City Falls 2-1 To San Diego, Eighth Straight Game Without A Win In MLS Play

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis City SC returned to MLS action on Saturday night, hosting San Diego FC, the league’s newest expansion team.

The two teams played out a goalless draw on March 1, a result to be proud of for City, as San Diego has proven to be one of the best teams in the MLS Western Conference. There was less to be proud about on Saturday night, as City gave up two second-half goals in a 2-1 defeat.

City head coach Olof Mellberg went with a familiar lineup of players, but in a different setup.

The defense consisted of left wingback Jannes Horn, Timo Baumgartl, Josh Yaro, and Kyle Hiebert as center backs from left to right, and Akil Watts in the right wingback role.

Tomas Ostrak lined up in central midfield, and he was joined by Conrad Wallem, who shifted from his more typical wingback slot. Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel played as more advanced midfielders in the right and left channels, with Hartel sporting the captain’s armband.

João Klauss returned to the starting lineup after scoring a goal in US Open Cup action on Wednesday night. Klauss took a through ball from Cedric Teuchert late in Wednesday’s game against Union Omaha for a second goal in the 87th minute that proved to be a dagger.

Notably, there was no Eduard Lowen in the City team Saturday night. The official reasoning given by the club was “personal reasons”, which have kept Lowen out of action for more than a month this season.

San Diego FC, who’ve been led offensively by the likes of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders Dreyer, struggled to tie any cohesive offense together for the first half. Despite the sizable gap in the Western Conference standings, St. Louis had the better opportunities in the first half.

Opportunities that were only that, opportunities. City created more, but only troubled the San Diego defense when Akil Watts got into the box and forced a save from Carlos Dos Santos in the 39th minute, and a Marcel Hartel free kick from just outside the box that went narrowly wide just moments before the end of the first half.

San Diego FC woke up a little bit during halftime and came out of the locker room with a bit more spring in their shooting boots. The likes of Chucky Lozano and Luca de da Torre started to find space to work in and around the City defense.

João Klauss couldn’t create much in the game, but his best chance likely came in the 51st minute, when a Jannes Horn cross fell to the big Brazilian striker’s head, but Klauss’s effort bounced off the turf and just over the crossbar.

The visitors were in the ascendancy in the second half, piling up shots, spending time in the City’s half of the field, waiting for the opportunity to pounce. Anders Dreyer rattled the left post with a shot from outside the box in the 56th minute. A warning shot to Ben Lundt in goal and the whole City defense.

Olof Mellberg made three changes around the 70th minute: Xande Silva, Simon Becher, and Jay Reid replaced Ostrak, Klauss, and Horn respectively. It was Jay Reid’s first MLS appearance since recovering from offseason foot surgery.

Following the match, Mellberg claimed that the only reason he made those substitutions were due to tired legs among the players who came off. With some new faces and new tactics, City seemingly lost cohesion in the latter stages.

“It was unfortunate because [the substituted players] got tired. They asked to be taken off,” Mellberg explained postgame. “We really need to work on that fitness to be able to keep the guys for longer who are doing well. Similar to the last game in Seattle where we also took Tomáš [Ostrak] off, he had a good game.

“A little bit unfortunate to have to make changes at that point because we looked good, and we are short already. So I don't want to fault any of the guys that came on… It's never good to have to make so many changes during a season, and we have some guys who have played in five different positions.”

That lack of cohesion would ultimately be the difference Saturday evening. San Diego broke the deadlock in the 79th minute when substitute striker MIlan Iloski struck a low driven shot into the left side of goal from outside the box. Lundt in the City goal had no chance of reaching the perfectly placed effort.

If the air wasn’t already let out of the building after the late goal, San Diego’s second would send most of the paying customers at Energizer Park to the exits. A bad misplay in defense led to an Anders Dreyer goal to put SDFC up 2-0.

In the 87th minute, Josh Yaro tried to gather a long ball, but booted the ball directly into the path of Anders Dreyer, who carried the ball into the box beyond Ben Lundt, who ran out to meet the San Diego attacker but failed to do so.

Dreyer then gathered the ball on the left side of the box, with Lundt now back in the City goal facing him, and smashed a shot that went under the big St. Louis keeper and into the back of the net from a very tight angle. It’s a shot that Lundt will probably want back.

City scored a goal in stoppage time to steal a clean sheet from SDFC keeper Carlos Dos Santos. City won a free kick in the 91st minute, and Marcel Hartel swung the ball towards goal that Conrad Wallem got a head to, but that header caromed off the right post and right to Kyle Hiebert who instinctively swung a cleat at the ball and knocked it into the back of the San Diego goal.

St. Louis City huffed and puffed after finding a goal, but ran out of stoppage time as they hurled long free kicks forward in hopes of a fortuitous bounce like Hiebert’s goal. That never came, and referee Allen Chapman sealed City’s fate with the final whistle.

It was not a pretty game for St. Louis City, but for 78 minutes, it was a game that was there for the taking. City’s half chances in both halves resulted in wayward shots and extra passes that went astray.

“I think in some moments [offensively] we make it a bit too complicated,” said Olof Mellberg following the loss. “We could finish a bit earlier, on the first or second touch… I thought they looked dangerous, but unfortunately didn’t give us the goals.”

If there’s a positive to take from an eighth straight MLS game without a win for St. Louis, it’s that there was a semblance of life on offense. The optimistic view, City had more shots and chances in the first half. Granted those shots and chances were somewhat few and far between.

“We had a lot of situations, a lot of moments that were very dangerous,” said Mellberg. “When we were in one-on-one or even two-vs-one situations, when we managed to get the crosses in, they were dangerous. [San Diego] lost the ball on a few occasions in dangerous areas where we could have hurt them as well. I thought we were the better team for 70, 80 minutes. But it wasn't enough.”

It’s another quick turnaround for St. Louis City, who now turn their attention to their I-70 rivals Sporting Kansas City, who sit one point above them at the wrong end of the MLS Western Conference standings.

“At the end of the day, the dressing room has to stick together, and have the coach’s back,” said City midfielder Conrad Wallem. “Believe in what we do in training. Believe in what we do when we get out there, because then, like you see today, we're very close, but still we didn't get a result. But we just have to look in the mirror and see what we can improve as individuals, as a team, how we perform, what we should do better, and then just try to improve. And stick together, because it will get better, for sure. I know it.”

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