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MLS St. Louis City SC

St. Louis CITY SC Opens Leagues Cup with 2-1 Win Against FC Dallas

July 27, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
St. Louis City SC News Release


ST. LOUIS, MO - St. Louis CITY SC won their first Leagues Cup game 2-1 against FC Dallas at CITYPARK on Saturday night. Dallas opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a goal from Sam Junqua. St. Louis responded with a goal from Cedric Teuchert which was his first as a CITY SC player. Nökkvi Thórisson earned his first assist of the season on the goal. In the second half, Marcel Hartel scored a penalty kick in the second half to secure the win for St. Louis. The goal was Hartel's first as a CITY SC player. St. Louis moves atop of their group in Leagues Cup and will play their last match of the group on Sunday night versus FC Juárez at CITYPARK.

Postgame Notes

The win was St. Louis' first in Leagues Cup play and snapped a four-match winless streak across all competitions

It was the first time in 13 matches CITY SC allowed the first goal and won in 2024. St. Louis was 0-8-4 in the previous 12 matches. It was just the fourth time in 28 matches across all competitions in St. Louis history to have accomplished the feat.

Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel scored their first goal as CITY players and the first in Leagues Cup play

Simon Becher, Hartel and Teuchert made their CITY SC debuts with the starts

St. Louis improved their record against FC Dallas to 2-2-1 across all competitions

Nökkvi Thórisson recorded his first assist this season

Thórisson has four goal contributions (three goals, one assist) in his last seven starts across all competitions

CITY SC has scored two or more goals in a win at CITYPARK for the fifth time this season

CITY SC's record at CITYPARK is now 16-8-7 all-time across all competitions

Goal-Scoring Plays

DAL: Sam Junqua (Paul Arriola), 18th minute - Sam Junqua scored a left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.

STL: Cedric Teuchert (Nökkvi Thórisson), 27th minute - Cedric Teuchert scored a right footed shot from the center of the box to the center of the goal.

STL: Marcel Hartel (penalty), 49th minute - Marcel Hartel scored a penalty kick with a right footed shot.

July 27, 2024 - CITYPARK (St. Louis, MO)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

St. Louis CITY SC 1 1 2

FC Dallas 1 0 1

Scoring Summary

DAL: Sam Junqua (Paul Arriola), 18'

STL: Cedric Teuchert (Nökkvi Thórisson), 27'

STL: Marcel Hartel (penalty), 49'

Misconduct Summary

DAL: Tsiki Ntsabeleng (caution), 21'

STL: Jay Reid (caution), 54'

STL: Sebastien Ibeagha (caution), 64'

STL: Kyle Hiebert (caution), 65'

STL: Tim Parker (caution), 66'

Lineups

STL: GK Roman Bürki ©, D Tomas Totland, D Tim Parker, D Kyle Hiebert, D Jay Reid; M Chris Durkin, M Eduard Löwen (Jake Girdwood-Reich, 90'+1); M Nökkvi Thórisson, M Cedric Teuchert (John Klein, 68'), M Marcel Hartel (Indiana Vassilev, 68'); F Simon Becher (Hosei Kijima, 77')

Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, GK Christian Olivares, D Michael Wentzel, D Jake Nerwinski, D Josh Yaro, D Anthony Markanich, M Akil Watts

TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 2

DAL: GK Maarten Paes, D Ema Twumasi (Tarik Scott, 69'), D Sebastien Ibeagha, D Nkosi Tafari, D Marco Farfan; M Paul Arriola ©, M Carl Sainte (Eugene Ansah, 77'), M Tsiki Ntsabeleng (Tomas Pondeca, 58'), M Sam Junqua; F Petar Musa, F Logan Farrington (Bernard Kamungo, 58')

Substitutes not used: GK Jimmy Maurer, GK Antonio Carrera, D Omar Gonzalez, M Anthony Ramirez, M Asier Illaramendi, F Herbert Endeley, F Dante Sealy

TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 4

Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Assistant Referees: Felisha Mariscal, Jeremy Kieso, Jesus Rafael Lopez Valle

Venue: CITYPARK

Weather: Rainy, 76 degrees

ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES

Audio: Recording

Video: Footage

Interim Head Coach John Hackworth

On how much new guys on the team have contributed to the confidence of the team:

Yeah, I mean, I can't say it enough that when they come here, and they're just literally thrown into something. But it wasn't that, you know, I wasn't going to always throw them in. They came and they integrated so quickly and so fast. Especially Ced[ric] [Teuchert], he was here early and has been training you know, for a couple of weeks now. He's just getting game minutes. [Marcel Hartel] you know, a little different. He's, you know, he said he was fitter when he got here. He just needed the game minutes and that was great. Simon [Becher] came off a preseason in Denmark. So, he's fit and ready but that's his first, you know, real game minutes. So, again, big boosts to our team.

