The Houston Dynamo had been the strongest home team in the Western Conference as they welcomed St. Louis to town on Saturday with a streak of over 540 scoreless minutes from Shell Energy Stadium, but CITY’s big, lumbering, Brazilian striker João Klauss, would soon bring that streak to an end.
It was not an easy match for St. Louis by any stretch, but a renewed sense of energy late in the match saw them unlock a few chances in on Houston Goalkeeper Steve Clark. CITY finally bested Clark with the physical presence of Klauss on the doorstep, sending home a ball that Clark thought he had saved moments earlier.
Klauss is the story of this match, his 86th minute goal was his seventh of the season, and moves his scoring rate to 0.64 goals per 90, a rate that puts him 4th in MLS among strikers with more than 10 starts. It’s noteworthy that this late breakthrough comes in Klauss’ first 90 minute outing since returning from injury.
Klauss has been very open about his frustration during his recovery process, slowly finding his form as the pressure mounts on the Western Conference leaders.
The joy in Bradley Carnell’s voice was palpable as he reflected on Klauss’ journey, “You can see the qualities he possesses. He’s a real holdup striker with skill, speed and savviness” adding, “When Klaus is playing at that confidence level, he’s really difficult to construct a plan against him. He’s able to draw people, he floats between the lines, he runs the line, like we saw on multiple occasions. So really happy about a lot of what we saw tonight and I’m sure he can be proud of his performance tonight.”
Carnell deserves his fair share of credit for this performance as well.
Carnell stood by his guys, even after Houston found a way through St. Louis’ mid block after Coco Carrasquilla initiated a brilliant sequence of in close passing that would end in Corey Baird lofting a ball over Roman Bürki from an impossible angle.
Down a goal and chasing, St. Louis found themselves in a tough situation.
Houston’s midfield successfully to the sting out of the match, siphoning any potential intensity out of the CITY attack before it started.
However, some creative adjustments late in the match led to St. Louis gaining momentum, and their fierce attacking style came back with a vengence.
The tying effort comes after CITY progressed the ball through Nökkvi Thórisson down the right side of the pitch, overloading the flank, before Jake Nerwinski found an outlet pass through Eduard Löwen.
Indiana Vassilev’s run from his unorthodox wing back positioning opened things up for the Hellcats, freed into the box, a cross to Tomas Ostrák looked to be definitive.
However, Steve Clark would find a way to keep the ball out of the net, until a charging João Klauss finally ended Houston’s shutout streak.
Carnell’s insertion of Indiana Vassilev as a wing back on the left side was unusual, but tactical flexibility is CITY’s calling card, and this was proof that Carnell’s toolbox is immense.
Carnell’s formational flexibility was on display from the hop, leaving Nico Gioacchini on the bench in favor for AZ Jackson in a 4-2-3-1, Carnell hoping that Gioacchini’s insertion – along with Thórissson and Ostrák – late in the match would be more effective than starting with a two striker setup.
Carnell had strong praise for his players after the match, the late goal being a point of pride for the way his group fought back, “The game gives you a different picture and I just thought for me to force play over the outside channels just to get a fresh Indy, who will run the line who will open up and get wide and good crosses in. Indy was very industrious. He played like a winger, he played like a left back so I really enjoyed what I saw in a moment, I wouldn’t say of desperation, but we were trying to make a push up the game. Again, we held it solid with Jabs [Blom], who managed his yellow card very well. Edu [Löwen] was a trojan back and forth between the boxes, really happy with these guys performances.”
Vassilev was candid about the unusual circumstances around his positioning, but was more than happy to find a way to help the club;
“I think that’s the first time that I played there in my life. So yeah, maybe it wasn’t doing some right things defensively. I’m not too sure to be honest with you.”
Vassilev’s unfamiliarity aside, his instructions were clear, “I just tried to get forward as much as I could just because of the state of the game. I know we were down 1-0, so my mindset was just kind of go on and maybe forego some of those defensive responsibilities in the hopes that we could grab a goal and then once we grabbed a goal I guess I sat back a little bit more still didn’t really know with it. I had no idea what I was doing really, to be honest with you. You know, it seemed to have worked out for today. I’m happy to help the team. Good point away from home and a very tough place to come and play.”
St. Louis will come away from this match breathing heavily, relieved to escape with a point, but disappointed that they weren’t able to find more out of the match. CITY must have a short memory though, as they recover for a crucial matchup with LAFC back at CITYPARK on Wednesday.