St. Louis CITY SC earned a point at home following their 1-1 draw against LA Galaxy on Sunday. After a scoreless first half, CITY SC forward Niko Gioacchini found the opener in the 68th minute of the match before LA Galaxy leveled the game through Daniel Aguirre in the 85th minute. CITY SC remains atop of the Western Conference standings with 29 points.
Four-Match Unbeaten Streak
Over the four-match home-stand, CITY SC has posted a 3-0-1 record. CITY SC earned victories against Sporting KC, Vancouver and Houston Dynamo, winning each game by at least three goals. With a goal in today’s draw, CITY SC have outscored their opponents 11-2 over the last four games.
Postgame Notes
- CITY SC has trailed in just 52 of 900 minutes at CITYPARK
- CITY SC is now 7-2-1 at CITYPARK across all competitions and 6-2-1 at home in MLS play
- With his goal, Niko Gioacchini now has a team-leading six (6) goals on the season
- Gioacchini recorded a goal for the second-consecutive match, becoming the first CITY SC player to have multiple instances of goals in back-to-back games
- Gioacchini leads the team with 6 goals in MLS play
- With his assist, Indiana Vassilev now has five goal contributions on the season (2 goals, 3 assists)
- CITY SC remains undefeated (7-0-2) in MLS play when they score first
- With the draw, CITY SC now has a four-match home unbeaten streak
- CITY SC are 7-1-2 when Alm is on the field, outscoring their opponents by 26-8 in those games.
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL – Niko Gioacchini (Indiana Vassilev), 68th minute: Niko Gioacchini left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
LA – Daniel Aguirre (Douglas Costa), 85th minute: Daniel Aguirre right footed shot from very close range to the center of the goal.
Next Game
St. Louis CITY SC hits the road for a bout with Eastern Conference opponent Nashville SC.
June 11, 2023 – CITYPARK (St. Louis, MO)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
St. Louis CITY SC 0 1 1
LA Galaxy 0 1 1
Scoring Summary
STL: Niko Gioacchini (Indiana Vassilev), 68
LA: Daniel Aguirre (Douglas Costa), 85
Misconduct Summary
STL: Eduard Löwen (caution), 8’
STL: Njabulo Blom (caution), 40’
STL: Rasmus Alm (caution), 45’+4’
LA: Gastón Brugman (caution), 52’
LA: Jalen Neal (caution), 54’
STL: Tomáš Ostrák (caution), 83’
Lineups
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski, D Lucas Bartlett, D Tim Parker, D Kyle Hiebert; M Eduard Löwen, M Njabulo Blom, M Indiana Vassilev (Tomáš Ostrák 78’), M Rasmus Alm (Célio Pompeu 56’), M Jared Stroud (Aziel Jackson 78’); F Niko Gioacchini
Substitutes Not Used: D John Nelson, D Josh Yaro, D Jon Bell, M Miguel Perez, M Isak Jensen, GK Ben Lundt
TOTAL SHOTS: 22; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 4
LA: GK Jonathan Bond; D Lucas Calegari (Kelvin Leerdam 78’), D Julian Aude, D Martin Caceres, D Jalen Neal (Chris Mavinga 78’); M Gaston Brugman ©, M Riqui Puig, M Mark Delgado, M Tyler Boyd (Daniel Aguirre 78’), F Dejan Joveljic (Preston Judd 78’), F Douglas Costa (Efrain Alvarez 90’+3’)
Substitutes Not Used: D Eriq Zavaleta, F Gino Vivi, GK Jonathan Klinsmann, D Raheem Edwards
TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 5
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Diego Blas, Claudiu Badea
Fourth Official: Jeremy Scheer
VAR: Jair Marrufo
AVAR: Tom Supple
Venue: CITYPARK
Weather: Cloudy, 67 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Video: Bradley Carnell
Audio: Recordings
Bradley Carnell
Yeah, just a very proud coach, the way we went at it today, bouncing back from the craziness of Dallas, and I thought we got stronger as the match went on. Yeah just a ruthless mentality, and one of the most joyous things we saw today was a back line who was connected and trusted each other and just committed to the bigger process, yeah, you know, I didn’t have many things to do and change off the side which is always a good sign when the game is going your way. We know they are a dangerous team and unfortunately one moment — I thought we tried to — and unfortunately sometimes you don’t get credit for good performances because I thought we deserved three points today. Credit to the boys and I know we want to win home games, but we move on.
