St. Louis CITY SC fell 4-1 to Sporting Kansas City at CITYPARK in the first match of the MLS Cup Playoffs Best-of-3 series. Kansas City’s Logan Ndenbe opened the scoring with a goal in the 27th minute before CITY SC defender and vice-captain Tim Parker knocked in the equalizer a minute later. The away side regained the lead with two more first-half goals, and then Daniel Salloi pushed Kansas City’s lead to 4-1 with a goal in the 61st minute.
Goal-Scoring Plays
SKC – Logan Ndenbe (Alan Pulido, Gadi Kinda), 27th minute: Logan Ndenbe left-footed shot to the upper left corner.
STL – Tim Parker, 28th minute: Tim Parker left-footed shot to the bottom right corner.
SKC – Remi Walter (Daniel Salloi), 36th minute: Remi Walter left-footed shot to the bottom left corner.
SKC – Gadi Kinda (Khiry Shelton), 39th minute: Gadi Kinda right-footed shot to the top left corner.
SKC – Daniel Salloi (Alan Pulido, Gadi Kinda), 61st minute: Daniel Salloi right-footed shot to the upper left corner.
Next Game
CITY SC heads east for the second bout of the team’s Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs Round One Best-of-3 series against cross-state foe Sporting Kansas City.
October 29, 2023 – CITYPARK (St. Louis, Missouri)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
St. Louis CITY SC 1 0 1
Sporting Kansas City 3 1 4
Scoring Summary
SKC: Logan Ndenbe (Alan Pulido, Gadi Kinda), 27
STL: Tim Parker, 28
SKC: Remi Walter (Daniel Salloi), 36
SKC: Gadi Kinda (Khiry Shelton), 39
SKC: Daniel Salloi (Alan Pulido, Gadi Kinda), 61
Misconduct Summary
SKC: Gadi Kinda (caution), 15
STL: Aziel Jackson (caution), 45
STL: Jared Stroud (caution), 58
STL: Eduard Löwen (caution), 70
STL: Njabulo Blom (caution), 78
STL: Sam Adeniran (caution), 87
Lineups
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Jake Nerwinski (Akil Watts 80’), D Joakim Nilsson, D Tim Parker, D Anthony Markanich (Kyle Hiebert 59’); M Njabulo Blom, M Eduard Löwen (Niko Gioacchini 73’), M Indiana Vassilev (Célio Pompeu 80’), M Jared Stroud, M Aziel Jackson (Sam Adeniran 59’); F João Klauss
Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, D Josh Yaro, M Tomáš Ostrák, D Lucas Bartlett
TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 6
SKC: GK Tim Melia; D Andreu Fontas, D Dany Rosero, D Jake Davis, D Logan Ndenbe; M Nemanja Radoja, M Gadi Kinda (Erik Thommy 74’), M Remi Walter; F Alan Pulido © (Roger Espinoza 85’), F Khiry Shelton, F Daniel Salloi
Substitutes Not Used: GK John Pulskamp, F Johnny Russell, D Graham Zusi, M Felipe Gutierrez, D Robert Castellanos, M Felipe Hernandez, F Marinos Tzionis
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 11; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 5
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistant Referees: Cory Richardson, Ryan Graves
Fourth Official: Sergii Boiko
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Kyle Atkins
Venue: CITYPARK
Weather: Heavy rain, 41 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Video: Bradley Carnell (Passcode: VH?=Wd8Q)
Audio: Recordings
Head Coach Bradley Carnell
Not a good result for us by any means. That didn’t take away the occasion from the fans. I want to thank the fans for coming out here. I thought the energy was electric. I thought the energy they put out from the beginning of the game was amazing.
We go a goal down, showed great response a minute later, and then two moments get away from us, shots from range, I think all three of the goals, shots from range, and then we are standing 3-1 down the bottom of the barrel.
We have punched teams like this in the face a few times and now we know what it feels like. I think part of being a champion is also knowing how to lose.
Tonight, we get smacked in the face and we couldn’t really respond in the moment. So didn’t get rewarded for the moments that we got in front of goal. We couldn’t really quite get those critical moments in our favor to turn the game around.
We had a few moments, we unfortunately don’t score the goal. We just lacked a little bit of urgency at certain times. They played a very direct ball. Credit to them with Khiry Shelton holding up the play really well, and [Alan] Pulido floating between the lines; that, we struggled to adjust with and tried to get more pressure on the ball at certain moments, stop the supply at certain moments.
We were just a little bit off the pace of the critical duels today and that’s the result there of. This is not an aggregate game where it takes over into the next leg. So it’s one-and-done, and we off on to the next one. That’s the hope at the end of it.
Like I said earlier, we know how it feels to have these types of score lines throughout the season. We’ve done it many, many times. But yeah, we also have to be a good loser sometimes, and they were just better than us on the night.
