Hartel Scores Twice, City Wins 2-1 Over Portland

ST. LOUIS - St. Louis City SC featured on Major League Soccer’s Sunday Night Soccer primetime slot this weekend, hosting the Portland Timbers at Energizer Park.

On the league’s biggest streaming-exclusive stage, City played one of their best games of 2025 and offered their fans a bit of hope moving forward. Marcel Hartel played his best game in City Red in his year in St. Louis, lifting his team to a 2-1 victory.

In the days building up to Sunday evening’s encounter, the big story around the City training ground was the matchday return of star midfielder Eduard Löwen. Löwen didn’t start, but featured from the bench for the first time in nearly two months.

The starting lineup in front of Roman Bürki in goal was largely similar to the team that came up short at Real Salt Lake the weekend prior. The back line was unchanged: Jaziel Orozco was once again called up from CITY2 to start as a left back, Josh Yaro and Jake Girdwood-Reich started as center backs, and Tomas Totland started on the right side.

Just like in Utah, Tomas Ostrak and Conrad Wallem started in central midfield. The only difference in the entire starting lineup was Celio Pompeu coming in for Simon Becher. Pompeu took up space on the left wing, with Marcel Hartel in the No. 10 role, and Cedric Teuchert playing the sometimes-winger, sometimes-attacker role that Simon Becher has in recent weeks.

João Klauss started up top, and with another goal against Utah, has solidified himself in that role and is seemingly going to start every game barring an injury or suspension.

That attacking City squad started Sunday’s game on the front foot. Tomas Totland had a golden opportunity in the sixth minute, breaking behind the Portland defense thanks to a long pass from Klauss in City’s half of the field. Totland had Teuchert to his left, but opted to shoot, and Timbers keeper Maxime Crepeau stuck out a right hand to deny the opener.

City dictated play and tempo early, but Portland scored on their first attack moving forward in the 19th minute. Some lethargic tracking back from the City midfield resulted in Timbers star David Da Costa wandering into open space near the top of the City 18-yard box. With no defender in his face to prevent him shooting, Da Costa curled a low shot to Bürki’s left. City’s Swiss shot stopper lunged but couldn’t keep the ball out of his net.

City’s response to going down early was positive, and they continued to poke and prod at a stingy Portland defense throughout the first half. By all the numbers except goals, St. Louis City dominated the first half. 275 passes to Portland’s 208, 57 percent of possession, five shots on target to Portland’s two.

But the most important numbers, the two on the scoreboard, were not in favor of City at the halftime break. Captain Roman Bürki admitted the energy in the locker room at half was downbeat at best. “The atmosphere wasn’t the best in the locker room at halftime, being 1-0 down… We were better at every stat than Portland, but we weren’t leading.”

There’s good reason for pessimism for City, who are currently in a battle not to make the playoffs, but to simply not be the worst team in Major League Soccer. Going into Sunday evening, the team had not won a single game in 2025 when trailing at halftime.

Interim manager David Critchley’s halftime team talk wasn’t about tactical changes or doing things differently to turn the game around, instead he just asked for more effort, to turn those positive stats into goals on the scoreboard.

“We didn’t change any tactics,” said Critchley. “I just tried to demand more from the players. What changed is we continued to do what we did, but the mentality and intensity hit another level in the second half.”

Nine minutes into the second half, that extra bit of hustle paid off. Tomas Totland won the ball back, fought off a few tackles, and dished a pass to Marcel Hartel as City broke in numbers in attack.

Hartel played a pass out to Celio Pompeu wide on the left, Pompeu played a pass into a dangerous area in front of the Timbers goal, and Marcel Hartel swung a left foot at a bouncing ball at the edge of Maxime Crepeau’s six-yard box and hit a shot off the inside of the post and into the roof of the net in front of the supporters section on the north end of Energizer Park.

As previously mentioned, the big story before the game was Eduard Löwen’s return, which came in the 66th minute as he replaced Tomas Ostrak. Löwen stepped onto the field to a standing ovation from the over 20,000 in attendance.

As Löwen returned, Celio Pompeu left the game with an apparent shoulder injury following a collision. That’s been the story of St. Louis City’s season. When one player returns to the lineup, another seems to take their place on the injury list.

Pompeu was seen in a sling postgame, and the team won’t have an update on his status until some time this week.

On the field, Löwen made an instant impact, forcing a save from Maxime Crepeau on the free kick that came from the foul that injured Pompeu. In the ensuing scramble as Portland tried to clear the ball, City scored their second and decisive goal.

City claimed the loose ball off the rebound of Löwen’s low drive on goal, and worked the ball to the right side to look for another cross into a crowded penalty area. Conrad Wallem found a bit of space on the right wing, picked his head up, and swung in a ball to the far post, where Marcel Hartel rose highest, and powered a header that Maxime Crepeau couldn’t get enough of a hand on to keep out of his goal.

“It was an amazing cross from Conrad [Wallem],” said Hartel on his second goal. “Critch [David Critchley] told us at halftime that we have to focus on getting crosses to the far post. Great effort from the coaches to see that.”

Two goals for Marcel Hartel, two goals for City, and a deserved lead for the team that had been better than the Timbers all evening. Holding onto leads late has been a problem for St. Louis for more than a calendar year now.

Sunday looked and felt different. City never looked like conceding, and other than a short spell of possession for Portland in the late stages that resulted in a David Da Costa shot directly at Roman Bürki, they continued to look the better team and continued to press for another goal.

Referee Ricardo Montero Araya blew his whistle promptly after six minutes of stoppage time as the visitors were trying to line up in the box for one last long free kick. It was jubilation at Energizer Park, the first City victory fans have been able to celebrate since May 31.

It’s Marcel Hartel’s best game in a City shirt, his first career brace, or two-goal game, in MLS. When Hartel scores at home in MLS play, City are a perfect 3-0-0.

“He's been super impactful for this team in all spaces on the field,” said David Critchley on Sunday’s star player. “He needs to build off this now and continue to score goals. But I was super, super happy for him. He comes in every single day. He covers so much ground in his intensity in the way he runs and the way he trains.”

Hartel himself said this was St. Louis City’s best all-around game, and credited his goals to the efforts of the whole team.

“[The goals] were important for me to gain confidence, but the goals were especially [important] for the team,” Hartel elaborated. “The coaching staff puts so much effort into every week, in training, in our analysis of games, pre- and post-match, the goals give the team something to celebrate after the game.”

With their first win since May, Sunday was reason for celebration. Three points moves City up to a paltry 18 on the season, but importantly three ahead of Montreal and the LA Galaxy, to stay off the bottom of MLS.

City heads back out on the road next weekend to Texas, taking on FC Dallas. Playoff hopes may be gone, but a second half turnaround would be a big positive for St. Louis City.