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MLS St. Louis City SC

St. Louis CITY SC Draws 0-0 with LAFC at CITYPARK

September 21, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
St. Louis City SC News Release


ST. LOUIS - St. Louis CITY SC played to a 0-0 draw against last year's MLS Cup defending champions LAFC on Wednesday night at CITYPARK. With the draw, CITY SC earns its 50th point of the season, with a record of 15-10-5. St. Louis remains atop the Western Conference, with an away match against Minnesota United on the horizon.

Postgame Notes

CITY SC extended its home unbeaten streak to five matches, its longest of the season

CITY SC is the first Western Conference team and third team in MLS overall to 50 points this season

CITY SC joins Atlanta United, Chicago Fire and LAFC as the only teams to record 50 or more points during their inaugural seasons

CITY SC extended its current unbeaten streak to three games

CITY SC is 10-3-2 at CITYPARK in MLS action

Roman Bürki earned his eighth clean sheet of the season, tying him with Pedro Gallese, John McCarthy and Dayne St. Clair for the fifth most clean sheets in MLS this season

The clean sheet was the team's first in the last seven matches

Goal-Scoring Plays

N/A

Next Game

CITY SC travel north for an away clash with Minnesota United FC Saturday, September 23.

September 20, 2023 - CITYPARK (St. Louis, Missouri)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

St. Louis CITY SC 0 0 0

Los Angeles FC 0 0 0

Scoring Summary

N/A

Misconduct Summary

LAFC: Sergi Palencia (caution), 53

LAFC: Kellyn Acosta (caution), 84

STL: Anthony Markanich (caution), 90

STL: Jared Stroud (caution), 90+2'

Lineups

STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Akil Watts (Jared Stroud 78'), D Tim Parker, D Joakim Nilsson, D Anthony Markanich; M Njabulo Blom (Jake Nerwinski 59'), M Eduard Löwen, M Indiana Vassilev (Tomáš Ostrák 88'), M Aziel Jackson (Niko Gioacchini 59'); F Sam Adeniran (Nökkvi Thórisson 78'), F João Klauss

Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, D Josh Yaro, M Célio Pompeu, D Kyle Hiebert

TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 2

LAFC: GK Maxime Crépeau; D Jesús Murillo, D Giorgio Chiellini, D Ryan Hollingshead, D Sergi Palencia (Denil Maldonado 89'); M Ilie Sánchez ©, M Timothy Tillman (Mateusz Bogusz 67'), M Kellyn Acosta; F Mario González (Carlos Vela 60'), F Cristian Olivera (Stipe Biuk 89'), F Denis Bouanga

Substitutes Not Used: D Érik Dueñas, F Nathan Ordaz, D Aaron Long, M Filip Krastev, GK John McCarthy

TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 9; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 4

Referee: Rubiel Vazquez

Assistant Referees: Kevin Lock, Matthew Nelson

Fourth Official: Joe Dickerson

VAR: Michael Radchuk

AVAR: Corey Rockwell

Venue: CITYPARK

Weather: Cloudy, 70 degrees

ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES

Bradley Carnell

Opening statement...

This was a cagey affair. I think Steve said it earlier this week that it's going to be a tight game and I think when good teams get together in a perfect stadium and a perfect evening - if you give away a critical moment, you lose the game. I think both teams played a tight, cagey game, giving nothing away to each other.

I think this is what a tight playoff game could look like down the stretch and as long as we keep a clean sheet and keep things in our favor and in our hands, I think we can work from there. So pretty happy about the clean sheet. It's been a while since we've had one of those. Yeah, I think it's a good team, two heavyweights based on what they have proved throughout the season, and it was fun.

You alluded to it, as much as you wanted it to win tonight, was it a big thing not to lose?

Sure. And I think the guys came off the bench and made valuable contributions again. They just did everything a good teammate would. We had Tomáš Ostrák playing in the six when Indy ran out of steam. We made some key adjustments throughout the game. I thought the second half was excellent. I really thought we put it in our terms. We put them in a tough game and limited their options. You can see the quality they have when the ball turns over. We didn't have to hold our breath too many times which was a credit to my boys and credit to the system and credit to what we have been doing.

Was there any part of your brain thinking, we could see them in the playoffs, maybe hold back some of your tactics?

Oh, no. We are thinking in the moment now, how we can win the game and how we can put them under pressure. Not for one thought was I thinking about what's happening on Saturday or the next ten minutes. I was thinking how we can now go play-by-play, get continuously stronger and I think we did that tonight.

