St. Louis CITY SC fell 2-1 against Portland Timbers at CITYPARK on Saturday night. After a scoreless first half, Portland Timbers took the lead through Evander who converted a penalty kick in the 63rd minute. Célio Pompeu equalized in the 79th minute for CITY SC, but Portland found the winner three minutes later through Yimmi Chará.
Célio Pompeu Continues Form
Following a three-assists performance in the U.S. Open Cup against Union Omaha, Célio Pompeu followed up with a bang, scoring his first MLS goal tonight against Portland Timbers. The midfielder subbed on in the 67th minute and immediately prove to be a threat for the opposition.
Postgame Notes
- CITY SC recorded its sixth consecutive sellout in all competition.
- CITY SC fielded its 11th different lineup across all competitions this season
- With the second assist tonight, Rasmus Alm has recorded a point (goal contribution) in four straight games.
- Célio Pompeu scored his first MLS goal in his career
- CITY SC has seen 11 different goal scorers across all competitions this season.
- With Célio scoring his first MLS goal, he became the ninth player to score for CITY SC in league play.
Goal-Scoring Plays
POR – Evander (penalty), 63rd minute: Evander converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
STL – Célio Pompeu (Tomáš Ostrák), 79th minute: Célio Pompeu right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the top right corner.
POR – Yimmi Chará (Santiago Moreno), 82nd minute: Yimmi Chará right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.
Next Game
St. Louis CITY SC will head south for a matchup against FC Dallas.
April 29, 2023 – CITYPARK (St. Louis, MO)
Goals by Half 1
St. Louis CITY SC 0 1 1
Portland Timbers 0 2
Scoring Summary
POR: Evander (penalty), 63
STL: Célio Pompeu (Tomáš Ostrák), 79
POR: Yimmi Chará (Santiago Moreno), 82
Misconduct Summary
POR: Zac McGraw (caution), 8
STL: Kyle Siebert (caution), 71
POR: Juan Mosquera (caution), 90’+2
Lineups
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski (Akil Watts 83′), D John Nelson, D Kyle Hiebert, D Tim Parker; M Jared Stroud (Célio Pompeu 67′), M Eduard Löwen, M Rasmus Alm (Isak Jensen 83′), M Miguel Perez (Tomáš Ostrák 55′); F Nicholas Gioacchini (Aziel Jackson 67′), F Indiana Vassilev
Substitutes Not Used: D Josh Yaro, D Selmir Pidro, D Lucas Bartlett, GK Ben Lundt
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 5
POR: GK Aljaz Ivacic; D Dario Zuparic, D Eric Miller (Claudio Bravo 88′), D Zachery McGraw, D Juan Mosquera; M Evander M Diego Chara ©, M David Ayala (Cristhian Paredes 21′), M Marvin Loria (Yimmi Chara 64′); F Franck Boli (Jaroslaw Niezgoda 64′), F Santiago Moreno (Larrys Mabiala 88′)
Substitutes Not Used: F Diego Gutierrez, GK Hunter Sulte, D Pablo Bonilla, F Nathan Fogaca
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 0
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistant Referees: Brian Poeschel, Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Victor Rivas
VAR: Rosendo Mendoza
AVAR: Tyler Wyrostek
Venue: CITYPARK
Weather: Clear, 69 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Audio: Recording
Bradley Carnell
BRADLEY CARNELL: Obviously we knew this was going to be a physical battle, and congrats to Gio. Just looked like that team wanted it more, right, and yeah, hurts me to say that because it.
Yeah, I believe in the team we’ve created here that likes to be at that end of the scale, nice and physical and combative, and congrats to Gio. We got what we deserved tonight. But unfortunately we couldn’t match the physical output that they put out on the day. And I’ll reflect myself for this result because, yeah, this was not up to my standards.
And yeah, we apologize to the fans who came out here. It was great support, and unfortunately we couldn’t reword them. We found a way back in the game, and thought, yeah, the guys did well who came on. Tomáš Ostrák notably has been looking for a bit of game time, as well as Célio. So, you know, in terms of positives I would say that’s about the only positives from a gloomy night.
Q. They started making those runs, especially the first half, and got those dangerous chances, one of which led to the penalty kick. What were they able to exploit?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Space. When there’s space underneath, where there’s space behind, space everywhere; I just felt everywhere I looked there was space.
