Major League Soccer's maiden outfit, San Diego, will host its first league encounter on Saturday as St Louis City come visiting the Snapdragon Stadium.
The home side got their campaign off to a fairytale start by securing all three points on the opening weekend, while the visitors could only muster a share of the spoils.
Match preview
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Making their debut in the top flight of American football, San Diego were handed a baptism of fire with an away trip against defending champions Los Angeles Galaxy.
However, Mikey Varas's men sent shockwaves around the league by claiming a well-deserved 2-0 victory at Dignity Health Sports Park on Monday for the biggest upset of the opening round of matches.
The South California outfit went the entire first half with no significant attacking threat but took the lead within seven minutes of the second period through Anders Dreyer, who was also on hand to seal the deal in stoppage time.
Sparking wild celebrations amongst the San Diego faithful, Dreyer could not have asked for a better start to life at his new employers following his move from Belgian heavyweights Anderlecht just before the January window elapsed.
Dreyer will now seek to deliver the goods for San Diego once again on a significant day for the club as they make history by hosting their first-ever MLS game at the multipurpose Snapdragon Stadium.
Awaiting Saturday's hosts is the challenge of St. Louis City, who will be keen to avoid becoming the second consecutive side to come away empty-handed against this season's MLS debutants.
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Speaking of St Louis City, they were a tad unlucky not to have raised the curtain on their league campaign with all three points against the Colorado Rapids in Saturday's meeting at CITYPARK which ended goalless.
Olof Mellberg's men were in the ascendancy from start to finish but ended up having to rue a combination of heroic goalkeeping and wasteful finishing on their part.
Outshooting their opponents 17-2 with an xG differential of 1.81, the City Reds probably picked the only scenario in which they do not come away with all three points over a 10-game simulation.
With no time to linger on a disappointing result, the team from Missouri will now hit the road for their first away outing of the new season, and given their record on the road last time out, there is bound to be some nerves.
Only the San Jose Earthquakes (46) let in more goals than Saturday's visitors (42) on enemy territory, although they scored the joint second-most away goals (27) in the Western Conference after Minnesota United and the Colorado Rapids (28).
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Team News
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Andres Reyes will have to wait a little longer for his San Diego debut amid a spell on the sidelines for the defender who is currently nursing a knee problem.
Anders Dreyer has four goals in his last two games for the home side heading into this weekend's encounter, and the Denmark international is certainly one to keep an eye on.
Twenty-three-year-old Jayden Reid is yet to fully recuperate from a foot injury and misses out for St Louis City here as his side's only guaranteed absentee.
Alfredo Morales will be pushing to make his full debut this weekend having had to settle for a second-half cameo on his first appearance for the away side.
San Diego possible starting lineup:
Dos Santos; Negri, McVey, McNair, Loffelsend; Tverskov, De la Torre, Godoy; Lozano, Ingvartsen, Dreyer
St Louis City possible starting lineup:
Burki; Totland, Kessler, Hiebert, Horn; Watts, Yaro, Lowen; Hartel, Klauss, Becher
We say: San Diego 1-1 St Louis City
San Diego will have every reason to believe they can emerge with all three points from this one, and rightfully so, given their heroics last time out.
Nonetheless, we are backing the teams to cancel each other out and settle for a point apiece at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