Looked like there were chances in the first half and you guys couldn’t on the last play make them come together to give you the lead?
Yeah, listen, we have been working a lot and talking about creation. We said in the last three games, those that we have scored have come from set pieces. We needed to be more creative, and I thought we were exactly that today. We need to be much more creative and more fluid in the final third and yeah it was great to get Rasmus back on in the lineup and to see him in action in the first half. We knew he was not going to last the whole game, but we had subs to come in and create more chaos and havoc. Credit to the group. I enjoyed today’s game.
On a goal that you gave, was there a letdown after the goal or some second half defensive issues?
Listen, we are a team and stick together as teammates, and as a collective. You know, I mean, yeah, take no — we trust him to make decisions and we trust them to get out of that. He corrected the very next play. He played a really good pass forward. So, I mean, again, we trust our players. We trust them to make decisions, and we move on.
Unfortunately, our spacing and recovery — we can’t get there quick enough because we are in total possession of the ball. So, there was no danger, and we lost it quite cheaply and got caught a little bit behind the 8-ball. But we are not here to blame, and we are still here as a group and connected to each other and trust each other. As a group, how can we learn from these moments. You hate to give up a late one, but I thought we controlled much of the proceedings today.
From your eyes — does he have to be to execute that play?
Yeah, he’s thinking a couple of things right there. He’s thinking of making a run to the near post. He’s trying to see the flight of the ball. It comes slightly behind him and now he has to come back into the path of the ball and — inaudible — he’s been searching for one. So, we made sure that he occupied the center backs and created a bit of havoc. He’s getting better with each game, and he’s never stopped learning. So, this is all we’ve asked of the group, and to stick to our principles and we’ll get rewarded. So happy Gioacchini gets on the score sheet tonight. Yeah, I’m speechless, because I thought we played an excellent game and deserved three points.
On the flipside we saw a really strong performance from Indiana today but he couldn’t quite get that finishing spot? How impressive to see that performance, yet not worry about it not getting on the score sheet?
I don’t worry about that. Indy is more the creator than he is the goal scorer, but we’ve seen, I think it was Vancouver where in the transition, he’s a very clean finisher. Yeah, you know, credit to the Galaxy. They came back in the game. They plugged up spaces. They took away decisions for us because there were just bodies in the way, so we tried to weasel out, weasel through and there was the next white shirt there which brought other players into play, right.
So I think he was like a bit of a magnet. He drew a lot of attention and then he got the ball off to supporting players and we got shots off. We had dangerous moments. We just don’t need Indy to score all the goals or be the only one shooting. I thought we had an impressive attacking performance today.
Right before you scored that goal, Parker had that 1v1 interception and that changed the momentum and led to the goal. As a coach, how happy were you to see your team take defense straight into offense and capitalize on that energy?
It happened in the first half as well, ten minutes before halftime where Lucas Bartlett steps in at midfield, and then we go again Stroud gets the ball in the far post, and it’s a side foot and goes just past the upright and the ball goes. Again, in the midfield, Jake Nerwinski steps in, Tim Parker steps in.
We have been speaking a lot as a group about being brave to defend these moments like this, and the backline showed, you know, tremendous courage and connectedness to the rest of the group. I’m really happy with everything that I saw today.
You mentioned all the craziness that happened with matching Dallas. How impressed were you with your team’s resiliency, especially offensively, you had 22 shots, created a lot of good chance, didn’t finish all of them but just the response, the effort, the commitment to sort of thing and get that type of performance after what happened at Dallas?
I don’t think we delved too much in Dallas. I thought we kind of compartmentalized the Dallas game, right, so putting that into a different moment of the season. It happened four weeks ago or something and then we just had to finish it off with 39 minutes there. Was a bunch of traveling involved and what have you, and now the minute we got back we knew the focus was on Sunday here against the Galaxy.
