St. Louis CITY SC defeated San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 on Saturday at PayPal Park. Sam Adeniran put CITY SC in the lead heading into halftime after heading home Rasmus Alm’s corner kick in the 41st minute. Jamiro Monteiro found the equalizer two minutes into the second half for the Earthquakes, but Adeniran converted the game winning penalty in the 58th minute to give CITY the three points.
Adeniran’s First MLS Goals
Adeniran featured in four matches this season for CITY SC before he was loaned to USL Championship side San Antonio FC. In his first match back for CITY SC, Adeniran found the back of the net in the 41st minute, scoring his first career MLS goal. The forward added to his tally after converting a penalty in the 58th minute.
Ten MLS Wins
CITY SC sits at the top of the MLS Western Conference with 32 points after 19 games. After a historic 5-0-0 start to the season, St. Louis CITY SC became the first Western Conference team this season and the second-fastest MLS expansion team ever to record 10 wins.
Postgame Notes
- Three players made their first start for CITY SC – Aziel Jackson, Sam Adeniran and Josh Yaro.
- Jackson made his first-ever career MLS start while Yaro made his first MLS start since 2017
- Adeniran scored his first-ever MLS goal
- Adeniran is the 12th player to score in MLS action and 14th player to score across all competitions for CITY SC this season
- With his brace, Adeniran joins João Klauss, Aziel Jackson and Indiana Vassilev as players who have at least one multi-goal game for CITY SC across all competitions
- With his assist, Alm has six goal contributions (two goals, four assists) in MLS this season
- CITY SC are undefeated when scoring first (7-0-3 record)
- CITY SC is the first team Western Conference team to ten (10) wins
- CITY SC fielded their 18th different lineup in 19 MLS games this season
- St. Louis is first team to defeat San Jose at PayPal Park since September 24, 2022 (10 games)
- With the result, St. Louis has won twice against an opponent in the same season for the first time in their history
- CITY SC is the second expansion team to record a road win over the Earthquakes (17 games) along with LAFC in 2018
- Roman Bürki’s eight (8) saves on the night bring him to 76 saves on the season, the most in MLS
- This match marks the third game this season where Bürki has recorded eight saves or more (Real Salt Lake – 8, Colorado – 12, San Jose – 8)
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL – Sam Adeniran (Rasmus Alm), 41st minute: Samuel Adeniran header from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
SJ – Jamiro Monteiro (Jackson Yueill), 47th minute: Jamiro Monteiro right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.
STL – Sam Adeniran (penalty), 58th minute: Samuel Adeniran converts the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom left corner.
Next Game
St. Louis CITY SC returns home for a meeting with Colorado Rapids on Saturday, July 1.
June 24, 2023 – PayPal Park (San Jose, CA)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
San Jose Earthquakes 0 1 1
St. Louis CITY SC 1 1 2
Scoring Summary
STL: Samuel Adeniran (Rasmus Alm), 41
SJ: Jamiro Monteiro (Jackson Yueill), 47
STL: Samuel Adeniran (penalty), 58
Misconduct Summary
SJ: Jamiro Monteiro (caution), 49
STL: Aziel Jackson (caution), 59
SJ: Jamiro Monteiro (caution), 49
SJ: Niko Tsakiris (caution), 84
STL: Célio Pompeu (caution), 90’+2’
STL: Tomáš Ostrák (caution), 90’+6’
Lineups
SJ: GK Daniel De Sousa Brito; D Jonathan Mensah, D Miguel Trauco (Tommy Thompson 83’), D Rodrigues, D Carlos Akapo (Paul Marie 78’); M Carlos Gruezo (Niko Tsakiris 83’), M Jackson Yuelli ©, M Jack Skahan (Benji Kikanovic 70’), M Jamiro Monteiro (Ousseni Bouda 71’); F Cristian Espinoza, F Jeremy Ebobisse
Substitutes Not Used: GK JT Marcinkowski, D Tanner Beason, M Cameron Ciley, D Daniel Munie
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 19; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Josh Yaro, D Akil Watts, D Kyle Hiebert, D Tim Parker; M Njabulo Blom, M Jared Stroud (Célio Pompeu 80’), M Rasmus Alm (Isak Jensen 90’+3’), M Miguel Perez (Indiana Vassilev 72’), M AZ Jackson (Niko Gioacchini 72’); F Sam Adeniran (Tomáš Ostrák 80’)
Substitutes Not Used: D Jake Nerwinski, D John Nelson, D Lucas BartlettM GK Ben Lundt
TOTAL SHOTS: 9; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 8
Referee: Marcos DeOliveira
Assistant Referees: Chris Wattam, Brooke Mayo
Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Jeff Muschik
Venue: PayPal Park
Weather: Clear, 62 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Audio: Recording
Bradley Carnell
On what he saw from Adeniran and what it took to get him in San Jose on time…
It took a phone call. I’m glad he answered. Listen, I mean, it’s not something that’s uncommon. I mean, when we called Tim Parker, he flew straight down from Vancouver. I think it was to Tijuana. We played with the Red Bulls against Tijuana, and we won the game. He started the game. So, I don’t think it’s uncommon, this type of move. Sam knows — he spent the preseason with us. He’s had some appearances, you know. This was just for him to get a start. He’s had a hot run of form at the USL and at the time Sam was looking for minutes. We weren’t able to get him minutes, right, so to get him minutes, and for him to get some quality minutes at San Antonio — and, you know, great shout out to them because they kept him going and he got rewarded. You know, he scored four goals in his last seven games. So, he came prepared, kept his head down and worked hard, and you could see that tonight. And then how it translates on the field now, you know, he’s a menace. He uses his body well. He can run the line. There’s different weapons – he’s a left footer, it’s always dangerous when he’s going down the left-hand side. So yeah, I mean, it was it was fun to watch.