So yeah, unfortunately for me as a coach, we are trying to correct things during the game and that’s what we have a set of principles for, right, for different scenarios, for different phases in the game and unfortunately we couldn’t find those right tools to deal with those situations.
So again, yeah, unfortunately I would say this is a tough day at the office for us. It’s a good learning moment.
Q. And then, disappointing, Célio ties the game; did you sense a defensive letdown from the team after that?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, obviously you have the energy and the hype; you’re excited, and oftentimes, the very next few plays after a goal whether you concede or whether you score are going to be vitally important, right. And you could just see maybe a little sense of relief from us, which meant now a little lack of concentration.
So again, I’ll look at this very long and hard just to make sure that, yeah, we stay true to our principles and making sure we have to put our guys, making sure that with the details, the planning, the game plan. That’s all said and good, but at the end of the day it’s me against you, and I have to win my personal battles. And unfortunately that just slipped away from us today a little bit.
Q. Coach, you might not be able to comment on this but I’m going to ask you anyway. Do you think the ref had a bad night tonight?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, listen, I mean, I don’t — if I have to start worrying about the referees and decisions, then it means, you know, there’s other factors why you lose a game. You lose a game from mistakes and momentum, and you lose a game not sticking to your principles. If we have to rely on the ref in the fourth instance, the three other things I’ve mentioned and then the ref, then I think we’re in for a long season.
For me, I’ve got nothing to say about the refs, whatever the calls — I haven’t had a look back at the calls. I have to reflect back and have a look. Yeah, I know what they are trying to do. They are trying to do their best. Last week in Colorado we get eight minutes of stoppage time. We only got five with multiple stop pages and no time-wasting. Again, that’s about as much as I’ll say to that.
Q. In the first half, really, you kept getting Löwen in that left spot of the offense and that was where a lot of the good looks were coming from, or did you see something natural that came?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, I mean, Edu plays with a lot of freedom of the moment, right, soar dough is flexible in his approach and he looks to create space or he looks to exploit space that the opponent gives him.
Obviously he’s a targeted man. People know where he’s going to pop up. So he tries to find some space.
So yeah, I think he did a good job in the first half trying to find that space. We looked dangerous. What are the follow actions; where is the movement off the ball; where is the final running off the ball, the movement? So we are going to look at all of that in the final third.
I thought it was a lot of Eduard’s trying to solve things too much on the ball; once we had it, we were without now the freedom and flexibility of the other guys movement off the ball, right.
So when Thomas comes in, you see the way he sets up the goal, his first movement behind the lines, we exploit space, it’s a cut back, it’s a tap-in and that’s the sort of movements we were looking for. Unfortunately we couldn’t exploit that as best as we could. I thought we tried to solve things a little bit too statistically tonight.
Q. What was the thought process behind moving him back after some of those subs?
BRADLEY CARNELL: No, I mean, obviously with Edu, from a ten, his starting position, he’s out of position, right. So we knew that we could get him up the field. We know that Edu likes to get up the field and we wanted Miggy on the field for his combative nature. We had a couple of shaky moments as a midfield, as a back line, as a front line.
Our departments were working individually this evening and not together, so we can’t really see that unity together. And that’s something we pride ourselves by. I’d just say everything we try to do, wasn’t really to plug the Band-Aid, and we could just see that through the night.
And yeah, credit to them. They just wanted it more, and everything we’re trying to solve and try to work and manipulate through the game, we couldn’t really get on top of them and get that momentum back in the game.
Q. This is the first chance that the club has had a second — do you feel like some of that was them adjusting defensively to the looks that you were giving them —
BRADLEY CARNELL: I don’t think structurally, there was any structural issues. I mean, they lose a player early on, they bring in Perez, he finds a few more gaps between the lines maybe but I don’t think structurally — you know, I think this was — credit to Gio, but this was very self-inflicted as well.
And that’s the disappointing things, because we go home with empty stomachs, no points, and yeah, just a little bit of disappointment and we don’t like to spend the rest of the weekend playing like this in front of our fans that. Doesn’t sit well to any of us. The guys are brutally disappointed outside, or in the locker room, and that’s the most hurtful thing, right, not to reward the fans with something.
