St. Louis CITY SC used two second half goals to earn a hard-fought 2-2 tie on the road against Austin FC on Saturday night. Austin FC took the lead through Matt Hedges in the 14th minute, giving the hosts the advantage heading into halftime. After the break, CITY SC midfielder Eduard Löwen converted a penalty in the 49th minute to level the score. Two minutes later, Austin FC regained the lead through Julio Cascante before Célio Pompeu equalized late in the match to secure a point for CITY SC.
Late Equalizer
After scoring a goal and recording an assist in CITY SC’s win against New York City FC, Célio Pompeu added his name to the score sheet for the second straight match. Pompeu found the back of the net in stoppage time to secure a point for CITY SC against Austin. Pompeu has now scored four goals in his CITY SC career.
Postgame Notes
- Eduard Löwen scored his first goal of the season
- With the goal against Austin, the midfielder now has seven goals and 15 assists in league play
- In three games against Austin FC, Löwen has recorded one goal and five assists
- Löwen has now scored all four penalty kicks he’s taken in league play
- Célio Pompeu scored his second goal of the season
- Pompeu is the second CITY SC player to score in back-to-back games in MLS play this season
- Pompeu now has four goals and five assists for CITY SC across all competitions over the past two seasons
- Tomas Totland recorded his first assist of his CITY SC career
- St. Louis has come from behind twice so far this season to earn a point, the first was against Real Salt Lake in the opener (Sam Adeniran scored the equalizer in the 79th minute) and against Austin FC (Pompeu scored the leveler in the 90’+3 minute).
- CITY SC has scored two goals in stoppage time across all competitions this season – Hosei Kijima in the 90+1’ minute against Houston Dynamo and Pompeu in the 90’+3 minute against Austin FC.
- CITY SC remains unbeaten in league play (1-0-2 record)
- CITY SC remains unbeaten in the all-time series against Austin FC (2-0-1 record)
Goal-Scoring Plays
ATX – Matt Hedges (Zan Kolmanic), 14th minute: Matt Hedges scored with a header from the center of the box.
STL – Eduard Löwen (penalty), 49th minute: Eduard Löwen penalty shot in the center of the goal.
ATX – Julio Cascante (Alex Ring), 51st minute: Julio Cascante scored with a header from the center of the box.
STL – Célio Pompeu (Tomas Totland), 90’+3 minute: Célio Pompeu scored with right footed shot from the center of the box.
March 9, 2024 – Q2 Stadium (Austin, Texas)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
Austin FC 1 1 2
St. Louis CITY SC 0 2 2
Scoring Summary
ATX: Matt Hedges (Zan Kolmanic), 35
STL: Eduard Löwen (penalty), 49
ATX: Julio Cascante (Alex Ring), 51
STL: Célio Pompeu (Tomas Totland), 90’+3
Misconduct Summary
STL: Célio Pompeu (caution), 31
STL: Tim Parker (caution), 61
STL: Tomas Totland (caution), 65
ATX: Julio Cascante (caution), 77
Lineups
ATX: GK Brad Stuver; D Matt Hedges, D Jon Gallagher (Brendan Hines-Ike 90’), D Julio Cascante, D Zan Kolmanic (Guilherme Biro 68’); M Jhojan Valencia, M Alex Ring ©, M Ethan Findlay, M Jader Obrian (Emiliano Rigoni 68’), M Diego Rubio (Dani Pereira 83’); F Gyasi Zardes (Owen Wolff 90’+1)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Stefan Cleveland, F Bryant Farkarlun, M Sebastian Driussi, D Hector Jimenez
TOTAL SHOTS: 3; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 6
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Tomas Totland, D Joakim Nilsson, D Tim Parker, D Anthony Markanich; M Eduard Löwen, M Chris Durkin (Nökkvi Thórisson 87’), M Indiana Vassilev (Tomáš Ostrák 74’), M Célio Pompeu, M Aziel Jackson (Rasmus Alm 87’); F Sam Adeniran (João Klauss 59’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, D Nikolas Dyhr, D Akil Watts, D Jake Nerwinski, D Kyle Hiebert
TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 12; SAVES: 0
Referee: Guilherme Ceretta
Assistant Referees: Bruno Rizo, Regis Cardoso
Fourth Official: Rafael Bonilla
VAR: Sandro Ricci
Venue: Q2 Stadium
Weather: Clear, 57 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Video: Zoom (Passcode: J9+jVSnx)
Audio: Recording
Head Coach Bradley Carnell
Opening statement:
Yeah, these fixtures always seem to bring some goals and a bit of drama. It was a great feeling coming back here after the moments we had here last year. We spoke about this week this week. I thought for 65 minutes out of the 90-minute game that we had total control of the game. I thought we controlled the game in many moments. And yeah, I think or more than that should have been in our bank. You know, we should have banked those points, and we did. I don’t think we deserve to walk away with zero points. So credit to my boys. They fought till the bitter end. Everyone who came in made a big impact in the game. So proud of these boys. The two critical moments that we gave away we have to look at that. It is unfortunate because a performance like this deserves three points.
On if the team needed the first goal to get going…
No, not necessarily. I think we know within ourselves what makes us strong and what we need to bring to the table every single day and yeah, I felt we started off the game a little bit slower than usual. And you could see the intensity of the game, you could see how deep they were sitting back – you could just see that they were just trying to bunker in to survive a moment. And within that we kind of fell into that trap of trying to dictate the play and trying to dictate the terms and I think it took a while for us to start implementing our game. So again, took a while to get going. But in this league, you can’t just pitch up you’re going to get punished and credit to the boys for the resilience, the grit, the desire and the ambition to get that point and to leave here with a well-deserved point. Pity we didn’t get three. I think the throw-in that led to the goal – I think [Jon] Gallagher is in the field of play on the throw-in. So you know, it’s just a pity that these things you know, didn’t go our way on the day but credit to the boys for their fighting spirit.
