St. Louis CITY SC find their goal, but finish level yet again.
Bradley Carnell's side picks up their 10th draw of the season, frustration returns as they drop more points from a winnable position.
St. Louis CITY SC needed to show progress after Wednesday’s 0-3 loss to Colorado represented the club’s rock bottom. Carnell took it to heart, after experimenting with his lack of roster availability, the 5-2-3 was bed rocked with just one traditional CB and a general lack of proven options in the attack.
A struggling Atlanta United coming to town, Carnell reverted to a more familiar 4-2-2-2 and 4-2-3-1 throughout the match with CITY 2 call-ups Jay Reid and Michael Wentzel proving tantamount to CITY’s renewed momentum. However, approaching half time, CITY SC had yet to score despite having the better of the run of play. Salt was poured on the wound when CITYPARK thought Nökkvi Thórisson had scored his first of the season before VAR called it back due to a missed foul in the buildup, leading to a pro wrestling moment as PRO referee Filip Dujic made the call.
St. Louis came out of halftime ready to find the back of the net for the first time in over eight halves. The Boys in Red finally broke through their scoreless streak just five minutes into the half, ending a run of 341 minutes scoreless as João Klauss headed Jay Reid’s ball back into the mixer for Indiana Vassilev to beat Brad Guzan with his attempt.
Indiana Vassilev spoke about his goal after the match, but the excitement of the moment was no longer in his voice as the frustration from Atlanta’s equalizer clouded the moment.
“Jayden got the ball on the left side,” Vassilev recounted. “He put the ball into Klauss who headed the ball down well. I just watched it back. I actually didn't anticipate it too well at all in my opinion. I just stand there and then kind of react to where the ball goes, but thankfully, I was quick enough and it was a good finish. I am happy with the goal but frustrated with another tie.”
It felt like the moment Bradley Carnell’s club had been waiting for, but CITY SC’s momentum stalled as they committed their fifth penalty offense of the season. It’s another key moment that went against St. Louis as they prepared to make major changes, and as Roman Bürki saved Rios’ initial attempt, the ball rolled right into his stride as he followed up the attempt.
“It's the first time that we scored a goal and then we gave the game away.” Bürki reflected. “Or I would say, we didn't kill the game. We had chances again; we didn't do that. Or we scored one goal. Did we defend the freaking goal? Don't know how many of these moments we're going to allow against us this season, but we just need to focus. We need to be ready in every situation. With our players on the field. We need to be ready, and we can't give up.”
A line shift in the 71st minute saw Caden Glover making his most important appearance in MLS, playing at home for the first time with the first team and “holding the shape” as he made a few nifty skill plays as St. Louis chased a goal.
“I thought Caden kept it to one side and he did exactly as we asked him to do.” Carnell said of the club’s top prospect, “He had a couple of nifty touches and could have scored on a set piece where he just volleys it over the bar. He got really close a few times, and it looked like he enjoyed himself. He's smiling after the game. So, these are big moments for us as a club and these are big moments as part of a program, even when it's not going our way, to make sure we believe in our process, and this is very important.”
St. Louis weren’t able to find that go-ahead goal, settling for their tenth draw of the season, but the frustration from another dropped result needs to be taken in context. St. Louis still have five matches before the transfer window opens, and this result was much needed momentum after Wednesday’s loss felt like the low point of this club’s short existence.
Nökkvi Thórisson had his best match in CITY Red while CITY2 call-ups Jay Reid and Michael Wentzel showed they can hang at the MLS level. Credit to Bobby Murphy and the CITY 2 staff for making the transition somewhat seamless between the levels but Lutz Pfannenstiel may have a decision to make with both players having one more loan period available. Wentzel may be needed with the ongoing injury to Joakim Nilsson and Kyle Hiebert’s Canadian National Team having an opportunity to advance to the knockout stages of the Copa América.
“There's two things to it. One thing is training time, and one thing is game time.” Carnell said of Thórisson’s development. “We need to keep on pushing Nökkvi in the right way in terms of training in the right way, which he did, right. And then getting to moments as he does do with the 1v1 opportunity - because in training, he's really good at finishing those. In training, he’s really clinical. We keep on trying to push the needle well, and then now, it's game time under stress. And you can see him growing after every game.”
Then, there is the Left Back conversation.
Reid certainly looked the part, solid in the back, and contributing to CITY SC’s goal by hitting a cross to the back post so well that Vassilev assumed it was sent in by Edu Löwen.
"He's the quickest player in the club hands down.” Carnell said of Reid. “He has moments to iron out if there's anything to iron out on the back line, it's totally normal and natural to be getting cramps in the 95th, 98th minute or whatever it was, totally normal, totally natural. But that he went and lasted so long didn't surprise me, and we are on the right track with Jay [Reid].”
St. Louis CITY SC simply have to grind out results as they await Jake Girdwood-Reich, Cedric Teuchert, and Marcel Hartel’s arrival.
Carnell hinted at Teuchert’s involvement in training as early as next week.
It’s a painful waiting game: waiting on the sale/trade of Sam Adeniran, waiting on the arrivals of, what should be, impactful free agent signings, and waiting for the return of Rasmus Alm from injury.
“I know these guys who signed quality players will definitely help us.” Bürki said as the night ticked into the double digits, “Sometimes, the quality we need, we don't have in certain games. But today I was actually very happy with Michael Wentzel and Jay Reid. Amazing players, amazing games. That's something we can look forward to from these young guys. I think, Jay with the game today with us. This is a brilliant first game. We're excited to see what the future holds all together. I would say I'm excited for the future. Obviously the first five months didn’t go as we as we planned, as we wanted to, but we have to find a way to come out of this situation and start winning games again.”