St. Louis City aching for a goal vs. Atlanta United

St. Louis City's offensive attack has been anemic, with the club being blanked in three straight matches.

St. Louis City will attempt to find the back of the net for the first time since June 1 when they battle visiting Atlanta United on Saturday night.

The struggles are part of a stretch in which St. Louis City have gone 0-5-2 and been shut out four times. St. Louis has five goals during the winless span, with 60 percent of them coming in a 3-3 home draw against Inter Miami CF on the first day of the month.

The dry spell continued for St. Louis City (3-6-9, 18 points) in Wednesday's 3-0 home loss against the Colorado Rapids. St. Louis resides in 12th place in the Western Conference.

"We're all frustrated in the situation that we're in," St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell said. "I think it's human nature to be frustrated for sure.

"But you know the last thing we want to do is any finger-pointing. It starts with me, what I got right, what I got wrong, in this game, in the last game, in the season."

Joao Klauss has a team-high five goals for St. Louis, but none since May 11.

Atlanta United (5-8-5, 20 points) recently parted ways with coach Gonzalo Pineda, and the club since has gone 1-0-1 under interim coach Rob Valentino.

The victory came Wednesday when Atlanta recorded a 1-0 road win over D.C. United. Thiago Almada scored the goal in the 79th minute.

"The important thing is the hard work from everyone on the team," Almada said afterward. "So, I think we deserve this win."

Valentino wants to see the squad go on a second-half run.

"That's going to be my challenge to them, and to us as a group, that we continue on this path," Valentino said. "They're exhausted in there, and they should be. That's what it should feel like to try to win a game and be competitive, especially on the road. That's not easy."

However, Almada received a yellow card during the match and will have to serve a one-game suspension against St. Louis due to yellow card accumulation. Almada is tied with the recently departed Giorgos Giakoumakis for the team lead with five goals.

This will be the first time Atlanta United and second-year franchise Saint Louis City meet in league play.

--Field Level Media