Q. It felt like especially in the first half, you guys had a lot of opportunities in the attacking third but you couldn’t put together any really dangerous opportunities. Does that just speak to the disconnectedness, or not having a guy like Klauss on the field who can kind of create in those situations, or both?
BRADLEY CARNELL: We try and finish off, when we get to the final third, we want to finish plays. Unfortunately was it backing around again, was it not getting shots off, was it trying too many, I don’t know, they have a strong aerial back line, right.
So with McGraw, he’s one of those guys that can win a lot of aerial duels. Could we have exploited space down below more, could we have exploited space behind the lines or could we have exploited space in front of the lines. Unfortunately we just chose a decision-making, I felt we choose one or two wrong decisions or you know multiple decisions in the final third. So yeah, we lacked a little bit of creativity and a little bit of freedom tonight.
Q. I know you haven’t seen the film from the game yet but can you share what you saw out of Miguel Perez overall today?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Miggy is feisty. He’s combative. We are not playing him to make, you know, intricate line-splitting passes, right, and he can do those. And we know he’s a young guy and he needs these experiences, right. If we’re going to push him along — you know, he’s in his national team; if he wants to then progress, these are experiences we’re going to give Miggy, and we’re proud of what we’ve created in terms of the environment to reward young players and get players through to play by our principles and Miggy fits that mold.
So yes, any judgment of Miggy or any reflections back on Miggy, for sure, it not going to be a perfect game, right, and you could see. He’s just turned 18 a day or two ago, so from that point of view, yeah, I don’t think there’s anything more on his mind than to get out there and play with his friends and that’s the attitude I need Miggy in and not to over think it.
So Miggy is doing great. Yeah, we just try to get a different look when we brought him off.
Q. Did Miggy play like an 18-year-old?
BRADLEY CARNELL: No, he doesn’t. That’s the thing we like about him, right. So yeah, but obviously we need Miggy, obviously we want to be the best versions of ourselves and we want every player to be the best versions of themselves is and to be free and not to over think things.
But yeah, I mean, Miggy was fine. We didn’t do bad with Miggy on the field. We just needed to push the game.
Q. The offense without Klauss, did you think other than the finishing issues that you had, just how do you feel about the offense without your top scorer?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Yeah, good. I mean, yeah, I thought we could, you know, we asked a lot of Gioacchini. We looked at his load at halftime and he was just run through the roof. He has a lot of gas to burn, and unfortunately maybe he tried a little bit of too much running in terms of the pressing, the distances, we tried to get Edu and Gio as a double-striker partnership when we were pressing and try to get Gio underneath — excuse me, with Edu underneath as a ten when we had the ball.
Unfortunately we couldn’t get the, yeah, the pressing triggers in terms of turnovers. We couldn’t get those quite right tonight and that didn’t give us really an opportunity, too. That just exploited space behind and played long. Unfortunately we couldn’t get due in the game, holding up the ball, brings others into play. It wasn’t that type of a game tonight, and unfortunately we have to start chasing again and that’s why we make certain substitutions.
Q. Rasmus with the secondary assist on the goal, the entire game was pressing the whole game and comes back from the head injury, immediately comes like a bowl out of a China shop, can you talk about how he’s developed?
BRADLEY CARNELL: Good, Rasmus is getting better every single week that he spends with us. Rasmus is getting better with the quality of his performances and that comes with game time and that comes with momentum.
Yeah, Rasmus, he’s a quality player. He plays true to our principles. He’s a guy that eats, sleeps and breathes our principles every single day and you can see that on the field. He brings an energy for the crowd. You can just see he’s a live wire. When he gets going, he gets the energy of the crowd behind him.
And we just needed the players to feed off a little bit more of that energy, and that was the missing link for me was a bit of the energy, right, of the group. And I told the group, that starts with me. I reflected myself and look at how my energy was before the game, did I give the right messages, so from that point of view, any reflection, any blaming, finger-pointing, I look at myself first and foremost.
Q. You had a couple nice really touches in the coaching back early on in the game. Doesn’t that demonstrate your dedication to the game?
BRADLEY CARNELL: No, I think the first one got a way from me. I was a little disappointed with the first one. I had to work hard at the second one. Yeah.