The players did a good job of putting that into perspective and just putting it down to experience because I don’t think anybody has ever experienced that in their careers before. Just you know, finishing off a game four weeks later from a goal kick in the Dallas half at 50 minutes, right. Yeah, we learn from these moments and then we use them, and we got back to St. Louis and ready to go for a very important match today against the Galaxy.
I think you can see from the performance that the guys were very focused on this game and for sure, we’re disappointed we didn’t get the three points. But I was very pleased with the way we played.
What do you think about the physicality of the game? Also on the amount of set piece opportunities that you were able to generate.
I think the nature of how we play with regards to we are a physical group. Do we like to collect as many yellow cards as possible? No, because if you give away a foul you break the pressure because we want to be relentless if one guy gets beat the next guy should be on the scene of the crime to make sure he cleans up the action.
So giving away fouls breaks the pressure and breaks the momentum of the game and gets a breather for the other team. Yeah, it’s not great that we had guys on yellow cards early on, we had to manage the game a little bit differently.
But again, I thought Judd responded really well throughout the game and lasted the 90 minutes and so did Löwen. Rasmus has been out for a while and it takes a while to get up to the speed of the game, first. A guy goes past him and all of a sudden, he gives away a tactical call.
It’s just the way we play, and we like to play this way. We embrace this type of a game but credit to them. They were physical and they brought their A Game with regard to that department as well. They are a physical team. They showed it today. Boyd, Puig, they all use their bodies really well. They might not be the biggest guys and competitors, but they use their — I said earlier in the week, they are very good savvy soccer players, and you could see that on display tonight as well.
Do you feel like you were able to control the midfield like you wanted to between Blom, Löwen and Vassilev?
Definitely, you see the number of line-breaking passes from defenders to midfielders, midfielders to the attack midfielders and then getting guys on the move and on the run, yeah, I thought the game plan worked very well. I thought we played vertically. We played in transition. We stayed on the ball when we needed to. The back line connected like they had to and I thought it was a good overall performance.
It seemed like the first half especially Alm and Stroud were getting full on box-to-box control in the left and the right wings, is there something that L.A. did differently in the second half to show them down or was that pulling things in for a cohesive effect like you talked about?
The nature of the game early on, it’s no secret, Jared and Rasmus, they are runners, so looking for spacing behind. I thought we created just as many chances in the second half. Just in other ways, so bringing other people into play and getting overlaps on the sides and being brave to get on the move. Tomás Ostrák looked lively when he came in well, Celio in 1v1s, always brings something different.
But that’s just the extent and nature of wearing a team down to a certain moment, and I thought we earned the right to play, and we earned the right to bring on those guys who like az Jackson as well as Celio who liked to take on guys in 1v1. There are different tools for different games that we like to use in different personnel, so this was the route we went with for the first half and second half.
You mentioned earlier, I just want to know, having two of your center mids on yellow cards earlier in the first half and decide to go keep them the whole game can be pretty risky and I wanted to know what that says about your trust in your players to leave them in the game when they are in such contentious position where a lot of battles happen and they could easily get their second yellow?
We always feel that we train harder than we play. So if we can get our minds adjusted and our bodies right for these moments during games, and the emotional side of the game, we put a lot of stress situations on our players in trainings, right, and that should equip them to do well with those situations and credit to Edu, credit to Judd in the midfield, they managed their emotions really well.
Can you talk about what Kyle has brought to the game this year and how his progression has been throughout the year for this team?
Yeah, listen, Kyle is a great teammate and does just about whatever is necessary for his teammates and what’s best for the team. I think you could see against a world star like Costa in a 1v1 that he’s able to shut him down in a 1v1, doesn’t need any help, doesn’t need any assistance. He’s got the confidence and the ability to move his feet, take up the run, get his body in between, block the pass and move on from there and then get the ball to the next guy, right.
