St. Louis CITY SC came from behind twice to secure a point in a 3-3 goal fest against their rivals Sporting KC. Alan Pulido gave the hosts the lead, before Klauss and Célio Pompeu gave CITY SC a 2-1 advantage heading into halftime. Goals from Dániel Sallói and Erik Thommy recaptured the lead for Sporting KC, but Tomas Totland’s last-minute strike earned CITY SC a well-earned draw on the road. The draw was CITY SC’s first point at Sporting KC’s Children’s Mercy Park.
Postgame Notes
- Klauss recorded his second consecutive goal, giving him three goals this season
- Klauss picked up his first assist of the season
- The match marked the second time Klauss has recorded a goal and an assist in the same match for CITY SC (the other match was on March 25, 2023, 4-0 W vs Real Salt Lake)
- Rasmus Alm picked up his second assist of the season
- CITY SC is 14-7-7 all-time with Alm on the field and are 8-3-3 when he starts
- For the second consecutive week Alm provided the assist for Klauss’ goal
- Chris Durkin picked up his first assist for CITY SC
- Célio Pompeu scored his third goal of the season
- Tomas Totland recorded his first goal for CITY SC
- The goal marked Totland’s third goal contribution of the season (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Pompeu has now scored in his last two matches at Children’s Mercy Park after tallying the lone goal for CITY SC in the away leg of the 2023 MLS Playoffs
- CITY SC now has a 2-1-1 all-time against Sporting KC in the regular season
- The draw marked the first point for CITY SC at Children’s Mercy Park
- St. Louis have earned at least a point from a losing position in five of their nine MLS matches this season (1-1 vs Real Salt Lake, 2-2 vs Austin FC, 3-3 vs LA Galaxy, 2-2 vs D.C. United and 3-3 vs Sporting KC)
- CITY SC outshot Sporting KC 20-7 on the night. Over the last two matches St. Louis has outshot their opponents by 31-9.
Goal-Scoring Plays
SKC: Alan Pulido (Willy Agada), 17th minute – Alan Pulido scored with a left footed shot from the center of the box.
STL: Klauss (Rasmus Alm, Chris Durkin), 31st minute – João Klauss scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box.
STL: Célio Pompeu (Klauss), 45’+3 minute – Célio Pompeu scored with a right footed shot from the left half-space outside the box.
SKC: Dániel Sallói, (Johnny Russell), 65th minute – Dániel Sallói scored with a right footed shot from the left side of the box.
SKC: Erik Thommy (Andreu Fontàs), 77th minute – Erik Thommy scored from the center of the box.
STL: Tomas Totland, 90’+2 minute – Tomas Totland scored with a right footed shot from the right side of the box.
April 20, 2024 – Children’s Mercy Park (Kansas City, Kansas)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
Sporting KC 1 2 3
St. Louis CITY SC 2 1 3
Scoring Summary
SKC: Alan Pulido (Willy Agada), 17
STL: Klauss (Rasmus Alm, Chris Durkin), 31
STL: Célio Pompeu (Klauss), 45’+3
SKC: Dániel Sallói, (Johnny Russell), 65
SKC: Erik Thommy (Andreu Fontàs), 77
STL: Tomas Totland, 90’+2
Misconduct Summary
SKC: Dániel Sallói, 45’+7
SKC: Nemanja Radoja, 47
STL: Tim Parker, 63
SKC: Jake Davis, 71
STL: Célio Pompeu, 85
Lineups
SKC: GK Tim Melia; D Andreu Fontas, D Dany Rosero, D Tim Leibold, D Jake Davis; M Nemanja Radoja, M Erik Thommy, M Remi Walter; F Daniel Salloi ©, F Alan Pulido, F Willy Agada (Johnny Russell 54’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK John Pulskamp, D Robert Voloder, M Memo Rodriguez, F Khiry Shelton, D Robert Castellanos, F Alenis Vargas, D Zorhan Bassong, D Kayden Pierre
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 4
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Tomas Totland, D Tim Parker, D Kyle Hiebert, D Anthony Markanich (Nikolas Dyhr 88’); M Chris Durkin, M Tomáš Ostrák (Hosei Kijima 64’), M Ramus Alm (Nökkvi Thórisson 73’), M Indiana Vassilev (Aziel Jackson 64’), M Célio Pompeu; F Klauss
Substitutes Not Used: GK Ben Lundt, M Akil Watts, D Joakim Nilsson, D Jake Nerwinski
TOTAL SHOTS: 20; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 21; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 1
Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistant Referees: Justin Howard, Diego Blas
Fourth Official: Lukasz Szpala
VAR: Geoff Gamble
AVAR: Robert Schaap
Venue: Children’s Mercy Park
Weather: Clear, 52 degrees
ST. LOUIS CITY SC POSTGAME QUOTES
Audio: Recordings
Video: Footage (Password: BXxF7@no)
Head Coach Bradley Carnell
On if there was an emphasis to be more physical tonight:
Yeah, I mean, it’s a derby, right? And we get up for these moments. And there’s a lot on the line. There’s a lot that happened here over 12 months. So, for us, it was a natural reaction to want to and believe that we can. We knew we were good coming into this game, and we showed it for many parts during this game. So again, yeah, I think the goals were well taken, well deserved. But again, we have to go back to the drawing board for conceding although we’ve been so stout the last couple of games.
