ST. LOUIS - After a frantic game in Portland last weekend, St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth put the team through their paces last week in training to shore up the defense.
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Those efforts on the training fields just south of CITYPARK paid dividends on Sunday afternoon when City hosted the MLS Western Conference-leading LA Galaxy.
City’s different defensive approach stifled Marco Reus and company, and two goals from summer signings gave the hosts a 2-1 victory in the St. Louis sunshine.
A warm afternoon, especially in the sun-drenched supporter’s end, but that didn’t deter anyone from filling CITYPARK for the team’s first home MLS game in nearly two months. The 22,500 in attendance welcomed the newest City players, Marcel Hartel, Cedric Teuchert, Simon Becher, Henry Kessler, and Jannes Horn to the field for their first MLS game at CITYPARK.
It was also what felt like a re-debut for right back Jake Nerwinski, who won the starting job for Sunday’s game, less than 72 hours after he and his wife welcomed newborn Charlotte Nerwinski into the world, their second daughter.
“The biggest decision I was making with Jake was like, ‘How much sleep did you get; are you going to be able to play 90 minutes?’” said John Hackworth postgame. “And Jake was great, Tots [Tomas Totland] and Jake and Akil [Watts] were battling all week, they just kept pushing each other in training.”
Teuchert gave the home fans something to cheer about in less than 10 minutes when he capped off a trademark City attack with his second MLS goal since his arrival.
Jake Nerwinski broke up a pass from Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy, and Indiana Vassilev passed to Marcel Hartel in the box, who squared a pass to striker Simon Becher. Becher laid a pass off to Teuchert that was deflected, but Tuechert showed his composure in the box and stayed with the bouncing ball, curling a shot beyond McCarthy.
The noise from the crowd was a roar that CITYPARK hadn't heard for quite some time. The new additions haven’t just reinvigorated the team on the field, but the fans in the stands as well.
“It was so nice, it felt like home,” said City’s Cedric Teuchert after the game. “The fans were so amazing to give us the extra push to win this game. And I think we need everybody. We need the team, the staff, and also the fans.”
The Galaxy grew into the game, but couldn’t break through in the first half. A new-look City approach to defense, one that prioritized defensive shape over the usual City high press, confounded the Western Conference leaders, who didn’t create big chances in the first half.
Of the four shots LA had in the City box in the first 45 minutes, three of them were blocked at the point of attack, and one was saved by Roman Bürki. City might have allowed the Galaxy to have a bit more possession, but the defense was solid.
City did give up an equalizing goal less than 40 seconds into the second half, where it seemed the defense was still tying up their cleats in the locker room. To their credit, there was a nice bit of interplay between the Galaxy attackers, but Kyle Hiebert couldn’t keep up with the goalscorer Gabriel Pec, who rifled a layoff from Miguel Berry in the box into the City goal.
The goal elicited a collective groan from the CITYPARK faithful, wondering if their team had fallen into the familiar trap of taking their foot off the gas with a lead. City has had a knack for losing their heads and losing leads lately, Portland and Club America specifically, so to lock down and focus after the equalizer shows growth for the City side.
“What a terrible halftime talk I must have given,” joked Hackworth after the game. “But to your point, the resolve was great and I think you saw a little bit of that belief. After we give that goal up, go back to the team and watch Cello [Marcel Hartel].”
“He's shaking everyone's hand and trying to lift them up. You can see that we are trying to be a true team trying to have everybody's backs in moments where it would have been easy for people to put their head down, like ‘oh, it's going to happen to us again’. We didn't do that. Those little things are massive.”
City found their second goal after a few second half substitutions that saw Joao Klauss make his return to the field for the first time since his MCL injury that dates back to the Bradley Carnell administration. Klauss was joined by left back Jay Reid and winger Nökkvi Thorisson.
Without the ball, City operated in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Eduard Löwen and Chris Durkin serving as holding midfielders in front of the defense. In attack, City switched to a 3-4-3, with Jannes Horn, and then Jay Reid, playing as wingers on the left side, with Indiana Vassilev dropping deeper on the right side of the midfield.
When Jay Reid came on, he took advantage of spending his attacking time in advanced positions, and his pressure turned into the second City goal in the 68th minute.
Following a forced Galaxy turnover, Reid made his way up the left wing as he so often does, and played a bad cross that was sent back to him by the LA back line.
Given a second chance, Reid picked out Marcel Hartel at the top of the box, and the man who scored 17 goals in 2. Bundesliga competition in Germany in the 23-24 season made no mistake, redirecting Jay Reid’s low cross with his right foot into the top right corner of the Galaxy goal.
New LA Galaxy star and global star Marco Reus had the opportunity to equalize via a 73rd-minute free kick outside of the City box, but his effort went straight into the grateful grasp of Roman Bürki, his former teammate at Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
Bürki and Reus are good friends from their time together with the Black and Yellow in Dortmund. They shared the pitch in front of Dortmund’s Yellow Wall for seven seasons, playing in 142 games together.
“I was nervous, not going to lie,” Bürki admitted. “I know he’s been one of the best in Europe with his free kicks, but maybe it was just a bit long for him. I was a little extra focused facing him.”
Like Joao Klauss before him, Rasmus Alm also made his return from injury as a substitute in the second half, both welcomed with a rapturous ovation from a packed CITYPARK. It’s a sign of City’s improved depth that the team has such quality options to reach to coming off the bench.
Try as they might, the Galaxy dominated possession late, pressing for an equalizer, but City held their shape, and gave the potent LA attack very little space to work in dangerous areas, even down the stretch on a warm and sunny St. Louis summer afternoon.
The roar at full-time for what is the biggest City win of 2024 was a mix of excitement and relief.
Vibes haven’t been this high for City since 2023, but John Hackworth and his players preached that this is just one step in the right direction. Hackworth and crew believe this is the standard City should be achieving every week.
“We expect this,” said Hackworth. “We've been talking about it, from pregame and yesterday, we believe we can do this. Now the next step is to continue to do it. You have to have that belief in yourself.”
“We are learning how to win a game that last week we didn't know how to win,” Hackworth continued. “We are problem solving our way through with solutions that we talk about all week, and implementing those in a game like today.”
“I think the most important thing is the training,” said Cedric Teuchert. “During the week we change a lot, we talk so much together, and have so much fun together. And I think everybody can see it on the pitch. We are one group.”
For now, or at least until the team resumes training this week, the team celebrates a massive win over one of the best soccer teams in all of MLS, and looks to repeat the performance on the road next weekend in New England, where they will be reunited with former vice-captain Tim Parker.
It’s not a guarantee Parker will play against City next weekend, however. Since the move, Parker hasn’t featured in either MLS game the Revs have played, spending both games watching from the substitutes bench and not having his name called to come into play.
St. Louis City takes on the New England Revolution on Saturday, September 7, at 6:30 pm.Bradley Piros also contributed to this story.
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