So yeah, he’s done an amazing job as a center back, and then you know, I’m sure he’s impressed a lot of people as a left back as well. So we don’t need him to be bombing up the flanks and providing pinpoint crosses for us to score. We would like him to get a little bit more adventures obviously in the final third but that’s not his game. We want to take him into — we want him to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations, right, so we always try and push and encourage.
But yeah, does he what he does best and that’s a good, solid defensive job, and yeah, happy for Kyle’s performance
Lucas Bartlett
On what he walks away with after this game…
A little frustrated, obviously. I think we express it in the locker room. We were really solid throughout the entire game, and I thought we had a lot of really good chances to put the game away earlier and things happen in soccer. We take a point and keep moving forward.
On the physicality of the game…
A lot of battles and one on ones. They’re a good team, with tons of talent all over the field. Tons of high-profile players. Overall, I think we did well.
On the week with 40 minutes at Dallas on Wednesday then Galaxy today…
It was a unique one. We walked away from the Dallas game and moved on. We had left that in our six-game stretch in the last break, and we were 3-0 to start our next six games. So, this was another one that we wanted to really grab three points from, but it is what it is. We moved on from Dallas and hope to see them at home soon.
Indiana Vassilev
On his chances during the game…
Yeah, I mean, I just actually looked back at the chance when I was one on one, and I could have slipped Niko through. But it is just one of those games. We look back on it and like you said, we had a lot of chances. And we should have been more clinical and there have been a lot of times this season where we have been clinical. And we put teams to bed. And today just, yeah — I mean, wasn’t clicking enough for us in front of the goal. And we ended up paying for it. This doesn’t feel good to get a point here. Because we want to, you know, kind of run teams over here. We want to get wins and I think we did play well, and I think we did do enough to win this game. But like you said, we just weren’t clinical enough. We ended up paying for it.
On where he sees his game right now…
I mean, I feel like the players trust me, like the staff trust me, and I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help the team. It has been working out the last couple of weeks. But even if I’m not getting goals or assists, you know, I am trying to work my butt off, you know, to try and help the press out or try and win the ball back. Yeah, I mean, I guess you can say it just feels good to help the team.
On how he feels about the team compared to what people thought before the season…
Yeah, I mean, I think from the start of the season, we didn’t really focus on what the pundits said. We set our levels and preseason, and we knew what we could achieve every game to be competitive. And I feel like we’ve hit those levels in order to be competitive, pretty much every day. So, we’re just focusing on ourselves. There’s always going to be outside noise, good or bad. And that shifted as the season has gone on, from these guys aren’t going to be good to they’re not very competitive. So outside opinion has changed, but we’re kind of just going to focus on ourselves. And yeah, I mean, I think we were the better team today. We should have come out of here with three points. But you know, sometimes that doesn’t happen. You know, disappointed, but we have to move on. A point’s better than none.
Niko Gioacchini
On his goal…
Just instinct. I made a run, and the ball arrived a little awkwardly. You know, as a 9, you try to put it on frame, you know. I knew that the goal was a little bit behind me to the right, so I just got a touch on it and the ball also came in quite quickly, so, you know, it’s not really an extremely calculative gesture. It’s just a natural instinct type of thing and I can go in and I’m happy about it. You know, I’d rather win the game than score goals, but you know, that’s today. We’ll go on to the next weekend.
On the team’s chances…
You know, we had several chances before my goal and a couple after my goal to really seal the deal. Those are moments where we need to close the game, you know, cut off our opponent. You know, it’s tough to concede in the 85th minute knowing that we had so many chances earlier and we defended, you know, pretty well in the whole game, and it’s tough against a team that loves the ball with great individual talent. So, well, you know, coming off with just one point is tough. It’s tough.
On the importance of winning compared to scoring goals…
Yeah, you know, I was thinking about winning that, you know, I like scoring. But when you’re scoring, you don’t win, it’s a sweet-sour moment. But you know, on the spot you’re very, very happy. We know by the end of the game, you kind of almost forget about it and look at what I didn’t do right, what we could have done better, to really seal the game. That would have counted a lot more in my mind.