Eduard Löwen
On if the key for them was the runs they made in the second half…
Yeah, it was too easy. They were just hitting long balls. We lost the tackles. We won the air duels, and then we didn’t get the second balls. We were too stretched, too wide. And then yeah, it was too easy for them to create chances and also the way we conceded the goals. I think the first one, the penalty is a result from a goal kick, which is way too easy. And the second one, we are there with three, four men against one and he’s coming out — that’s just way too easy.
On if Portland’s second goal came because CITY SC lowered their guard defensively after equalizing…
Yeah, I just don’t get it. We were coming back in the game. Scoring. It was one-one. We had to keep going and try to win the game, to turn this game around. And then we scored the goal and then suddenly we stopped playing. I don’t know — we are getting passive and giving them chances again, and then they score easy goals like this. This is just, yeah, unbelievable.
On not having Klauss…
Yeah, obviously. I mean, it’s not a secret that he’s missing and that we will need him for sure. And I hope very, very badly that he will come back as soon as possible. Yeah, I think the first half wasn’t bad. We had some moments, but not real chances. We are sometimes in front of the box, but we always got blocked or something. We didn’t have real chances. So, I really hope that he’s coming back soon.
John Nelson
On what he saw on the penalty kick…
No, honestly, I don’t think it’s PK. I fall on it, you know, maybe it hit my hand, but it was natural you know he didn’t go to the VAR, but you know we don’t blame the ref at all. We’re a team that’s not going to blame the ref, you know. We didn’t deserve it tonight. You know, I don’t think it was a PK, but you know, we just we move on.
On his overall thoughts on how the match played out…
Overall, not good. You know, Portland came in here with a good game plan. They played really slow. You know, that’s what they wanted to do, slow the game down. We kind of we let them come in here and walk all over us. And like Brad said after the game in the locker room, it’s just not good enough. So, for the fans, you know, it has to be better.
On whether the team was optimistic after Célio scored…
Of course. Celio did a great job coming in, good energy, you know, congrats to him for his first MLS goal and, you know, they score a few minutes after that, you know, you never want that to happen. You know, I think if we walked out of there with 1-1 draw, we’d be happy.
Tim Parker
On whether there was a lack of energy…
Yeah. Not exactly what we want to do tonight for sure. I think Portland came here with the game plan and without being too, too harsh on ourselves, I think we played into it. And yeah, you know, I think we needed to realize what they were doing early on and obviously trying to up the tempo, up our intensity. Change the energy very early and we were able to do that.
On the team breaking down after Célio’s goal…
Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, obviously, we haven’t gotten a chance to break it down yet. But yeah, I mean, we fight, we fight enough to get back into the game at that point. You know, we have the fans behind the setpoint. And then it’s like, it’s a gut punch.
On how the penalty kick affected his psyche…
Yeah, you know, I think there were multiple times that we had to fight our psyche in a way tonight. But you know, I think that’s going to happen throughout the year. It’s going to be adversity. So there’s, it’s for us, it’s going to be moments where we can get past it. Tonight, we are able to battle back which was great. I think their response was great to get that goal but then obviously we have to be strong enough to finish that game.
Célio Pompeu
On what he thought went wrong defensively…
Today was a bad game for us. You know, I feel like we didn’t bring or enrich will bring on principles that were achieved, very obviously. We didn’t win our second balls today, so it was viral. That’s how I mean I felt like we did deserve to lose this game because today our team wasn’t us, you know. No, he didn’t mean the challenges were way too easy, but it was it.
On whether he thought the match being the team’s third in eight days contributed to their performance…
I don’t think so. I think everybody was ready to go with this, things that happen. But our team is very strong mentality — so we definitely want to work hard this coming week and then fix those things that were really wrong today. And definitely — what we’re going to bring the energy, because this cannot happen again.
On if the directness of his attacking and scoring was something the team was missing as a whole tonight…
I think it was the same thing because as I said before, we didn’t have the energy, you know. We didn’t — we know our dues. And we are a team that we have to be aggressive, we have to win the second balls. And when we don’t do that, doesn’t matter. We are going to win. We have to win those battles. Because we are a team. We are an aggressive team you know so when we are not aggressive that’s the reason we lost. So, I think we just need to be more aggressive next game. We in this challenge have like a better mentality before the game. We started the locker room starting to warm up and then when you definitely want to be fine.
