ST. LOUIS - On a stormy and muggy Saturday night, St. Louis City SC hosted Stan Kroenke-owned and MLS cellar-dwelling Colorado Rapids. While Bradley Carnell denied that games are as simple as the first-place team facing the last-place team, City won comfortably, 2-0.
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“I said tonight, we are playing against ourselves,” said St. Louis City head coach Bradley Carnell following the game. “We want to challenge ourselves, and playing against a team who has not had a great run of form lately, that's when they are at their most dangerous because at some time that trend stops.”
The start of this game was textbook St. Louis City soccer. An early chance within the first 30 seconds for Kevin Cabral for Colorado was denied by City’s Swiss shot-stopper Roman Bürki.
Less than two minutes later, a cross intended for City striker Sam Adeniran, making his second straight start after his two-goal effort last Saturday, was deflected behind the goal for the first corner kick of the evening in front of the north end at CITY PARK.
Co-captain Tim Parker got on the end of Aziel Jackson’s corner and bounced his header past Colorado keeper William Yarborough. City had a 1-0 lead before many had found their way to their seats, and Parker had his first goal since he scored the first goal in St. Louis City history in Austin at the start of the season.
The second City goal came only eight minutes later and was largely the result of Sam Adeniran’s endeavor on the left wing. Adeniran neatly touched the ball around a Colorado defender while keeping the ball in bounds on the end line, and slid a pass to Jared Stroud at the edge of Colorado’s six-yard box, who beat William Yarborough to give City a 2-0 lead.
“You saw one or two bursts of what Sam (Adeniran) can provide,” said Bradley Carnell. “He's not just a hold-up guy. He can also challenge the back line with his speed, his pace, and power. That was pretty fun to watch.”
Not even a dozen minutes of soccer had been played at CITY PARK, and it seemed as if St. Louis City were absolutely flying around their opposition, who currently sit at the very bottom of Major League Soccer and its Western Conference.
There was space aplenty available for City to run into and attack in the first half, and it felt that much of the first 45 minutes in Downtown West was City midfielders turning and looking upfield.
City took their comfortable two-goal lead into the half, with all the pressure on the visitors to come up with some answers offensively in the second half.
Colorado did, to their credit, push forward with more frequency in the second half. City’s MLS All-Star game-bound captain Roman Burki was forced into a few saves, but Colorado didn’t create too many truly dangerous scoring chances.
Perhaps the biggest concern for Bradley Carnell and St. Louis City after Saturday’s game is the status of their midfield “stopper” Njabulo Blom. Blom could be seen sitting on the field, looking up at the heavens, before he was substituted for Rasmus Alm with 20 minutes left in the match.
Post-match, Bradley Carnell said that Blom had been struggling in the heat and humidity in St. Louis. “I don’t think any South African has felt the humidity and heat we’ve felt over the last two days.”
“(Blom) just struggled a bit with fatigue,” Carnell continued. “He had a couple of dizzy spells going into the game and we were monitoring that. We had a backup plan if he couldn’t go, but credit to him for pushing through, keeping things simple, and doing his job.”
After Blom’s substitution, and a few others, City started to turn Colorado’s failed attacks into counters, with Celio Pompeu’s fresh legs making a big impact on the left wing. City wouldn’t add a third, but a third goal wasn’t truly needed.
“Very happy with tonight's performance,” said Carnell. “Not just with the clean sheet. We had one scary moment in the first minute of the game, and I thought from then on we mitigated any chance. A clean sheet is just a reward for the hard work.”
With the loss, Colorado’s winless run since May 6 continues apace. Following Saturday’s match, Colorado has the fewest points and worst goal differential of any MLS team.
“Not on our watch that that trend is not going to stop here at CITY PARK,” stated Carnell. “Credit to the fans as well. They were immensely loud from the very get-go.”
With a win and LAFC losing 2-0 to Dallas Saturday, City goes three points clear at the top of the Western Conference of MLS. Next Saturday they’ll take their talents to Canada for the first time, to take on Toronto FC, who last week parted ways with head coach and former US National Team coach Bob Bradley.
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