With playoffs unlikely, City SC still has some things to play for at end of season

St. Louis City SC's playoff hopes may be all but finished, but the Major League Soccer season rolls on. City SC plays the first of its five games to close out the season Saturday against the league-worst San Jose Earthquakes (9:30 p.m., Season Pass on Apple TV).

There is still a fair amount at stake for City SC in the stretch run, but it is a bit more abstract than qualifying for the playoffs. Players are making cases for jobs for next season, whether it's in St. Louis or elsewhere. Interim coach John Hackworth is still making a case for his job for next season. The coaching staff, if it is back, needs to find the best way to deploy its suddenly deep attacking corps, as well as tightening up a porous defense. The team has three more chances to try to win a road game, though none as good as this one. City SC also can avoid winning the non-coveted Wooden Spoon that goes to the team with the league's worst record.

Also, City SC isn't mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but that could happen this weekend. Any combination of points earned by Minnesota or points lost by City SC that equal four will make it official. Meanwhile, a City SC win would assure that it wouldn't win the Wooden Spoon award that goes to the team with the worst record in the league. So for Hackworth, this is no time to shift the team's focus.

"There's too many good things about this group," Hackworth said, "and everything that we are right now capable of, there's no reason to let a game where we don't get a result define us in any negative way."

But, short of a miracle comeback to the season, it has. The team's 3-1 loss to Minnesota last week effectively knocked the 2024 playoff hopes out of the team. The team approached that game as one it had to win and it didn't.

"It is what it is," Hackworth said. "We can't do anything about it. We're a much different team than we were two months ago, and we have to just build on that. This group of players are going to be a really good team next year. I hope that we can find a good response going forward in the next five games, and have performances like the first half that we can be really be proud of."

"I think, as a team, we have to continue to grow," said defender Jake Nerwinski, "whether that's still a chance or not a chance, but for next season as well, I think that we can use these games to continue to build. We've been playing well the last few months. We're a hard team to beat, and I think that's just kind of what we have to do. We have to keep building for next season."

Nerwinski is one of those players whose future is very much up in the air. His contract runs out after this season, with the club holding an option for 2025. He didn't play much at the start of the season but has started three games in a row and has become Hackworth's defensive option at right back, with the more offensive-minded Tomas Totland confined to the bench the past three weeks.

Hackworth also has an uncertain future, at least on the sideline. He moved from being the club's director of coaching to its interim head coach when Bradley Carnell was fired and would like to have the job permanently, at least as permanently as any soccer coach's job is. Since taking over, he has a 4W-4T-5L record in all competitions, 2-3-4 in MLS play, which, considering the team's roster improvements during the Hackworth era, may not be enough to convince sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel, if what he's doing is looking at results. But at the same time, Hackworth has to look at player development too.

"I'm an interim head coach," he said. "I am trying to earn the job full-time. The best way to do that is win a soccer game. And at the same time, I'm trying to develop young players and give guys minutes, and I'm trying to bring back veteran players, and get them healthy to finish the year strong, and build a team which can have momentum going into next year, which we all feel really good about. It's just a long-winded way of saying that I have to make some really hard decisions, and it's not going to be easy, and I'm not going to try to prioritize one over the other. I'm just going to try to take all of those decisions and do what's best for the collective group."

One way to help would be to get a road win.

City SC has yet to win away from CityPark and, against the league's worst team, this is the most winnable road game of the bunch. City SC, which beat San Jose 2-0 in Hackworth's first game, still has road games left with LAFC and Minnesota. Only 10 teams in MLS history have gone winless on the road over a full season, though City SC can lay dubious claim to finishing with more points than any of those other teams that didn't win on the road.

The lack of a road win weighs on the team. City SC is 0-6-8 on the road this season, the only team in the league without a road win.

"This is a blemish for sure," Hackworth said, "that we haven't won on the road. And let me just tell you, I'm not making this up, every player in that locker room wants to win in an away game and it's so close. We were so close in a couple instances recently that it is a huge motivator for us."

"It's been a tough season and we are still chasing the first away win," said midfielder Rasmus Alm, so I think we have to even harder this weekend and hopefully we can get the first one."

Soccer reporter