Those previous seemingly 10 minutes out of first place in MLS Western Conference happened after Seattle Sounders FC mastered the St. Louis CITY SC system. Then, Chicago Fire rang the St. Louis alarm bell.
The striker up front for St. Louis was out with an injury – Joao Klauss. And opponents of St. Louis had weeks before learned to stop preparing for CITY as another poorly organized expansion squad. So adjustments had to be made quickly.
With a few of the lesser competitive MLS squads on the schedule, CITY took advantage and started making the adjustments.