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MLS St. Louis City SC

St. Louis CITY SC Records 2-1 Win on the Road Against Minnesota United FC

September 23, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
St. Louis City SC News Release


MINNESOTA - St. Louis CITY SC rallied from a goal down to record a 2-1 win on the road against Minnesota United FC. After a scoreless first half, Minnesota opened the scoring in the 46th minute through Teemu Pukki who drove home a penalty kick. After coming on as a substitute, CITY SC forward João Klauss leveled the score after nodding home a cross from Jake Nerwinski. Njabulo Blom found the game-winner in the 73rd minute to give CITY SC their sixth away win of the season.

First Professional Goal for Njabulo Blom

Njabulo Blom opened his goalscoring account for St. Louis CITY SC in extraordinary fashion, smashing in the game-winner against Minnesota United FC. The goal marked the first of Blom's career. Blom is the 17th player this season to record a goal for St. Louis in all competitions.

Postgame Notes

With the win, CITY SC tied LAFC for the most wins (16) by an expansion team in their inaugural season in MLS history (excluding the shootout era)

João Klauss has scored three goals in the last four matches, bringing him to 12 goal contributions on the season (8 goals, 4 assists)

Njabulo Blom scored his first goal for CITY SC, which was also the first professional goal of his career

With his goal, Blom became the 16th different MLS goal scorer for CITY SC this season, tying the team with Charlotte FC for the largest such total by an expansion team in their inaugural season

CITY SC extended its unbeaten streak to four straight games

Jake Nerwinski picked up his second assist of the season

Aziel Jackson recorded his fourth assist of the season, giving him five goal contributions on the season (1 goal, 4 assists)

CITY SC recorded its fourth come-from-behind victory of the season, tying the team with Minnesota United FC (2017) and LAFC (2018) for the most victories by an expansion team in MLS history (excluding the shootout era)

CITY SC now has six road victories, trailing only LAFC (7) for the most away wins by an expansion team in MLS history

Goal-Scoring Plays

MIN - Teemu Pukki (penalty), 48th minute: Teemu Pukki converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom left corner.

STL - João Klauss (Jake Nerwinski), 64th minute: João Klauss header from the center of the box to the top left corner.

STL - Njabulo Blom (Aziel Jackson), 73rd minute: Njabulo Blom right footed shot from the center of the box to the top right corner.

Next Game

St. Louis CITY SC heads back to CITYPARK for their third and final regular season matchup against cross-state rival Sporting Kansas City.

September 23, 2023 - Allianz Field (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

Goals by Half 1 2 F

Minnesota United FC 0 1 1

St. Louis CITY SC 0 2 2

Scoring Summary

MIN: Teemu Pukki (penalty), 48

STL: João Klauss (Jake Nerwinski), 64

STL: Njabulo Blom (Aziel Jackson), 73

Misconduct Summary

MIN: Dayne St. Clair (caution), 20

STL: Josh Yaro (caution), 29

MIN: Jan Gregus (caution), 31

STL: Roman Bürki (caution), 47

STL: Jonathan Bell (caution), 59

MIN: Michael Boxall (caution), 79

MIN: DJ Taylor (caution), 85

Lineups

MIN: GK Dayne St. Clair; D Zarek Valentin (Devin Padelford 78'), D Miguel Tapias, D Michael Boxall; M Wil Trapp (Mender Garcia 78') ©, M Jan Gregus (Kervin Arriaga 84'), M DJ Taylor, M Hassani Dotson; F Sang Bin Jeong (Franco Fragapone 71'), F Bongokuhle Hlongwane, F Teemu Pukki

Substitutes Not Used: GK Clint Irwin, D Bakaye Dibassy, GK Eric Dick, D Brent Kallman, F Ismael Tajouri-Shradi

TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 4

STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski, D Josh Yaro, D Kyle Hiebert, D Jonathan Bell (Anthony Markanich 74'); M Tomáš Ostrák (Aziel Jackson 58'), M Jared Stroud (João Klauss 58'), M Célio Pompeu, M Njabulo Blom, M Indiana Vassilev (Eduard Löwen 58'); F Niko Gioacchini (Akil Watts 83')

Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, F Sam Adeniran, M Rasmus Alm, F Nökkvi Thórisson

TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 19; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 4

Referee: Victor Rivas

Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva, Ben Pilgrim

Fourth Official: Fotis Bazakos

VAR: Greg Dopka

AVAR: Claudiu Badea

Venue: Allianz Field

Weather: Rain, 65 degrees

ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES

Audio: Recordings

Head Coach Bradley Carnell

Opening statement...