On the team’s halftime conversation that sparked the comeback…
No. It was okay. I mean, I thought we got ourselves back into the game the last 10 minutes of that half. I think that looked exactly like the game we planned for and how we wanted to get in, through the lines, between the lines and finish up with final plays. I thought that over the course of the game that we bring on the service, we get the energy, we get the penalty straight after the half, and then we start taking a stranglehold on the game. I think the players were positive at halftime. We knew that we have the quality, we have the strength, we have the momentum to turn this game in our favor, and then we got the equalizer, and it feels like 30 seconds later we conceded again. So, these moments are disappointing for our group. These moments are the ones that define games and unfortunately, I thought we had an excellent game on one side of the field but there’s a couple of things to look at.
On what he saw from Célio Pompeu to keep him in the game…
Listen, I mean, as we started to make a push for the game and we bring on fresh legs we bring on Tomáš Ostrák, we bring on Nökkvi Thórisson, Klauss and as we tried to push the game, you know, Célio poses a one versus one threat. He can take you down the line, he’s got a pretty good left foot for being a right footer. And he I think tighten the screw down in that department and dominated that left hand side and I think Anthony [Markanich] complimented him really well getting in the final third and yeah, he deserved what he got today, and he’s been in a good way. You guys have seen it during preseason and he has stepped up to the plate, but you know, I don’t want to signal out one guy. I think this was a total team performance for 65 minutes and it’s just a pity we couldn’t walk away with three points, but I love the determination of the group to fight till the bitter end and this is what defines us over the course of the season. We are three games in now and we spoke about collecting up points. No team in this league is an easy walkover and surely you saw the way they defended against Seattle away from home. We come here and it’s a dogfight. We can’t just pitch up and think we’re going to win games. So with that, with our identity, with the quality, with the final third play that you saw on display today – this is a really good performance from us.
Eduard Löwen
On how the team felt during the last five minutes of the match…
Yeah, it’s joy and disappointment together because we played a great game. We were by far the better team. I think we had a lot of chances. We concede two, yeah, easy set piece goals, which disappoints us because that’s not who we are. Usually, we defend set pieces very well. We always get the first contact, and then we got caught sleeping twice. But the mentality of the team was incredible and to come out with the result in the end, and get one point here, is still huge for us. So, in the end, as I said, like, we should have won that game, but at the end of the day to take one point is great.
On feeling more fit and having his legs underneath him…
Yeah, I feel definitely better. For sure. But I knew that there was going to be a process. I knew that I had to be patient or have to be patient because, like, in the end of the day, it’s not only the training sessions, it’s especially the games, the minutes that you need to get back into the rhythms again and everything. So, I’m thankful for every single minute, for every single game. And yeah, that’s what I’m trying to do — to give my best, to put all the effort in. And yeah, then in the end of the day, it’s hopefully going to get better after every single game.
On the chances he had in the first half…
Yeah, honestly, I was very disappointed with myself. So, for the first one, I just saw like three guys on the line, two or three guys on the line. So, I was in a rush because I think I had somebody on my back, so I needed to shoot it first touch. But then I was leaning a little bit backwards. So that’s why the ball went high. Looking at it afterwards, I could have taken the right short corner, like a low pass into it. But it’s always easier to say it afterwards when you can press replay and watch it over and over again. But I didn’t think about it too much because like, in the end of the day, if you keep thinking about this action and everything, you got to keep going, you got to forget about it and focus on the next action and the next situation. And that’s what I was trying to do. And yeah, the free kick. I don’t know, for me it seemed at least very, very close to the ball might have been in. I don’t know. I honestly was waiting for the referee. I was thinking he can check it on his watch with the line, if it was in or not. But, yeah, in the end of the day, he said they checked it, they said it wasn’t even. We still don’t know. We are still arguing about it if it was in or not. But in the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. And we said in the halftime, we don’t feel bad for ourselves. We’ve got to keep going because nobody’s going to give us anything.
Célio Pompeu
On what he was thinking as he saw Tomas Totland cross him the ball…
Oh, this comes from a lot of communication between me and [Tomas] Tots during practice. Tots loves those crosses. They’re very good crosses. So, he always tells me, ‘Célio, always go to the second balls, always go to the second balls. One ball is going to come to you.’ So, during practice, he played some balls, and I wasn’t there. So, this communication is the relationship between me and him. And then trusting that one ball is going to pop up, like it happened in the last minutes. A ball came to me, and thank God I could score, I could have a good finish.
On how the last two weeks have felt for him…
Oh yeah, for sure, it’s pretty good. But then like I said, I’m going to celebrate just tonight and tomorrow we already turn the page and think about the game against LA Galaxy.
On how it felt celebrating with the entire team after the goal…
Yeah, it felt so good. It’s like we don’t have our home advantage, so having our teammates celebrate every goal, everything — it’s amazing. It’ll give, like, an extra boost for us. So that’s why when I scored, I went to celebrate with the bench because they were a big part of this game as well. So yeah, it’s amazing. I was on the bench, too, and I know how it is, and then we have we have to help the way we can. If it’s just screaming, giving this support by screaming, ‘Let’s go guys.’ You got to do what you can do. So, it was amazing.