I think there were a couple, at least from our perspectives, some lapses in concentration and some balls just a bit wayward. Do you attribute that to mental fatigue or physical fatigue?

We know LAFC is fourth in the League for PPDA [passes per defensive action], which means they put you under pressure, and we had 52 percent possession.

So, I think it might be one of our highest possessions where we play 11 against 11. I thought we controlled a lot of what we did. I thought from the 30th to the 45th minute, we were slightly sloppy, slightly lazy. You know, on restarts they caught us out, quick restarts. So we have to just brush up and tighten up a few things there.

Again, besides 15 minutes out of a 90-minute game stretch plus all the injury time, I thought it was a lot in our favor tonight.

How can you describe the defensive performance from the team tonight?

Excellent, when you keep a clean sheet, I think it's always a good sign. I think when you limit the opponent to two shots on target, I think it's a good sign, too. We defended set pieces really well. Again, if you keep a clean sheet, it's always a good sign but we have been training in the right way for many weeks now.

How valuable is it to play such a good team this close to playoff time?

Yeah, I think it's valuable. I think every team we have been playing recently and every team we are coming up against has a real chance at something. That we get some reps like this, we have been treating it like that internally as if it were playoff game and again they put us to the test. We heard LAFC players talking about how this game is a final for them, and I think if you look at that, for the new kids on the block, we take that as a big compliment to us and what we've done this season. We just have to continue now. We joined the 50 club with 50 points. We are proud of that, and we want to keep on moving. For sure we want to win games but for sure we'll start with this tonight.

A lot of players going up the left instead of the middle, was that something they forced you into?

With a diamond, we try to rotate out to certain areas. Edu [Löwen] is a good player when he's on the ball. So, we give him a bit of flexibility and freedom. Anthony reads the game really well. When Edu is outside, he's inside and they have a good relationship. I just spoke about PPDA and how they jump you. Their front four have the highest turnovers in the league in the build-up phase. This is something to be wary of; something we also pride ourselves on, too. So, we knew that we were playing against ourselves in many moments tonight, and we had to get around that.

You mentioned the combo -- on the left side, can you talk about how much that opened up the game in the first half?

Sure. When we are able to break a line, whether it's with a pass or a dribble, then we create an overload; and when we create an overload, we create a gap, and there's a trickle-down effect. So, we were able to get early crosses off, and especially playing with two strikers we were able to put the back line under pressure. Massive respect to their back line. They do an excellent job. It's a joy to watch [Giorgio] Chiellini after all these years and finally get to see him in person now twice, it's been a good experience. It's been a learning moment for us as players to see how professional this guy does his job and it's a joy to watch. We put teams in a tough game and with two strikers, we thought it was a good battle.

Did you get water dumped on you?

No. It started raining during my Apple interview.

It looked like at times either Klauss or Sam, in the box, and waiting for another pass, and after the play, they were saying why didn't I get the ball. Was it one of those occasions where passes could have been made?

Yeah, maybe. We'll have to look at the video and see and reflect. But yeah, we are playing with two strikers, which means you always have two strikers minimally in the box, plus then an arriving ten or a weak side eight arriving in the box. So, I thought we got ahead of the game really well when we had the ball and we created a lot of nearly moments, which is okay. I just spoke about their back line and how good they can be but yeah.

We talk about Bürki, but when he comes up big -- there's also a pass he makes in the second half that hits Gioacchini in stride. How big is he in key games and key moments?

Yeah, we have seen it. We think every game is a big game and a big moment in our first season. But I don't think we can take games off. So, every game is equally important, so we try and get the points.

He knows when the rhythm of the game is. A few times we are caught with building up, and then we decide to kick it along. He knows how to feel the rhythm of the game. He knows when is to accelerate the game and he knows when to slow the game down and he knows exactly what to do. It's a joy to have him with his distribution on our side to get [Niko] Gioacchini the run for sure. He showed that many times. We have always said it from day one, we know what we have with Roman.

You talked about Sam and Klauss getting more comfortable together, and Klauss dropping back in more of a support role to connect everything. Did you see a big jump in their progression and more and more development tonight?

Yeah, I think the system gives the players the right positioning and the right momentum. When AZ [Jackson] came off, we are like get all three on, and let's see how that goes because Klauss has the ability to drop deeper. We saw that in L.A.