Good evening, everyone. Yeah, three games in eight days are never easy, and we made a decision to go with a lineup that was full of hunger, full of desire, full of speed and energy. And yeah, thought it was a, yet again, just a tight tactical game in the first half. There was no space between the two teams, you know. Neither gave any millimeter here or there, and it became a little bit of a tough situation. So, you know, we knew that, you know, certain players wouldn't be able to go the whole way. But we also know that we've used this strategy the whole year, and it's done us proud. And, yeah, we've believed from day one in this roster. We believed in the system from day one, and we were happy with the results and performances. We think about the Toronto stretch or we think about the San Jose away game, you know, when we use rotated lineups and were equally rewarded. What was missing in the first half for me were a little bit about principles, on the front foot, forward defending, counter pressing, winning the ball up high. And again, I just thought, you know, games here at this stadium tend to get a little bit wild in the second half towards the end of the games. Bringing on, you know, Klauss, AZ, Edu Löwen just changed the complexion of our game just a little bit. Anthony Markanich came in and did an excellent forward defending job on Bongi Hlongwane, who was a danger all day but then when we brought Anthony on, he was done. It was really good for my boys. Just proud to be in the company of an LAFC with 16 wins in the regular season. We've got three more games, you know, and yeah, we want to continue to great history and make this club proud.

On how important it was to get a win on the road...

Yeah, I think it's, you know, we've proven that we've been tight in games. The last three or four away games, we've been really happy with our performances. We haven't created a ton, and I thought the way the game opened up, the way we put them in a physical game, that battle, you know -- it was our principles that won us the game in the second half, you know. So, this is what we believe in. So yeah, it was a tough game. The conditions were really tough. The balls just get away from you. That field is really greasy and slippery. But again, you know, we managed to find a way. We got better as the game went on, and everyone did their job, you know. So again, very happy for how we implemented what we did today, and we finished our week off in some style.

On whether João Klauss can take the team's attack to a different level...

Yeah, but he needs the supply. He needs the service in, you know. We need to turn over the balls. We need to work in transition, you know. So, we get Klauss into good situations, but he's prepared to do the dirty work for his teammates as well. So yeah, listen, everyone's peeking. Everyone's getting stronger. Everyone's getting healthy. We're getting guys minutes who if are called and needed to be ready, they are ready because in the first half we played majority of these guys all year long at some points of the season, right. So, for me, it wasn't a second's thought to play the group that we did. And yes, when a team's getting tired in the second half, whether it's us or whether it's Minnesota, we knew we have some good decent weapons to come off the bench and recover.

Defender Jake Nerwinski

On how he feels about making expansion team history with 16 wins...

I think it just shows what this team has been like all season. You know, we played a completely rotated squad from our last game. Guys that have had success in the beginning of the season and fell out for a bit came back in and that's the kind of team we have. We have a team of 26 guys that can start week in week out and be successful. And for us to finally get the road win after how many games we haven't, it's huge for us.

On his cross that led to Klauss' goal...

Yeah, when I got the ball Klauss and I actually made eye contact. And he kind of pointed just to put it in, and I trust that guy because I think he can jump and he can head the ball the best out of any attacker in this league. So I just put it up into a good spot, and he put it in.

On Njabulo Blom's goal...

We're all so happy for him. He's been knocking at the door. He's taken a lot of shots. He's just a guy who is quiet. He works hard. He's the backbone of our team that you and doesn't really get noticed as much. I thought he was everywhere tonight despite the goal, and for him to have the winning goal, it's awesome. We were really happy for him.

Midfielder Njabulo Blom

On scoring his first professional goal...

Yeah, I feel so great. I'd like to give the glory to God because I've been praying so hard to get my first goal of my career. And also, I think it was a team effort. If you saw the goal, it was kind of counter-pressing, playing our principles. So, credit to the guys also, I think, yeah, it was just a team goal. But I'm so excited to have scored today.

On coming from behind to get the win...

Yeah, I think it was so important for us to, like, get a win today, approaching our last three games of the season to the playoffs. So, I think this is like a morale booster to us as a team. And yeah, I think credit to us as a team for getting maximum results today.

On the team's mood after falling behind in the second half...

To be quite honest, I don't know how to explain it. But I think for us it was a wakeup call because we came back to the changing room, and the coach told us we needed to up our game or one gear more up. So, I think we did that great as a team with the guys, so I think, yeah, it was just a wakeup call for us to, like, lift ourselves up.

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