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MLS St. Louis City SC

St. Louis CITY SC Falls 2-1 to Orlando City SC

August 26, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
St. Louis City SC News Release


ORLANDO - St. Louis CITY SC fell 2-1 against Orlando City SC in a hard-fought matchup at Exploria Stadium. After a scoreless first half, Orlando took the lead in the 48th minute through Facundo Torres before Rasmus Alm equalized off a cross from Anthony Markanich. In the dying moments of the match, Orlando was awarded a penalty which was converted by Torres to give the home side the win.

Fastest Expansion Team to 50 Goals

CITY SC made more expansion team history against Orlando by scoring their 50th MLS goal of the season in 25 games. With Alm's goal, CITY SC became the fastest-ever expansion team to 50 goals in their first year, eclipsing Chicago Fire (1998), Atlanta United (2017) and LAFC (2018) who all scored their 50th goal in their 26th match. Only those three expansion teams in league history have scored 50-plus goals in their first year. Only four other teams since 2002 have reached 50 goals in their first 25 games of a season - Austin FC (2022), LAFC (2022), LAFC (2019) and Atlanta United (2018).

Postgame Notes

Rasmus Alm scored his third goal of the season

With Alm's goal, CITY SC became the fastest-ever expansion team to score 50 goals in their first year

Joakim Nilsson made his first start for CITY SC

Anthony Markanich made his debut after joining the club from Colorado Rapids

Markanich provided the assist to Alm, his first in his MLS career

Klauss made his first appearance since his injury against Colorado Rapids on April 22.

Goal-Scoring Plays

ORL - Facundo Torres (Dagur Thórhallsson), 48th minute: Facundo Torres left footed shot from the left side of the box to the bottom right corner.

STL - Rasmus Alm (Anthony Markanich), 79th minute: Rasmus Alm right footed shot from very close range to the bottom left corner.

ORL - Facundo Torres (penalty), 90+1 minute: Facundo Torres converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the center of the goal.

Next Game

CITY SC hosts FC Dallas in a mid-week matchup on Wednesday, August 30.

August 26, 2023 - Exploria Stadium (Orlando, Florida)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

Orlando City SC 0 2 2

St. Louis CITY SC 0 1 1

Scoring Summary

ORL: Facundo Torres (Dagur Thórhallsson), 48

STL: Rasmus Alm (Anthony Markanich), 79

ORL: Facundo Torres (penalty), 90+1

Misconduct Summary

STL: Aziel Jackson (caution), 50

STL: Sam Adeniran (caution), 50

ORL: Mauricio Pereyra (caution), 56

ORL: Wilder Cartagena (caution), 73

STL: Jake Nerwinski (caution), 87

STL: Anthony Markanich (caution), 90

STL: Jake Nerwinski (ejection), 90+10

Lineups

ORL: GK Pedro Gallese; D Rafael Santos, D Robin Jansson, D Rodrigo Schlegel, D Dagur Thorhallsson (Michael Halliday 86'); M Cesar Araujo (Junior Urso 65'), M Mauricio Pereyra © (Jack Lynn 86'), M Wilder Cartagena, M Iván Angulo (Martin Ojeda 76'); F Duncan McGuire (Ramiro Enrique 65'), F Facundo Torres

Substitutes Not Used: GK Mason Stajduhar, D Abdi Salim, D Kyle Smith, M Felipe Martins

TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 1

STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski, D Joakim Nilsson (Anthony Markanich 72'), D Josh Yaro, D Kyle Hiebert; M Akil Watts (Jared Stroud 72'), M Eduard Löwen, M AZ Jackson (Rasmus Alm 78'), M Indiana Vassilev; F Niko Gioacchini (Nökkvi Thórisson 46'), F Sam Adeniran (João Klauss 78')

Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, D Lucas Bartlett, D Jon Bell, M Tomáš Ostrák

TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 21; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 2

Referee: Joe Dickerson

Assistant Referees: Logan Brown, Kevin Klinger

Fourth Official: Matthew Thompson

VAR: Sorin Stoica

AVAR: Jonathan Johnson

Venue: Exploria Stadium

Weather: Sunny, 87 degrees

ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES

Audio: Recordings

Bradley Carnell

Opening statement...

