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But one problem just won鈥檛 go away: The team can鈥檛 win on the road.

Over the past two seasons, City SC has two wins, 15 losses and 10 ties on the road. That鈥檚 the fewest road wins of any team in the league in that time, including first-year San Diego, which has already won six road games this season, matching City SC鈥檚 total in its first season. After winning the first three road games in club history, City SC is 5-23-13 on the road.

City SC has lost its past five road MLS games (six if you count the Open Cup loss at Minnesota), and is winless in its past eight, and to keep its faint and growing fainter every week playoff hopes alive, the team is going to need to a win road game (actually several road games) at some point, and one of the team鈥檚 best chances comes on Saturday, when the team plays Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah. RSL is the team immediately ahead of City SC in the standings, though it is four points clear so even a City SC win won鈥檛 get the team out of 14th place in the West. This is also a great time to face RSL as its star player, Diego Luna, is with the U.S. national team for the Gold Cup; he scored twice in the semifinal at Energizer Park on Wednesday.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard it often in this league,鈥� said City SC interim coach David Critchley, who has overseen the two most recent road losses. 鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 be having two different philosophies or play styles or ways to approach a game, as in, we鈥檒l look like this at home and we鈥檒l look like this away. We should look the same home and away. And just trying to help these lads understand when we travel, the first priority isn鈥檛 to try and get a draw or to try and be reserved or reactive. It should be to go on the road and have the confidence and the bravery to try and get three points and be proactive. Now, obviously, in this country, it鈥檚 difficult. The travel is hard. You鈥檙e always on a flight. You鈥檝e always got to deal with sometimes different time zones, so it鈥檚 different. And then you go to somewhere like Real Salt Lake, Colorado, you have the altitude that you add in there. So in this country, it is difficult when you travel. But at the same time, what I鈥檓 trying to control is how we travel, as in the mindset that we should be going to play and try and win. We know the situation we鈥檙e in as a club. We need to go and try and get three points this weekend.鈥�

鈥淥bviously, you don鈥檛 want to change,鈥� said forward Simon Becher. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going into all these games looking for three points. We鈥檙e at a point in this season where we need results. We need wins. So going to these places, we understand it鈥檚 obviously difficult playing away from home. It鈥檚 a lot of mindset, as well as keeping the same way that we play and just continuing to buy in and put in performances for 90 minutes.鈥�

That鈥檚 another thing missing for City SC: a complete game. The team鈥檚 moribund offense has returned to life, even though it got shutout last week 鈥� on the road, of course 鈥� against Houston. But its defense has been bad enough that the team has won just one of the past five times it has scored two or more goals. And when it held Houston to just one goal last week, it got shut out.

鈥淭he next time we find a complete game, we鈥檒l find the three points that we desperately need,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淥ur defensive side of the game right now needs to dramatically improve. I come here and tell you guys a lot how much we鈥檝e improved with attacking, we need that. We need to improve on the defensive side.鈥�

It does not help that the team remains decimated by injuries. The team hoped to have defensive midfielder Chris Durkin back, but he was held out of practice on Thursday to rest up his knee and is listed as out on the league鈥檚 injury report. The team is already down its top three center backs and Michael Wentzel, who made his first start of the season at Houston, had an MRI on his hamstring and while the pictures didn鈥檛 show anything, Critchley said they were 鈥渉oping鈥� he鈥檇 be available. (He鈥檚 not on the injury report.) Conrad Wallem will also be on a minutes limit and Alfredo Morales, who suffered a crack in his clavicle in a fall against Houston will be out three to four weeks. Eduard Lowen resumed training on Thursday, but it鈥檚 too soon for him. The injury report is up to seven players out.

鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to hide from it. I don鈥檛 want to say it鈥檚 something that doesn鈥檛 make me consistently have to reflect on and with the available selection of players, how can I get the best out of the team? How can I also pick up results? I know it is a results-driven business, and I also know that we are in a position where we need points. 鈥� Having these guys be injured every week is difficult, but I just try to stay positive in these moments. There鈥檚 no point me sitting here and whining and complaining. I have to have hope. I just have to be proactive in these moments on how I can get the best out of the players.鈥�

Pidro loaned again, ending stint of team鈥檚 first signee

Selmir Pidro, the first player signed by City SC, back on Feb. 1, 2022, is officially done with the team. He has been loaned back to a club in Bosnia, Velez Mostar, for the remainder of his contract, which runs out at the end of this MLS season. Pidro was expected to be the team鈥檚 starting left back, but lost the spot in training camp to John Nelson, and never got it back, starting the team鈥檚 carousel at the position. He appeared in just two MLS games, along with two Open Cup games. When a previous loan expired in the middle of 2024, Pidro came back and played five games for City2.