St. Louis CITY SC was always going to run into trouble this week, three matches in seven days, starting with a road trip into 5,164′ of elevation. St. Louis CITY SC’s performance was bailed out by the World Class performance of Goalkeeper Roman Bürki.
Bürki registered a career-high twelve save performance, besting his eleven save performance against Borussia Mönchengladbach back in 2018. Bürki’s performance Saturday night stopped 1.39 expected goals generated by Colorado in the first half alone.
Colorado Rapids Manager Robin Frazier made things hard for St. Louis CITY SC as the first half progressed. His lineup adjustments gave the Rapids control through the midfield and made life very difficult for the CITY midfielders. A CITY midfield that included a first-time starter, Akil Watts.
Diego Rubio and Max Alves were both crucial for Colorado as they were able to link play through on goal. Colorado’s eleven attempts toward Roman Bürki culminated with four shots on goal in the final two minutes of the half. A performance that Rapid’s striker Kevin Cabral will surely be regretting as his four shot attempts were all parried away by the increasingly aggressive Bürki.
Bürki’s saves were the catalyst for St. Louis to grind their way back into the match over the second half. Giving St. Louis a clean slate after being hemmed back for 45 minutes and only generating one shot on target.
The introduction of Indiana Vassilev into the match at half time was the perfect decision in hindsight, even if it was driven more by player rotation than the game state itself.
“Indy gives us a bit more stability at the base of the midfield, he works hard for every ball, and his hard-nosedness was a quality that we definitely needed to start the second half”, Carnell would say of Vassilev’s introduction to the game.
From there, St. Louis responded with a fantastic thirty-minute performance.
The wings became more involved, finally exposing Colorado’s back line, and St. Louis was rewarded for their adjustments. The first goal of the match comes after Jared Stroud drove down the left side of the pitch, as he entered the box, he sent in a cross that lands in the path of Rasmus Alm who confidently lashed the ball past Rapids keeper William Yarbrough.
Alm’s goal made good on his connection with Jared Stroud on the opposite wing. A connection that was inches away from breaking through just a few minutes prior.
“I am definitely mad at myself for that first miss. Even if it is nice that Rasmus [Alm] and I were able to contribute in some way”, Stroud would say after the match.
However, that progressive play saw a setback as João Klauss came off the field with an apparent injury in the 61st minute. “He felt his quad a little bit so it was precautionary to pull him out but it is too soon to tell if it will be any more serious.”, Bradley Carnell would say after the match.
While the Klauss substitution may have had to come earlier than planned, Célio and Tomáš Ostrák did their part, injecting a different look into the match.
“Our strategy was with an eye on the next week, we know we have a game on Tuesday and we were really cognizant of additional fatigue.”, Carnell would continue about the strategy behind Saturday’s rotation.
The Rapids never went quietly into their goodnight, however.
Robin Frazier used all five substitutes after the 70th minute as they attempted to take advantage of STL’s fatigue. With fresh subs of their own, the Rapids would finally break past Roman Bürki in stoppage time.
The goal had been coming, the Rapids were knocking on the door as stoppage time crept closer and closer.
It was a nice moment of creative attacking soccer from the Rapids attack. Diego Rubio received the ball with his back toward the goal and sent a beautiful flick past the CITY back line and into the path of Michael Barrios. Barrios replaced Kévin Cabral and was instantly effective as the tip of the Rapid’s attack.
With two points dropped at the death, Roman Bürki was understandably frustrated, “I’d rather have nothing to do and win the games”, Bürki lamented, “personally, I always want to win, I feel empty and a bit disappointed”.
Bürki is right to be upset, his performance to keep CITY alive in the first half should have been rewarded with a win. However, a point on the road while rotating players for a tough stretch of soccer should not be seen as too much of a negative.
The team will lament the dropped points but the USOC match against perennial giant killers, Union Omaha on Tuesday will force Carnell’s men to quickly move past the disappointment.
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