We let [Niko] Gioacchini roam around in the ten, and then we got him up at strike tore run the line a little bit. And then Klauss, flexible, goes underneath in the ten. We tried that as well.

It's hard, only one or two strikers can play at any time. Yeah, my heart broke a little bit for Gioa tonight that he doesn't get in the starting lineup. He's our leading goal scorer; and he knows that and he's training well.

But we just thought with the matchups this week, what we are looking at tonight, we thought two big strikers against their two big centre-backs was the right thing.

It looked like LAFC was creating a lot of danger with those 1v1 opportunities. Was that something that just happened throughout the game or was that something that you expected, and you were willing to sacrifice to not give him so much possession?

I've seen them do that for many years now and I've seen them for every game this season be dangerous? 1v1. I think it's just a normal style of play of theirs that they rely on. They are big play makers, right and I thought we did it really well. For sure they are going to get a lot of half-moments but yeah, we got around the ball really well. I can't fault anything with my players there. It's just a standard game from LAFC with difference-makers who are great players.

Is that the first time you've had Klauss, Sam and Niko on the field at the same time? I can't recall another time that all three would have been out there.

Maybe. Not sure.

How is Blom? Did he come through okay?

He's been trying to treat something on his foot for the last couple of days. He's been taking some medication and his stomach didn't react well to the medication. So he felt a little bit dizzy and fatigue and spells that come and go. But once he got settled at halftime and then to try to get going again after halftime was a bit of a struggle and that's when we started and had to be a little bit creative.

You had to get Nilsson to go 90 today?

Yeah, [Joakim] Nilsson's fine. I mean, he's all right. We have enough centre-backs on the bench if needed be, but he was perfect. He felt it through the couple of days now. He recovered really well. We limited his training load. We gave him two days of regen and one day of rest. Yeah, he game through really well.

Are you going to watch games tonight?

Yes. I'm interested in the results.

Roman Bürki

On the showdown with the other top team in the Western Conference...

Yeah, I think it was a very balanced game. I think we had no big chances. They had no big chances. And so yeah, at one point we could look at it both ways. But on the other side, I always want more, you know, and we played at home in front of our fans. We wish we could have given them, like, three points from us.

On how he sees the playoffs going...

We are going to fight to stay on top of the West. And that's now our goal and to keep going like this. We had a good game tonight. And of course, everyone wants to stay on top.

On him acting as a sweeper at times tonight...

Yeah, first of all, it's a very short time that you have to decide if you go out or not. If you make one step, then you stay a little bit, and then you say, 'Okay, now I have to go,' you're too late. It's a really very risky playstyle. But I saw that the team needed it, so I just tried to go with 100% conviction, and they were happy that it was the right decision every time today.

Joakim Nilsson

On how the defense played tonight compared to recent games...

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say we've been performing bad before, but obviously a game like tonight, that has many duels, that is -- we really see that we really want to have a clean sheet. That mentality of fighting for each other was really there today, and that's what we said before the game, well executed.

On having not won in the past four games...

Now with a performance like today, I feel really confident going into those last four games. I think we'll take more points. Like I said, we wanted three points tonight, but sometimes the opponents play a good game as well and then you have to accept that one point is the case. And I think the mentality of the boys was the key of the performance today.

On his minor injury tonight...

It was really a fight for me today. I had one whiplash that I will probably kind of feel tomorrow. It was one of those games where you feel like you have to contribute as a defender, like aggressiveness and that kind of physicality.

Tim Parker

On being on the cusp of the playoffs...

I think it's a testament to what a great year that we've had. But like I've said a couple of times, this is kind of the end of the year where you want to start to kind of play some of your best stuff. So, I think we've put together a couple of good road performances before this game tonight, and I don't think really either team necessarily deserved the victory tonight. So, I think a 0-0 tie is pretty fair. But I still think that it was a good building block for us going on to the rest of the year.

On trying to get home field advantage in the Western Conference...

Yeah, home field advantage is definitely something that we've had our eye on now with the position we've been in because we know how hard it is to play here at CITYPARK and we know how we're able to play here. So, to get the fans here in St. Louis a home playoff game is big for us.

On his exchange with Giorgio Chiellini...

Yeah, yeah, I mean, to be fair, he's a really nice guy. He did kind of take me out a little bit, but he helped me out and kind of explained it a little bit. So, he was nice about it. He always plays with a smile. So, I think he has that fight, but he always knows how to get away with it.

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