St. Louis CITY SC wrapped up their first of three scrimmages at the Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio, California, falling 4-1 to LA Galaxy. CITY SC will face Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday and conclude with New York City FC on Wednesday, February 15.
POST-GAME NOTES & QUOTES
2023 Preseason – Coachella Valley Invitational
LA Galaxy vs. St. Louis CITY SC
Feb. 8, 2023 – Empire Polo Club (Indio, Calif.)
Goals by Half 1
LA Galaxy 1
St. Louis CITY SC 1 0
Scoring Summary:
STL: Stroud (Nelson, Ostrák), 10’
LA: Delgado, 29’
LA: Joveljić (Edwards), 52’
LA: Álvarez (penalty kick), 66’
LA: Álvarez (Coulibaly), 79’
Misconduct Summary:
STL: Klauss (yellow), 24’
LA: Cáceres (yellow), 30’
STL: Stroud (yellow), 38’
STL: Löwen (yellow), 64’
STL: Adeniran (yellow), 87’
Lineups:
STL First Half Lineup: GK Roman Bürki, D Jake Nerwinski, D Tim Parker, D Kyle Hiebert, D John Nelson, M Eduard Löwen, M Miguel Perez, M Tomáš Ostrák, M Aziel Jackson, M Jared Stroud, F João Klauss
STL Second Half Lineup: GK Ben Lundt, D Josh Yaro, D Jon Bell (Lucas Bartlett 73’), D Akil Watts, D Celio Pompeu, M Njabulo Blom (Owen O’Malley 73’), M Indiana Vassilev, M Rasmus Alm, M Isak Jensen, F Niko Gioacchini, F Samuel Adeniran
LA: GK Jonathan Klinsmann; D Kelvin Leerdam (Diego Lopez**, 60), D Martín Cáceres (Jalen Neal, 30, Eriq Zavaleta, 60), D Chris Mavinga (D Séga Coulibaly, 30), D Chase Gasper (Allan Legaspi**, 60), M Mark Delgado (Preston Judd, 46), M Gastón Brugman (Adam Saldaña, 46), M Riqui Puig (Raheem Edwards, 46), M Memo Rodríguez (Sergio Villapando^, 60); F Javier “Chicharito” Hernández © (Efrain Alvarez, 30), F Dejan Joveljić (Ruben Ramos Jr. **, 60)
^ Trialist
**LA Galaxy Academy
CITY SC Head Coach Bradley Carnell
On his reactions to the game…
Yeah, the results don’t matter for me right now. We’ve said that even in the good times, we’re not talking about wins and losses. We’re talking about growing moments. And this was some of the best of us today and we had many, many good moments. I thought in the first half, we had some excellent play. In the second half, we let things slip a little bit. We weren’t really connected enough as a group and yeah, we didn’t work as a unit and collective. We show a little bit of vulnerability. So now we reflect on these moments we pick up on these moments. And again, results won’t define us in this preseason. But yeah, we want to take a step out of every learning and growing moment, positive or negatively. And today was just one of those moments.
On what he’s excited about moving forward…
Yeah, I mean, I saw a lot of good things. I saw a lot of good things with and without the ball. I saw a team who did things according to a certain structure in a way to penalize teams, to exploit spaces, to get in runs behind and to play underneath. So, we had a very good sort of category of selection of plays in the very first half. Yeah, if the opponent was high, we played around them and over them, if they were sitting deep, we played through them. So, we had some really good little moments. You know, but again, yeah, these are growing moments with us. We’ll reflect, we’ll have a look and move on, nothing more, nothing less.
On if the players are adapting to the team’s principles…
I said that you’re seeing both good and bad, right? So, while we’re getting fatigued in the legs, while we’re getting a lot of moments, successful moments in the final third, successful moments building up from the back, our identity is against the ball. This is our first and foremost criteria that we gauge ourselves by and obviously today, when you give up four then you go back to the drawing board and have a look. So, nothing more, nothing less.
On players that stood out…
Yeah, I mean, Roman [Bürki] from the back, had some really good moments. With the ball and in the buildup showed a lot of calmness. Tim Parker, Kyle Hiebert and I can go around the board in many of the moments. Yeah, even on the backline in the second half, Lucas Bartlett comes in and as a good job as one of the trialist. I just want our guys to be brave. When we do things, I want to be brave on both sides of the ball and play with courage and without fear and make sure we get the job done. So good growing moments today.
