ST. LOUIS - St. Louis City SC are in the dog days of the 2025 Major League Soccer campaign, well adrift from playoff contention, and they hosted Minnesota United FC on Saturday evening.
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It was the best of halves, it was the worst of halves for City on Saturday night.
A strong start saw the hosts take a lead into the halftime break, but two mental mistakes in the box resulted in two Minnesota penalties that were converted and a 2-1 St. Louis City loss.
St. Louis and Minnesota were partners in multiple transactions in the week leading up to the match, with MUFC selling winger/attacker Sangbin Jeong to City for $1.6 million, and loaning defender Devin Padelford for the remainder of the season.
Jeong and Padelford arrived in St. Louis this week, and both were immediately thrust into interim manager David Critchley’s starting eleven on Saturday against their former club.
Padelford’s inclusion saw a shakeup of the City defensive back line. Padelford slotted in at left back, which moved Jaziel Orozco over to center back. Orozco hadn’t played in the middle in his short time with the first team, but typically played as a center back for CITY2 in MLS NEXT Pro this season.
Orozco was paired with TImo Baumgartl in central defense, and Conrad Wallem started in place of Tomas Totland on the right wing. Wallem has said in press conferences this year that he feels comfortable all over the field, and that theory was tested Saturday night.
Eduard Löwen made his first start in midfield after being eased into a return from a hamstring injury, and Tomas Ostrak played alongside him. Teaming up with Ostrak in central midfield allows Löwen to sit a bit deeper defensively, something the team has lacked in his absence.
Sangbin Jeong started on the right wing, and his job was to make runs to terrorize the Minnesota United back line that had seen his blistering pace up close and personal in training until his transfer earlier in the week.
Marcel Hartel again started in the number 10 role, and Celio Pompeu took up his favored left wing position.
Joao Klauss, who had been the subject of transfer rumors throughout the week, started at striker as has generally been the case when he’s been healthy. Reports came from Fox Sports in Mexico that Liga MX team Club Leon were inquiring about Klauss’s services with City.
Klauss has statistically been City’s best player in a down season, and a transfer of their Designated Player striker would signal a potential sell-off during this current summer transfer window.
Ultimately, Klauss’s importance to City likely meant he was only available at a price tag that Club Leon were unwilling to pay. Reports from Mexico stated as much, and those same sources claimed the deal was off.
With the white noise of transfer drama hanging over the club, and two new faces immediately brought into the starting eleven, it would be understandable if St. Louis City weren’t in the right mindset at kickoff on Saturday night.
The opposite seemed to be the case in the first half. It was City who looked like one of the best teams in the MLS Western Conference, dominating possession, and knocking on the door with a handful of chances in the early going.
Sangbin Jeong latched onto a long ball from Eduard Löwen over the top of the Minnesota defense in the 18th minute, but dragged a right-footed shot just wide of the United goal. Moments later, Devin Padelford beat a MUFC man on the left wing, and clipped in a cross to Joao Klauss, whose header was cleared off the line, denying the speculated transfer target a goal in the 22nd minute.
Perhaps it was the change of scenery, or a bit added fuel in the tank against their old club, but the new arrivals from Minnesota looked deserving of the starting spots they claimed in their first week in St. Louis.
“I thought they were fantastic,” David Critchley expressed postgame. “... Good to get them debuts, good starts, Sangbin [Jeong] just missed one by a few yards, he would have taken the roof off the stadium if he put that in the back of the net… Devin [Padelford] found a lot of good moments. I was very happy with them.”
City’s pressure finally told after the half hour mark, when Tomas Ostrak was fouled in the United box following a corner kick. City were awarded the penalty, which Eduard Löwen buried, the German sent MUFC keeper Dayne St. Clair the wrong way and gave City a 1-0 lead.
While City dictated the flow of the game in the first half, they missed multiple chances to add to their lead and “kill the game”, which players, coaches, and front office members have pointed to as the club’s big weakness in 2025.
“Our behaviors need to change when we get a goal ahead,” said Critchley. “We put all this together in the first half and put a performance like this together. We have to find ways to score more goals and kill games off.”
Coming out of the halftime break, the visitors perked up a bit, likely after getting an earful from head coach Eric Ramsay in the locker room. For the first 27 minutes of the second half, City were able to stem the Minnesota tide.
In the 72nd minute, the returning Chris Durkin, playing in his first MLS game since May after going down with a knee injury, let MUFC striker Kelvin Yeboah by, realized that was a bad idea, and grabbed Yeboah by the shoulder.
Referee Victor Rivas did not hesitate when he pointed to the spot, and reached into his back pocket to pull out a red card for Durkin. Durkin had only come onto the field as a substitute ten minutes prior, and will now be suspended for City’s next MLS game in two weeks time.
PRO Referees responded to a pool reporter question about the red card with the following:
“There was a clear pull of the attacker's shoulder with no attempt to play the ball, raising this offense to DOGSO (Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity) by holding, which is a red card offense and not a yellow card.”
City interim manager David Critchley said he thought the penalty would overrule the red card. “I was under the assumption that sometimes the penalty outweighs the red card… It was definitely a foul inside the box, but that was one of the key moments for us tonight that changed the game.”
“Yes, Chris [Durkin] made an error today,” Critchley continued. “But there were three or four errors before that in that phase of the game that other players made.”
Yeboah took the penalty himself and beat Roman Bürki to level the score at 1-1. Bürki does a lot of things well as a goalkeeper, but has his struggles with PKs.
After dominating the first 45 minutes, City now found themselves in a dogfight and down a man. David Critchley brought on some defensive-minded substitutes in Jake Girdwood-Reich and Alfredo Morales in an attempt to batten down the hatches and salvage the draw.
For the most part, St. Louis weathered the storm, but what could only be classified as a mental mistake in the age of VAR from young defender Jaziel Orozco gifted another penalty to Minnesota United.
While going up for a header in the City 18-yard box, Orozco put his hand up by his head and reached out to push the ball away. This worked great for Diego Maradona and Argentina in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup, but in Major League Soccer in 2025, VAR intervened in the 88th minute.
Kelvin Yeboah took the responsibility of the penalty kick in the 90th minute, and again beat Roman Bürki, who guessed right but couldn’t lunge to get in front of Yeboah’s shot.
City huffed and puffed through stoppage time, but couldn’t find a response. 2-1 was the final score when Victor Rivas blew his whistle for full time.
“Games are not won and lost on one or two mistakes, even if they are big moments,” Critchley said, consoling his players who made mistakes that resulted in penalties. “It's a collective and it should be. I just feel like we needed to be better as a team in the second half.”
With the defeat, City stays in 14th in the Western Conference, and now sits level on 18 points with Eastern Conference stragglers CF Montreal. Montreal and St. Louis are both two points ahead of the MLS-worst LA Galaxy. Avoiding the Wooden Spoon, a supporters trophy awarded to the fans of the worst team in MLS, is City’s main on-field priority to close out 2025.
City now enjoys a slight break from MLS, not playing in the league again until August 9, as the league takes a short break during the opening round of the Leagues Cup, which City are not participating in this season.
St. Louis City does return to action at Energizer Park on Wednesday in friendly competition, as they welcome English Premier League club Aston Villa. The friendly was scheduled when Olof Mellberg, an Aston Villa legend as a player, was still head coach of St. Louis City. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night.
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