(Photo credit: Joe Puetz-Imagn Images)

After a tough loss, the San Jose Earthquakes will have to be on top of their game Saturday night when visiting St. Louis City SC come to PayPal Park.

San Jose (10-5-3, 33 points) led 2-1 late in its last match, Aug. 1 at Cincinnati, but it couldn't maintain its defensive shape and conceded three goals in the final 11 minutes to suffer a 4-2 loss. The Earthquakes went from possibly leading the Western Conference to third in the table, one point behind co-leaders Vancouver and LAFC.

'We have to be a smarter team, communicate better, defend collectively,' San Jose coach Bruce Arena said of how the Cincinnati match ended. 'I don't feel like we should've won it, but we could've won it. We made too many mistakes.'

Since starting the season with nine wins in 10 fixtures, the Earthquakes are 1-4-3 in their last eight games, including 0-2-1 since the World Cup break. Defense has been an issue; they have been outscored 18-12 in that span.

Given its recent issues, San Jose might wish for a different opponent than St. Louis (7-6-5, 26 points). It's 6-0-2 during its last eight matches, including a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake on Aug. 1.

St. Louis has found its best form under 36-year-old first-year coach Yoann Damet, playing to a 15-6 goal differential during its unbeaten streak. But the transfer of leading scorer Marcel Hartel (six goals, three assists) to Hannover 96 of the German Bundesliga could create problems in the offensive end.

'He's a player that I really enjoyed working with,' Damet said of Hartel. 'He, for sure, is going to leave a gap for the team right now on and off the pitch. He's had a lot of influence on the pitch this year, so it's going to be a transition period for us.'

St. Louis has won six of its seven matchups all time with San Jose, although the Earthquakes did win 3-2 on April 25 via Timo Werner's goal in the 83rd minute.

--Field Level Media