On Tomas Totland’s goal:
Again, we just had to make a play. We pushed [Chris Durkin] in as a center back to get the wingers with [Nikolas Dyhr] and [Tomas Totland] as wingers to flood the box with [Nökkvi Thórisson] and [Célio Pompeu] and Klauss who did amazing things today. So yeah, we just tried to put a bit of pressure on the opponent’s backline and credit to the boys for not giving up and it’s something that this team continues to show – a never say die attitude.
On Klauss’ overall performance on the night:
Well, I think you can see the trend and the curve line going over multiple weeks now in the right direction with Klauss, not just his work right now. Today, he’s the creator, he’s the finisher. And he’s shown a lot through the weeks. So again, we know Klauss is a special player, we know he enjoys these types of games, and he gets up for these games. But yeah, I think it’s a normal curve for a guy who’s finding his form, a guy who’s confident, supportive of his teammates and doing just about everything to win us the game, to put us in a position to win the game. So again, he’s lasting 90 minutes, he’s getting fitter, he’s getting sharper, so I’m excited about his trajectory.
Defender Tomas Totland
On his emotion after he scored the game-tying goal:
I would say that the last goal was a lot of relief more than joy. Coming back 3-3, it felt like the game was going away from us then them having those two goals in in two minutes but yeah, we showed again that we don’t give up and we’ll take the one point back.
On his defensive role on the wing in the match:
They are a good team, but I feel like we came here to their stadium and played our soccer and yeah, it was a big battle, 3-3 is a tough game. But yeah, we take one point from here and move forward.
On the goals the team conceded:
I haven’t seen them back yet but it’s never fun to let in goals and that’s something that we need to look into, but we also scored three goals so that’s something to also be happy about, especially on away turf but yeah, you never enjoy letting in three goals.
Midfielder Célio Pompeu
On what he saw on his goal tonight:
Oh, so yeah, the goal starts on the right side. Klauss bodied the player, and he went down. But he started there, and he did a good run. He did his run to open up space for me. So, when he did that run, I went to the middle and I did what I did in practice. I was practicing a lot this week my finishing so yeah, it was good. The whole week I was practicing my finishing, so my good work got rewarded.
On if the team wanted to be more physical today:
Every game we want to be aggressive, but especially today it’s a derby you know, always more passion, more yellow cards, more fighting. So yeah, it’s always good to be tough in these games.
On what he saw from the team in the final minutes of the match:
I think we just never stopped fighting, we never gave up, that’s what I love about this team. We don’t quit. We always keep going, we can be losing but we never put our heads down, we always keep fighting and that’s what happened. We started one side, play the weak side – one of the principles is to play the weak side to build up the play and I’m happy for [Tomas] Totland, he scored his first goal. Well deserved.
Forward João Klauss
On what he took away from the game:
Yeah, learn moments, but how long and how many times do we have to make these mistakes to learn, right? I think we played a great first half then I think the first 15 minutes in the second half was really good as well. We had the chance to score the goal and especially being away when we have a chance, we have to score. I know it’s not always possible, but we have to try to finish the game there. And then I think from the 60th minute we gave up the ball and then we started to chase. And then when you start to chase, you get tired and then we didn’t keep the ball enough as we did in the first half, and then we didn’t find the spaces anymore. And then we were just defending so I mean, I think this is also what we have to learn – how to manage these games.
On Tomas Totland’s goal:
It was great, I think it was very important for us. Being away in MLS is always tough. Getting one point here was good for us. And I think for the first half that we played and for the game. I they had maybe 20 minutes better than us. I think we didn’t deserve to lose this game. So, I think we got our reward.
On his challenge that led to Celio’s goal:
Maybe a lot of people will argue that it was foul, but I think it’s just like a normal duel for me. We both were like running to each other and I think it’s just like a normal duel. Yeah, I’m happy that I beat him because then I was able to find Célio [Pompeu] and then Célio, unbelievable.