Yeah, listen, I mean, I think this was a really good game for both teams, and we knew what we had coming into this game. We knew that, you know, we were playing against a team that's of some acumen, some caliber and some difference makers in this sport and playing in this stadium -- you know, teams are notoriously struggling here, and I thought we did not struggle tonight. I thought we played really well for many moments of moments of the game, and, you know, we managed the game until halftime. Unfortunately, we conceded just after halftime, but credit to the boys. They stick together, they fight together. We had to change a few things, bring on some subs and we changed the momentum of the game. You know, there were certain instances in the first half and even the second half where, you know, things that we cannot control in terms of momentum, you know, just start changing the game just somewhat and unfortunately, we were up against it somewhat. But credit to the guys, man. They showed so much character and really happy for that. I think this was a tight game all day long, in my opinion. So, you know, we learn from these good moments, we learn from the negative moments of which we know there's not too many. Unfortunately, the scoreboard doesn't give us any credit, but we have to live with that. We have to go on with it. And, yeah, take it for what it is. And we have to turn around quickly because Wednesday comes fast.

On what he saw from Markanich tonight...

Yeah, obviously, when we get to those certain moments of the game and certain tactical, you know, yeah, movements and rotations and what have you, we just thought we needed to get a little bit more flowing on the left-hand side. We brought two center backs extra on this trip knowing that Joakim couldn't go the 90 minutes, but the way the game progressed I thought of just moving Kyle inside and get a more attacking-minded outside back, and I thought that he did pretty well. Just unfortunate -- I think the ball hit him in his nose first. He got a bloody nose, and then it hits him probably in the trailing hand. But, you know, I think it's whatever. I think there were certain moments that we can solve the puzzle to get to that situation where we don't have to give away the foul top of our box. So, you know, I think we could have solved it a little bit higher up the field, but yeah, good things from Anthony. Great to get Klauss back in the game. Joakim gets 60 plus minutes. So, you know, looking at the positives, you can just see when we start tightening the screws, we start now pushing teams and, you know, turning over the ball, and you could see momentum at certain moments changing in our favor. So, you know, we showed a lot of our character tonight.

On whether the offense had trouble generating chances in the first half...

We knew this was going to be a tight game. So, sometimes when you're playing on the road -- we say, yeah, six-three wasn't, you know, we'd like to be a little bit tighter at the back, so then we're tighter at the back and then we're talking about no chances created. So, we know we have to pick our poison playing on the road. We have to know what we're coming up against, and we have to know that chances are going to be limited here in the stadium. It cannot just flick a coin, you know, and be like, 'Yeah, there's no chances today, but we conceded three goals.' So, you know, that wasn't the case today. And I thought the game was a lot tighter. I thought our defensive structure was a lot more intact, and I saw a lot of good things. So, you know, the moments we do get now, can we be a little bit more clinical with those moments? And yeah, I think we get 10 shots off on the night, which is pretty much, you know, a decent chunk.

Joakim Nilsson

On what he saw in the game...

Yeah, the first half with a tight one. I think we put pretty good pressure on them, and I think we created a couple of good chances. But I mean, it was a really tight game in the first half which was pretty much how it looked out there. And then in the second half, I think they had a lot more possession which is hard to really analyze now after the game. They got one then we made it 1-1 and I thought we got energy from that, and it felt like we were about to take at least a point from here but then they scored at the end.

On if he felt pressure going into the match...

No pressure at all. I just enjoyed it. I am happy to be out there and finally start again. But like I said it was a tough opponent. They came out here with three points tonight. Disappointed with that, of course. A team that you see were good on the ball today. But it felt like it was a tight game. It could have ended either way.

On if he thought he could go longer than 70 minutes...

We had a little bit of discussion at halftime and also out there on the field. I felt fine. I mean, it's also very humid over here. It was my first start, but my body felt fine, and my knee felt fine. Like I said before, it's kind of real for me now. So, it's good to get the minutes and I tried to push it as much as I could. I felt fine but obviously I'm fatigued. But now we have to wait to see how the body responds but I feel fine.

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