not arriving at all against San Diego last week.

City SC had a franchise record low of .1 expected goals in the game — that’s one-tenth of a goal — in part because it seldom had the ball. City SC also had a club record low in possession.

“We’re going to have a little bit more clarity in what we want in build out so they’re clear on what options they have, both in our direct attacking game, but also in our possession game,� Mellberg said. “So hopefully we have helped them this week to improve their quality on the ball, because it wasn’t good enough last week.

“I thought they had OK intensity and energy, but looking at it afterward, we should have done better. We had many situations when we were 5 v. 3, 6 v. 3, including the keeper in build out. So we should have handled that much better. We also had some situations when we managed to put some decent attacks together, when we lacked the quality in the final pass situation where we should have done better. So yeah, definitely our quality on the ball needs to be better to be able to win a game like that.�

“We worked on build out a lot so far this week,� said center back Henry Kessler. “We’ve been working with the ball a lot, getting good reps in. To be fair, against Colorado, we were pretty good, and then obviously took a step back in that regard against San Diego, but I think we’ll show better this weekend.�

Considering how little they did with the ball against San Diego, up is just about the only direction available.

“We just have to remain patient,� said midfielder Chris Durkin. “And we were not happy on the ball against San Diego, that’s for sure, but, continued training and focus on it. I believe in the quality of the group is very high. So I think, I know, it’ll be OK.�

There are reasons to expect improvement. Cedric Teuchert and Durkin should both be available for more minutes on Sunday, after each being limited to a half against San Diego. And after seeing how the San Diego game with, the teaching points on what City SC needs to do are a bit more obvious, like getting more touches for Teuchert and Marcel Hartel. Eduard Lowen also had a low profile in the game.

“That is one thing where we’re looking at, how can we get the most out of him and put players in the right positions in build out, but also not be predictable,� Mellberg said. “We’re strong in our longer game, or have been previously. We were not so strong in the last game, but usually we are also in behind the opponents, so we don’t become predictable. But Edu is one of the players who’s good on the ball and got to make use of that.�

Mellberg said taking out Lowen earlier than before could help him play all out longer. For the second time in two games, Lowen was subbed out before the 70th minute, something that never happened in the previous two seasons when he was healthy.

“He has improved a lot this season compared to last season with his (fitness) data,� Mellberg said. “That is something we were looking at. We’ve been talking a lot to him about having a higher intensity, being more often on fourth or fifth gear, rather than second or third. And he’s done really well in preseason and now we’re looking at the physical data after the game. He does a lot more compared to last season. And I think you can see that in his quality in his game as well, that that helps him. So it has been a choice, not to see him drop to second or third gear at the end or end of games, rather than, I think, he is not doing well enough. It’s part of our game also. We want to play with high intensity. We want to have fresh legs all the time, and we have good alternatives in those positions also. He’s done well so far.�

If there’s ever a good time to play the Galaxy, this may be it. The team bares little resemblance to the one that one MLS Cup in December, because of injuries, transactions and the team’s presence in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which had it playing a game in Costa Rica on Wednesday. With the need to rotate its lineup to keep players fresh, it would not be out of the question that little or no Galaxy starters from the MLS Cup game are in the starting lineup on Sunday.

The Galaxy are 0-2 this season, with losses to San Diego and Vancouver, and also lost the first leg of its Champions Cup series with Costa Rican club Herediano.

“Obviously, two teams looking for the win again,� Mellberg said. “They’ve struggled so far. It’ll be interesting to see what they do. They changed around a lot, played a completely new formation against Herediano mid-week. They have some injury issues as well. So, we’ve got to prepare for changes.