St. Louis CITY SC pulled off a 2-1 home victory against FC Dallas Wednesday night in what is becoming a cursed matchup between the two clubs.
The first two meetings between Dallas and St. Louis have been decided by bizarre circumstances. A weather delay in Dallas caused the match to take place in two separate months, and an early red card to Dallas Goalkeeper Maarten Paes Wednesday night forced Dallas into some tough decisions.
It was a long night of poking and prodding for St. Louis.
It was a potentially frustrating performance through the first eighty minutes, until CITY would eventually find a breakthrough after some robust changes in their approach.
St. Louis midfielder Njabulo Blom put it best in his post match comments, “If we lose this game it’s a disaster”
Fighting with an extra man, it was starting to feel like a classic example of ‘pressing team fails to break down a low block.
Blom would go on to praise his teammates’ mentality that ultimately broke the dam in front of FC Dallas’ replacement keeper Jimmy Maurer, boldly proclaiming, “Winning is in our blood now”.
Blom may have felt it in his blood, but a CITY win didn’t always look like it was given, despite playing with the man advantage throughout most of the match.
It’s a common difficulty with teams that press high up the pitch, teams that rely on winning the ball further up the pitch are often left without a coherent plan when the script is flipped on its head. Carnell saying, “These games are tricky, I’ve been involved in many of these games, and walked away sometimes with a loss and sometimes with a tie, but again credit to everyone off the bench.”
Dallas forced St. Louis into playing against their 5-1-2-1 defensive block, and it looked like CITY would struggle, taking fifteen shot attempts from outside the box, and wouldn’t find a breakthrough until the 82nd minute.
By the time the whistle blew, St. Louis would have twenty-two total shot attempts equating to just two ‘big chances’ that were statistically significant.
“It felt like we needed a reset”, Carnell would say about his squad, “We needed to make changes, get attacking guys on the field, attacking through the width and wings, and I think it was a matter of time. We bent them to the point of breaking.”
Those changes, attacking through their width, being patient and more decisive came through a wholesale change in formation.
João Klauss’ return to CITYPARK would bring in a change to a 3-5-2 in attack, with Njabulo Blom shifting into the back three while Rasmus Alm and Anthony Markanich provided support out wide.
A big role for the newly acquired Markanich, and a chance that paid off for Bradley Carnell.
Markanich would find the first goal of the match after he was given free reign along the left side of the pitch.
Markanich’s goal in the 82nd minute would be quickly followed by another first, Nökkvi Thórisson would finish a beautiful ball from Edu Löwen after João Klauss’ dummy run left him wide open on the ball.
Ultimately, Thórisson’s goal would be the decider as Eugene Ansah spoiled Roman Bürki’s clean sheet with the final kick of the game.
St. Louis will feel good about the win, and the game state allowed for a rotation of players that has Bradley Carnell happy with where his players’ fitness levels heading into the final stretch of the season.
After this win, St. Louis are currently seven points clear of LAFC as they lead the Western Conference, a huge success for a club that many thought would struggle to make the playoffs.
Despite that “success”, players are ready to make more history this season.
St. Louis is just ten points away from the expansion team points record of 47, set by LAFC in 2017.
They won’t have to wait long for that next opportunity to chase LAFC’s record, CITY are heading to Kansas on Saturday to face a SKC club that has been notably stronger at home over the past few months.
Sporting have two wins and three draws from their last five home matches across all competitions, and they’ll certainly be up for this match after losing 4-0 at CITYPARK in the inaugural matchup between the two clubs.
Njabulo Blom was fully aware of this fact talking with the media last night, saying, “We know they’ll be ready for this match after how things went in the last match.”
There will be much on the line as SKC fights for their playoff lives, and St. Louis looks to continue their momentum and tries to close the game atop the Supporter Shield table.