Following a nearly four-hour weather delay, St. Louis CITY SC dropped the opening match of their Leagues Cup campaign 2-1 to Columbus Crew. Lucas Zelarayán curled home a free kick in the 11th minute to open the scoring, and then Chuco Hernández converted from the penalty spot to push the home side’s advantage to two. CITY SC halved the deficit late in the second half, with a cross off a corner kick from midfielder Indiana Vassilev deflecting off Columbus’ Jacen Russell-Rowe and into goal, but the team could not find the equalizer afterward.
Goal-Scoring Plays
CLB – Lucas Zelarayán, 11th minute: Lucas Zelarayán from a free kick with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
CLB – Cucho Hernández (penalty), 29th minute: Cucho Hernández from a penalty kick with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
STL – Jacen Russell-Rowe (own goal), 84th minute: Own goal by Jacen Russell-Rowe.
Next Game
CITY SC hosts Liga MX heavyweight Club América on July 27 to complete their Leagues Cup group stage action.
July 23, 2023 – Lower.com Field (Columbus, Ohio)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
Columbus Crew 2 0 2
St. Louis CITY SC 0 1 1
Scoring Summary
CLB: Lucas Zelarayán, 11
CLB: Cucho Hernández, 29
STL: Jacen Russell-Rowe (own goal), 85
Misconduct Summary
STL: Sam Adeniran (caution), 56
CLB: Yevhen Cheberko (caution), 88
CLB: Mohamed Farsi (caution), 90’+3’
STL: Célio Pompeu (caution), 90’+5’
Lineups
CLB: GK Evan Bush; D Gustavo Vallecilla, D Malte Amundsen, D Mohamed Farsi; M Darlington Nagbe ©, M Aidan Morris, M Sean Zawadzki, M Lucas Zelarayán (Jacen Russell-Rowe 70’); F Yaw Yeboah (Yevhen Cheberko 70’), F Christian Ramírez (Max Arfsten 81’), F Cucho Hernández
Substitutes Not Used: GK Patrick Schulte, D Philip Quinton, D Josh Williams, M Luis Díaz, F Kevin Molino, M Isaiah Parente, D Steven Moreira, D Jimmy Medranda
TOTAL SHOTS: 19; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 8; SAVES: 2
STL: GK Ben Lundt; D Jake Nerwinski, D Lucas Bartlett, D Jon Bell, D John Nelson; M Miguel Perez (Indiana Vassilev 77’), M Eduard Löwen © (Aziel Jackson 61’), M Célio Pompeu, M Tomáš Ostrák (Njabulo Blom 46’), M Rasmus Alm (Jared Stroud 77’); F Sam Adeniran (Niko Gioacchini 61’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Michael Creek, D Josh Yaro, D Akil Watts, M Selmir Pidro, M Isak Jensen, D Kyle Hiebert
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 7
Referee: Reon Radix
Assistant Referees: Wasnah Shavan Barnarde, Chris Elliott
Fourth Official: Okeito Nicholson
VAR: Ricardo Montero
AVAR: Mario Terrazas Chávez
Venue: Lower.com Field
Weather: Cloudy, 66 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Audio: Recording
Bradley Carnell
Opening Statement: To try and ramp yourself up takes a lot of courage and it takes a lot of will and desire. We started the game pretty well, you know, nearly got a goal in the first couple of minutes, and then small moments define games, right. So, two set pieces and then we’re caught behind the eight ball. We got caught chasing the game and unfortunately, you know, came back in the game a little bit too late. But credit to the group that they stuck it out, they fought, they worked their way back in the game. And I thought there were some good performances overall. So, I mean, these are — Ben Lundt has a really good game between the sticks and yeah, I thought we did a lot of good things right this evening. But then you see when you’re slightly late with our principles, you know, a good passing team can stretch you and they did once or twice, and then you saw good times when we turn over the ball up high and create really dangerous moments. At the end of them, one Gioacchini gets really close on the end of it. So, you know, I thought this was a game of very fine margins and small details made the difference.
On what led to Columbus’ goals…
I mean, sometimes, you know, we were open too much through the middle, sometimes then we protect the middle and then it’s open on the side. So, you know, I just thought we could have been a little bit more proactive in the mind and then the body could follow, and we played a little bit of catch up like that, which could be understandable after, you know, a five-hour wait in the locker room and not knowing if we’re playing tonight and every three minutes there’s an update and then there’s no update. So, to stay, you know, dragging on the line like this, it just becomes a lottery, how you start the game and how you come out. We just have to now turn our focus to Thursday and regroup and get ready to go.
On what is at the top of the team’s priority list given their rearranged schedule because of the pre-match weather…
Yeah, I mean, luckily with us, we’ve been able to, you know, get a lot of guys good minutes. And we’ve been able to be flexible on these high-scheduled weeks. So, you know, we are able to basically roll out, if need be, a whole new roster or a whole new team and a competitive one at that on Thursday. So, you know, we’ll just assess. I thought I saw some very good performances tonight individually, which now poses us questions in the coaches’ locker room, and we’ll discuss this as a staff and come up with the best plan possible for Club América.
