HERRIMAN, Utah (Tuesday, August 1, 2023) – Real Monarchs (6-11-2, 21 points, 12th in West) continue the 2023 campaign on the road facing Western Conference foe St. Louis CITY2 (5-8-7, 27 points, 9th in West) this Sunday, August 6 with kickoff set for 5:00 p.m. MT. In their last match on Friday, July 6th, Real Monarchs were defeated by the Houston Dynamo in a high scoring affair 5-3. St. Louis CITY2 are unbeaten in their last two having claimed a dominant 4-2 victory over LAFC 2 and drawing 1-1 against San Jose Earthquakes II.
Jumping out to an early 1-0 advantage in the 9th minute thanks to an Amferny Sinclair goal from outside the box, the Monarchs were set to claim their first win over Houston Dynamo 2 in MLS NEXT Pro competition. Their first goal wouldn’t go unanswered though as Dynamo 2’s Papa Ndoye found his first goal of the night in the 20th minute. RSL Homegrown Jude Wellings would allow the Monarchs to take the 2-1 lead right before halftime when he notched in his first professional goal of his career in added time. The back-and-forth affair would continue well into the second half after Houston notched another in the 49th minute, but ten minutes later current RSL Academy defender Cayne Madhlangove notched his first professional goal into the upper left corner from just outside the 18-yard-box to even the score at 3-3. Ndoye would score two unanswered goals to close out the match allowing Houston Dynamo 2 to take the three points. The first of Ndoye’s goals would come from a penalty kick after a bad foul in the box by Bobby Pierre in the 62nd minute and the final dagger would come in the 84th minute as the Houston forward claimed a hattrick and lifted his team to a 5-3 victory.
Real Monarchs vs St. Louis CITY2 Preview
Real Monarchs have the chance to claim their first win in MLS NEXT Pro competition over St. Louis CITY2 this Sunday. Last time these two sides met was on Sunday, June 18 at Zions Bank Stadium where the Monarchs suffered a 4-1 defeat despite an impressive performance from forward Darón Iskenderian. In three all-time meetings between Real Monarchs and St. Louis, CITY2 has claimed victory in every matchup and won each game by more than two scores.
Boasting an impressive record of 6W-4L-0D while playing on the road the Monarchs will threaten to snatch three points away from the home side at CITYPARK. Despite claiming a road record above .500 through this during the 2023 campaign the Monarchs have not been able to post a positive goal differential either on the road or at home. When away from Zions Bank Stadium Real Monarchs have procured a goal differential of -4, even though the team has recorded four shutouts on the road. As the close of the season draws near the Monarchs have an outside shot at making the MLS NEXT Pro playoffs sitting only eight points behind the last playoff spot with nine games remaining.
Up Next: After their short trip to the Gateway of the West, Real Monarchs will head back home to Zions Bank Stadium to face San Jose Earthquakes II on Wednesday, August 9 with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. MT. Tickets to all Real Monarchs home matches including the game on August 9th can be found at https://www.rsl.com/monarchs/tickets/. If viewing matches remotely, Real Monarchs games can be streamed either via Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass or through https://www.mlsnextpro.com/.
