The energy pulsated through Downtown West as St. Louis CITY SC aimed to carry the momentum from their 4-0 win over SKC. Bradley Carnell’s men want CITYPARK to be “a fortress”, a stadium that builds hesitancy into the minds of their opponents.
Well, mission successful.
Bradley Carnell used a repeat lineup for the first time all season as the Vancouver Whitecaps came to town. Kyle Hiebert reprising his role at Left Back, and Carnell betting on his guy to be able to carry on his defensive performance from last weekend.
“It’s just assisting all my players in being the best versions of themselves and if Kyle needs to be playing right back, I had him at right back at the end there. He’s a very versatile guy. We know attacking is not his biggest profile and positional trait, but he gets enough done going forwards, and even if he goes forwards, he occupies the opposition because the opposition has to defend a little bit deeper. He does fulfill a job there. We just keep guiding Kyle along his journey as well.”
St. Louis came out of the gate strong, strong pressing, rock and roll soccer, a hallmark of their best performances throughout the first third of the season.
CITY’s relentless attack saw both, Jared Stroud and Nico Gioacchini with dangerous scoring opportunities within the first ten minutes. An attack that is best described as “buzzing”.
Indiana Vassilev is quickly becoming the engine of CITY’s attack, embodying the team’s principles by bounding forward with a limitless engine. Vassilev’s agility and effort earn the first free-kick of the match, and the rest would be history.
It was a dangerous spot, about thirty-five yards out from goal, it looked primed for Eduard Löwen to whip a ball in for his center backs.
Löwen stood over the ball and whipped it in with force, but as players rose to meet it, the ball had other plans. A slightly out-of-position Thomas Hasal came out to meet the ball, but it rose over his outstretched glove and found a home in the side netting.
It was the goal of the weekend but it didn’t catch Löwen off guard, “I always try and target the far post from those positions, you whip it in, and if no one rises to it then it goes in.”
That wouldn’t be the end of the Vancouver Whitecaps in this one, but with CITY up 1-0, they forced Vancouver to take over the majority of possession, more than happy to pin the Canadians in their own half and try and force them into mistakes.
Tim Parker and Jake Nerwinski would pick up yellow cards as Vancouver built their attack, but ultimately, the half would end in a momentous way for the boys in red.
A breakout against the run of play, Löwen found himself on the ball at the half mark, winning the second ball from a Vancouver turnover. A lofted ball over the top for Jared Stroud was met by a rising Tristan Blackmon, his action heads the ball away from a moving Hasal, a goalkeeping performance that he will absolutely want back.
St. Louis CITY SC entered halftime with a two-goal lead. The second half was about seeing the game out, although it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded.
Vancouver bounded out of the half strongly, and as typical starters, Brian White, Andres Cubas, and Deiber Caicedo entered the match, the pressure against St. Louis’ back line would increase substantially.
Vancouver spent much of the half searching, searching, and searching but CITY stood tall until the 83rd minute. Julian Gressel finally found something as his lofted cross found the head of Brian White as he beat Roman Bürki in a crowded box.
Vancouver took advantage of St. Louis losing their edge as they switched from a back four to a back five with Hiebert moving to right back, Njabulo Blom moving to left back, and a newly inserted John Nelson at Centerback.
Carnell, understandably, was not happy with how the adjustment was handled initially.
“Yeah, we knew, if you could see where Gressel was hanging out. He’s the supplier of the deliveries, right. So we tried to flatten out in the five. Which means by me and our principles and my profile as a coach, never means passive, and that’s some of the frustration that the boys are sharing right now”
However, with AZ Jackson and Miggy Perez entering the match in the closing moments, St. Louis would seal the win, and create a moment that will live in St. Louis sports history.
Jackson won a free kick after bounding onto a loose ball and carrying it deep into Vancouver territory. Löwen struck the ball clean and a diving Hasal wouldn’t be able to handle the rebound, Tomás Ostrak showed his speed by torching his defender to the ball, and his pass beats Hasal as it finds a wide-open Perez.
A wall of sound erupted from CITYPARK as one of their own clinched a second straight home victory, Perez’s celebration was pure emotion as the team ran to meet him. Fresh off his High School graduation, Miggy Perez is the moment.
“It’s the moment, right? I think it’s the moment that we were searching for something because we knew we were quite a bit under pressure.” Whether it was Miggy at the moment or it was getting a two-goal lead again, I think the lead outweighed the emotion for Miggy and me right there at that moment.
But now reflecting after the fact what a moment for him, right? You can see what it meant for him. He’s got one in the Open Cup and now he’s got one in the MLS. These are incredible moments as a young man, and he keeps on growing with us every single day.
Yeah, it’s a nice graduation gift for him this great weekend. Again, we have said a lot about Miggy and we haven’t said enough about Miggy, and we’ll continue to write great things about Miggy, I’m sure.
It’s our job now as coaches, parents, people, and teammates around the locker room to keep him guided and focused as he continues his journey, and who knows where his ceiling is. But we are excited to be around Miggy and to guide Miggy along this pathway.”
Listening to Carnell, Vassilev, and Löwen talk about Perez after the match, and the tone of their answers tells you about the pride they place in Perez handling these moments.
Perez handled the moment with humility, not overly buying into the hype around his performance but wanting to share the moment with his family and teammates, “Yeah, I mean, first goal, I didn’t know what to think. I went to the left but my parents were on the right side so I had to run over there real fast. […] I just focus on training, I don’t have anything else in mind. I think just going in training every day and working harder and harder.”
Vassilev, on the other hand, was ready to conduct the hype train, “Miggy scored tonight, make sure you write about that.”
Three points in the bag for St. Louis saw them pass the Chicago Fire as the fastest expansion club to reach 25 points. St. Louis CITY will return to CITYPARK next Saturday to face the Houston Dynamo after they take travel to Vancouver on Wednesday.
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