As much as the past two weeks had done for the team confidence for St. Louis City SC, its game on Saturday night against Los Angeles FC at Energizer Park drove home in an important fact: The team has a long way to go.

City SC was no match for LAFC, which may well be the hottest team in Major League Soccer right now, and lost 3-0. It was never close, with LAFC controlling the ball, forcing turnovers, taking shots, scoring goals, picking fights. All the things that were on David Critchley’s to-do list for pulling off an upset did not happen.

“We have to be honest to ourselves and have to say that LAFC was the better team with the ball against the ball,” said midfielder Marcel Hartel, “so they deserve the win for sure, but we were preparing very well before the game. We want to come out and

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