Q. This game following the way the last two games of the regular season, is this an unpleasant trend?
I felt there was different energy about us today. I felt there was a little bit more of us being connected to us, the occasion. I didn’t think there was too much wrong with the first half at all and the score line is 3-1.
We blink an eye and it’s 3-1, and we are thinking, how did that happen. Obviously there’s little moments in there that we can get better and do better and have to do better with. But I don’t think there was too much separating the two teams going into the half.
Q. When you look at those moments that led to it, was it just defensive mistakes that need to be, whether it was Löwen missing a tackle or clearing the ball to a Kansas City player?
I looked back — I looked at halftime a little bit of the film. We just have to look and see as a collective, and that’s what we were thriving on in the games prior. We valued the collective but we don’t want to talk about individual errors. We win together, we lose together and we have to hold our heads up high. And even in moments like this, I have to present myself and make sure that we know what just happened, which is not okay, but also now to get a response.
Out of the team. And this is what my job is all about now. We have had some great experiences this year and I would be a fool to think that it’s going to be a fairy tale all the time, and you know, for the rest of the year.
Again, we get challenged in certain moments in life and on the soccer field, and these are one ever these moments. So listen, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
Q. How do you generate more scoring chances just in general with your team?
Getting progressively up the field a little better. I thought we played we didn’t play brave enough. We were a little bit cautious in certain moments, and sometimes you have to will yourself to a positive action and get the ball in certain areas of the field.
I thought we were just a little too passive and not brave enough at certain times. We want to play vertical. We want to play progressive, and we want to get the ball in the opponent’s half, and then we want to play the game.
We didn’t get too many of those moments in the opponent’s half to then get a back lineup and to then get into the final third and then to control the proceedings. So we never really got to that momentum.
Yeah, that was credit to them partly, but also yeah, I think 58 percent possession, if I’m not mistaken, that’s not our signature. At times when we are leading 3-0 and we can control the game, then by all means, that’s where a little bit more bravery should come into it.
Q. Obviously you’re going to go back and watch the tape but as you prepare for next week, do you think the focus is going to be more on tactics and maybe changing some or just execution in general?
We know how they play. I said it before the game. We know how they play; they know how we play. I think it’s just in the moments, these critical moments that kind of get away from us, and dictate games. The higher the stakes are, the bigger the rewards are for you or against you.
Today we lost three moments and go three down, right, and that’s just the nature of the game. We never really gave ourselves a chance to get some momentum, get some energy. Just when you thought there might be a wave of momentum, the wind gets taken out of our sails again.
We had a bit of life off the bench, Célio [Pompeu] comes into it, [Niko] Gioacchini comes into it, Sam [Adeniran] comes into it; a little bit of life, a little bit of urgency to just to try and get it going again, and then we have a big chance at the end with [João] Klauss. Again, not all doom and gloom, but by no means the standard of what we set around here and what we want to achieve and what we want to play here at CITY PARK.
Q. So as far as the familiarity is concerned, there weren’t any surprises tactically that Sporting KC brought in to CITY PARK tonight?
Obviously the changes in their lineup, that might have been but short rest, travel and what-have-you, playing here at CITY PARK.
I think yeah, they have a good team. They have good depth in their roster and they were confident about coming here and playing a certain way and they game-planned. But in terms of what they did, they were a little bit more direct than usual. Targeted Khiry [Shelton], and that was the game plan pretty much.
And what did we do with that? Unfortunately we lost a couple of those battles, and all of the sudden those lead to goals big moments. For sure things to look at, 100 percent.
But again, we go again and we grow from here, and we learn from these moments.
Q. When was the message you told the players directly after the game?
I said basically what I’ve regurgitated here. Just to let them know it’s not an aggregate scoring and make sure it’s one-and-done, and we still have two more reps at this.
Next week we are going to have to leave it all out there, leave it all on the line. We are playing away from home and we have to bring the energy. We have won games away from home, too. Yeah, to bring the urgency and the belief and the confidence of what got to us this place. Champions who finished No. 1 in the team or good teams who finish No. 1 in the League, all of a sudden not a bad team.
It starts a lot in the heads, and that’s the job of the coaches and myself to make sure that we try and grind away at because in ability, we have proven this over 34 match days, which is always the hardest. But getting up for the next game is always the most important, and that’s what we have to build up for next week.
Q. How did you keep the keep remaining positive at this time? 4-1 is a heavy score line, a score you never want to absorb, but how do you remain positive?
We have to. We have to find a way to get on with it, and making sure that we stay positive.
Like I said, a good team doesn’t become a bad team overnight and we have proven it over the longevity of a season just to show how good we have been. That we are in a difficult phase right now doesn’t surprise us because it’s been three games on the trot now.
Again, it’s about us showing, repeating, giving confidence and working at it in training, right. We have some good characters in this team. We have some good players. We have a lot of depth in our roster. We have a lot of belief out there from the coaches. So making sure that we bring our energy and our attitudes every single day, and again, just to basically say, boys, there’s still one more shot at this and this is coming next week.
