KANSAS CITY, Kansas - St. Louis City SC renewed their cross-state rivalry with Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night on the Kansas side of Kansas City.
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No name has really stuck for the short-lived rivalry between City and SKC, but Sporting bumping the then-number one-seeded City out of last season’s MLS Cup Playoffs gave the matchup juice.
Playoffs might be a tough ask for both of these teams in 2024, but Saturday’s meeting provided a playoff-like intensity, a compliment to the fledgling rivalry between the two clubs. City scored first, but a defensive lapse and an easy goal for Willy Agada saved a 1-1 draw for the hosts in Kansas.
As has been the case when St. Louis City has made their travels to the westernmost edge of Kansas City, thousands clad in City Red made their presence known at Children’s Mercy Park. The south corner of Sporting KC’s home stadium was completely taken over with pockets of City fans spread throughout.
The team sheets before the game offered a bit of confusion but confirmed the anticipated debut of attacker Cedric Teuchert, City’s first midseason signing of 2024. Teuchert started on the left side of City’s attack, alongside Nökkvi Thórisson.
Perhaps looking to be more sound defensively, interim City boss John Hackworth went with a 3-4-2-1 formation that kind of flexed into a 3-2-3-2 in attack when City were moving forward.
Jayden Reid dropped back into the left center-back position in the back three alongside Tim Parker and Kyle Hiebert to his right. Akil Watts and Njabulo Blom played as the two holding midfielders who were more than comfortable dropping back to support the three center-backs.
Tomas Totland and John Klein manned the wings, a bit further upfield than Tomas Totland is used to on the right side. In attack, Totland and Klein joined Eduard Löwen in midfield, and Cedric Teuchert joined Nökkvi Thórisson at the front, hence 3 (center backs) -2 (holding midfielders) -3 (attacking midfielders) -2 (forwards).
The first half was hectic, and within the first 10 minutes, both teams had great opportunities to open the scoring. City’s Akil Watts cut into the SKC defense and smashed a daisy-cutter just about a foot wide of the Sporting goal.
A few minutes later, Kansas City was on the march, and Roman Bürki was called into his first action of the night. First Bürki denied Johnny Russell from short range, but then produced a moment of magic by getting a mere fingertip to the shot of Tim Leibold and tipped Leibold’s bending and dipping long-range effort onto the crossbar and out.
In the 34th minute, Thórisson saw a yellow card for a professional foul where he wrapped up Sporting’s Willy Agada to prevent a potential counter-attack. Two minutes later, Thórisson clipped Nemanja Radoja to draw a foul, and those in Sporting Blue were begging referee Rubiel Vazquez to show City’s Icelandic attacker a second yellow card to send him off.
Vazquez kept his yellow card in his pocket, and Thórisson stayed on the field. In the 42nd minute, Thórisson made a bigger mark than the one he left on Radoja’s leg.
Thórisson made a run into the left side of the Sporting box with the ball at his feet and made a run to the end line before cutting back, momentarily losing his footing but maintaining possession, making a few SKC defenders miss before smashing a shot into the top corner of Tim Melia’s goal.
Jubilation in the City corner, it’s the first time since their July 2nd win over San Jose that St. Louis City took a first-half lead. Thórisson may have overlooked a few easier passes en route to his goal, but the result counts all the same.
“I slipped a little, but it’s just instinct [to stay with the play,]” said Thórisson after the game. “The first touch, I knew [the SKC defender] was going to slide, go to ground, so I cut back to my right foot.”
While Thórisson celebrated a goal and another solid performance as a striker when he really is more of a winger, his attack partner Cedric Teuchert had a rather subdued MLS debut. While he made a few solid runs and showcased his willingness to go forward, Teuchert made way for Hosei Kijima after just about an hour of game time.
With a rare lead on the road, John Hackworth opted for some more defensive-minded substitutes to try to hang onto the result and more importantly, three points. Usual left back Anthony Markanich came in for a cameo as a left midfielder, Josh Yaro replaced Tomas Totland to help shore up the back line.
With the defensive substitutions, City became more entrenched in their own defensive third of the field and Sporting KC was attacking in waves. In the 73rd minute, one of those waves would finally break the City dam.
SKC’s Alan Pulido won a free kick on the left wing, and on the ensuing play swung a cross into a crowded City penalty area to an unmarked Agada, who just had to get his head on the ball to score the equalizer.
A lack of communication on the City backline saw the Sporting striker find his own island inside the six-yard box, with defenders in City Red looking at their teammates wondering who was marking Agada.
“To give up the goal the way we did, that’s going to sting for a long time.” said Hackworth postgame.
In the 86th minute, a bizarre mental lapse from Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia saw the veteran accidentally play his goal kick only a few yards to his left, and he couldn’t touch the ball again since he kicked the dead ball. Melia could only shield the ball and hope for a defender to arrive for help.
In shielding the ball, Melia stopped a point-blank-range effort from City sub Caden Glover, and then Eduard Löwen smashed the rebound into Glover’s back. In 2023, that probably bounces off Glover into the goal. In 2024, those bounces haven’t been quite as fortunate.
Both teams huffed and puffed with some chances from free kicks late, but the score remained 1-1 when Rubiel Vazquez blew his whistle for full-time. Points are now incredibly crucial for this St. Louis City team, and getting one point instead of three because of lackluster defending in a late moment is not ideal for any remaining playoff hopes.
“Hard to sit here again, but I think we made some positive steps tonight,” said Hackworth. “We were in a position to come into our rival’s home and get three points… We’re bitterly disappointed that we didn’t get all three.”
A draw is a step in the right direction, however, when one considers that the team had lost their last three games in rather ugly fashion, a draw is a notable improvement. Tim Parker pointed to the formation change for getting City competitive again.
“[The formation change] had a lot of rewards for us,” said Parker. “Tonight’s a step in the right direction, but still disappointing.”
City will now take a month-long break from MLS play for the Leagues Cup, a tournament similar in format to a World Cup or Copa America, where teams from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX across a number of groups play each other to see who advances to a knockout tournament.
The Leagues Cup has been the subject of criticism among many MLS fans, as the league pulled the majority of its franchises out of the US Open Cup tournament citing a “congested” schedule.
Fans and onlookers have pointed out that the average MLS schedule is more “congested” now that there’s a brand new, month-long tournament in the middle of the season.
St. Louis City SC hosts FC Dallas in Leagues Cup play on Saturday, July 27.
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