On what went through his mind before the match knowing that new players were set to make their debuts:

I was excited. I mean, I think, you know, the players and staff could tell that we were, we were all excited. Because while we didn't necessarily think we were gonna come out and automatically win a game. We just thought that we were, you know, had potential from our past performances, adding some real quality, especially with Simon [Becher] and [Marcel Hartel] getting on the field tonight to start. So, we were excited. I thought, this isn't gonna work perfectly, but let's build on the little relationships, let's understand each other, let's trust, let's get each other's back. And for the most part, I was really happy with that. I was also, you know, absolutely out of my mind furious when we gave up that first goal, because it didn't seem like you know, they had threatened much, and we knew what they were going to try to do. So that's just a really bad defensive play on our part.

On the interplay between Marcel Hartel, Eduard Löwen, and Jay Reid:

Yeah, for sure. And that's part of the excitement, you know. We knew that they were going to run into each other because they hadn't been playing together enough. But, you know, from my standpoint, I love the mobility and that makes it really difficult for an opposition to kind of key on one way to defend you. And those guys, especially those three, all three of them are very fluid in their movement. And that's something we could certainly build on and I know they will.

Midfielder Marcel Hartel

On scoring tonight:

I think it's the best situation to go in the team, to win the game, to make a great team performance. And in the end, it's the win that makes me happy. So, I'm very happy tonight.

On playing with the team for the first time:

I think it went very well. It was my first time with the guys. I had one week to prepare with the guys and to meet everybody, see how their playing style is, and I think this was a very good night.

On the teams' mood:

I can see that the first day here, when I was coming in, that the team is a very positive team, a very funny team. So, in the locker room, I was always found there was laughing so I can feel there's not like the mood from the regular season, so, I can feel something. I was watching some games. So, for me it was clear the team is better than the results were. So, we can see today that we are a good team.

Defender Tim Parker

On having the team's new players out on the pitch:

Yeah, I've mentioned it before, a little bit of new energy. A little bit of new energy, more quality moving forward, and it just gives the squad a little bit more of a bump going into this one.

On how the team responded after conceding a goal:

Yeah, really well. Like I said, you know, obviously, going down one-nothing at home is never on our sheet of what we want to do. So, to come back into that game and obviously get the goal pretty quickly after is important.

On the win potentially serving as a positive turning point in the season:

Yeah, I think that's what we're looking at it as. You know, I think we're looking at it as, like we alluded to before, just getting new guys in, getting them situated into the group, getting them minutes, game minutes, stuff for us to work on as a group. We're going to be able to train a good amount with these next several weeks with these games, too. So, it's just getting guys on the same page, and hopefully this first result is able to catapult this into something special.

Forward Simon Becher

On his role in the play that led to the team's first goal:

Yeah, I think I just controlled it and then kind of saw Nökkvi [Thórisson] out wide. So, put it out to him, and then he put a dangerous ball in, and Cedi [Teuchert] finished it off. Yeah, I think, really good play. Yeah, just finishing plays off and does it necessarily. In and around the box, you know, we want to re-press. And, yeah, just a good feeling to tie the game up, and I think after that, you know, we were all feeling good and kind of wanted to push on from there.

On how difficult it is from him, Marcel Hartel, Cedric Teuchert and the rest of the team to play together given how little time they've had to train as a group:

Yeah, I think, you know, that's a big thing Leagues Cup is going to help us do. You know, kind of get the team to gel, and, you know, I think we're all working really hard on the training pitch. And getting out here, I know everything - [Coach] Hack kind of reiterated that everything is not going to be perfect, but work through it, work together and I think you can kind of see that we did that. And I think with the work ethic being there that the result ended up coming.

On his emotions returning to St. Louis:

Yeah, it was fantastic. You know, all the fans tonight, really warm embrace. You know, I think I was on the other end of it last year when I was playing here, and that made it a lot more difficult. And I can tell you tonight it was a lot easier having them on our side. Yeah, it was really good, and it felt really good to win here in front of all of them.

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