For us, it’s about now, film is one thing, the training is one thing, working with the mental space is one thing, but I would say that’s the most important space now at this point of the season. Our group over the long term has achieved so much in such a short space of time, and again we don’t want to think of anything moving forward as a failure.
Tonight was a failure short term, but over the long term this group has been so successful, and those are the things we are going to pick off of and we are going to look forwards to, and that has to drive us forwards every single day.
Q. Started AC over Nico tonight. Can you take us into the thinking of that, and are you considering possibly changing that for Game 2?
No, I don’t think I didn’t start a striker. Might have begun [Niko] Gioacchini or Sam [Adeniran], you know what I mean. We chose to go with the extra ten in the midfield. We thought we had create a few more passing lanes between the lines, and it didn’t really set up the way we wanted to. I thought we were a little bit too passive for that on the night.
Yeah, it’s a good question. We’ll just have to see what we decide coming over the next couple of days, but that was the decision we went with tonight. But you know, I don’t think there was any guarantees that it was over Nico or Sam.
Q. To focus on AZ, as well as Kyle Hiebert and Célio and just where they were last year to playing big minutes in the playoffs this year; have you had time to reflect on the journey of those players at all?
Yeah, I mean, Célio [Pompeu], I always look at him because he brings a smile to me. He’s such a gem to have around the locker room and he brings energy every single day and in moments like this, he was the first one to say, “Coach, we’ve still got two more goes at this.” He loves applying his trade as a pro soccer play, you know. He brings joy to this group every single day.
Kyle Hiebert, as well, you can see the energy that he puts out. He just brings a little bit of something different.
We’ll look back and reflect. Everybody has helped us up until this point. Guys that were never on the radar, now they are all of a sudden MLS players playing over thousands of minutes a season.
What does success look like? I think success is also bringing on a Miggy Perez in a certain way; bringing on Pompeu in a certain way; bringing on a lot of players who were not on the map. Now they are on the map, and now they just need to keep pushing teammates to bring the most performances, the highest, the best performances in training and supporting each other and being good teammates. I can’t fault any one of my players.
Q. Not a lot of times would be able to have you guys in the back end and force you to cycle the ball that much. What was Kansas doing to make you do that and how come you guys were not able to really break past it?
Defended how they usually defend 4-5-1, a 4-3-3. They just took up a lot of space and we weren’t able to exploit a lot of space, which then lures you into a sense of passiveness.
For us, when that happens, we have to learn to try and force the issue a little bit, to play a little bit more directly, a little bit more vertical.
But yeah, these are some of the learnings that we’ll take out of the game and see how we can lure them out, and then move forward. Again, a bit of cat-and-mouse, but today they did it better.
Roman Bürki
On the team’s performance tonight…
Yeah, it was, I would say, collectively not good enough. We had problems when they had a goal kick and they played a long ball. It’s usually easy for us to defend, but this time today we had a lot of problems, and it was just, like, unusual — no pressure on the ball, you know, letting the guys shoot, no blocking the shot upfront, which is not enough. I would say just not, yeah, deadly enough. The shots we had were mostly on the goalie you know, easy saves. And the shots they had, they had decent shots.
On facing elimination in their next match…
Of course, very disappointed. Especially with the young guys, you know, they’re looking for reasons why we lost the game now. But I’m always thinking about the next game because nothing has changed. We want to win the next game and then we go from there.
On his role as captain in preparing the team for their next game…
For me, it’s new. A playoff situation is new for me. So, I’m happy that I have Tim by my side. He’s also, like, a guy who knows how to push the guys and find the right words. But of course, the coaching staff’s probably the most important, then it comes Tim and me. We’re trying our best to prepare the guys’ heads, you know, that they’re now not overthinking things, and I would say it’s an important position that Tim and I have. And yeah, we’re just going to try to do our best.
Tim Parker
On the number of goals the team conceded in the past few games…
I think as a group, we have to really reset. I think the good thing about this is now it’s a two-game series for us. I mean, now we have to look at it as two games that we still have to win. So obviously we’ll be in tomorrow and we’ll look at film. We’ll look at a couple of different things, but I think we really need to have a hard look at how we want to play together as a team going into these next going into this next game.
On what his role entails ofbeing the most experienced player on the team…
Yeah, you know, it’s, it’s tough because there’s a lot of them. But you have to try to encourage everyone through the process. You know, even right now. Fortunately, I think the best part is, is that it’s not aggregate, you know, we don’t have to worry about the aggregate side of things. So right now, like I said, it’s kind of just focusing on this next game and trying to bring that third one back here.
On the atmosphere tonight…
It felt like a playoff game. You know, I think the fans were incredible tonight. The weather played exactly how I thought it would. I mean they made the field really nice. The ball was moving good. It felt like November soccer, which you like to be playing in November for sure.