On how he manages the competition within the group…
Yeah, I mean, I think you’re talking about this season because yeah, Josh started six years ago in an MLS game and Akil started in Colorado, if I’m not mistaken. So, these are not new milestones for these guys — so it might be in the season that they get these starts. But listen, that’s what it is — guys knocking on the door, guys training hard, guys emptying the tank, guys keeping their nose clean and heads down and working hard. And, you know, to be a good teammate is never easy always. You know, you have a squad and a roster who guys are feeling like for like comparable, right? And then at the end of the day, it’s our decision, the coaching staff, my decision to try and put out the best team possible who thinks we can win the game, right. And we’ve been pretty successful up until this point, so then it becomes hard now to get guys minutes. But Josh is a true model citizen, you know. I mean, Akil Watts is a true model – training day in, day out, emptying the tank and you know, you never hear a negative thing out of Akil or Josh Yaro. So, these guys are easy to work with. And I would say the rest of them, I mean, they will push our buttons in positive ways. And, you know, I said making my life a misery is a good thing, because, you know, I want a lot of internal competition. And I believe that’s the next step for us as a group to take it forward, to be really successful.
On the character the team showed…
Yeah, good. It’s just about belief, right? We’ve spoken a lot, we’ve shared a lot of reflections, we’ve looked at a lot of videos and then we’ve also spoken about being free, right, in the moment and trusted the process and stayed true to who we are. And you could see that, right. So, you know, we had good intentions in the last games and we were penalized for small mistakes and minor details, and I felt we’ve got a lot of those details back on track tonight.
Sam Adeniran
On what the last days have been like…
Yeah, when I got the call, I was pretty happy to come back and help the team and then obviously tonight was just amazing to be able to help the team get that win. I feel so great. I got the call after training actually in San Antonio – my agent called me and then after that Lutz and Bradley gave me a call so from there, it was pretty much just packing my bags as quick as I can and then hopped on a flight on Friday morning.
On AZ Jackson’s performance…
AZ is like my best friend. He’s an amazing player. You know, he’s just so quick on the ball. You know, and he contributed so well tonight by winning that penalty for us. I think he had an amazing game. I think He always plays amazing. I think he definitely brings something to this team that not many people have – brings a sort of flair and speed that not many people have. For me, he’s a great player.
On his thoughts on the penalty kick…
Whenever I take penalties, I kind of just try to focus on myself and focus on my breathing. I just pick a spot and hit it there. You know, I try not to let the goalkeeper use his tactics on me to try and get me off. You know, penalties are hard to take in difficult situations but I’m glad that I was able to score and help the team win.
AZ Jackson
On how big a win it was…
Yeah, this is a big win, a great win for this team and this club. You know, we knew coming into San Jose was going to be tough. We just had to come with that mentality as a unit, and we got the win.
On his confidence and comfort playing tonight…
I think it just comes with reps. Bradley has put me in the past run of seven, six games, and I’ve been adapting better to the principles that he likes to see. And I felt like it was just second nature for me on the ball. All the work I’ve done on the ball. It’s nothing new. I came into this game very confident. We came into this game very confident, and I feel like I strive off my teammates’ energy.
On keeping San Jose from equalizing when they made pushes late…
San Jose, they did a good job. I mean, they were just flooding our backline, and it was tough for us to get on the front foot because it was so late in the game. Eight added minutes was tough, but we were able to manage it. Bürki just came up so big and Isak – the subs that came on were extraordinary. Célio was great, Indy Vassilev — household name. Everyone did their part today.
