Not many cities appreciate the US Open Cup like St. Louis, over 100 years of history, and now has a USOC 3rd round attendance record to add to their storied past. The 22,423 at CITYPARK had much to celebrate as St. Louis CITY SC took care of USOC business and soared past Union Omaha 5-1.
This would be CITY’s first appearance in the storied competition and one that they have been looking forward to, “We spoke to the group this week about what this tournament means to the city of St. Louis”, St. Louis manager Bradley Carnell would say, speaking on his squad’s preparation for their inaugural cup match,.” We wanted to head into this game with intensity and a lot of bravery.”
St. Louis’ intensity would be instantly noticeable as Aziel Jackson scored in the third minute of the match, a left footed shot from the outside of the box to the bottom left corner.
Bradley Carnell wanted his squad to keep up the pressure but Union Omaha would be able to hold back St. Louis for the rest of the first half. Omaha tested St. Louis at times but the scoreline was largely due to the performance of Omaha keeper Rashid Nuhu’s performance. Nuhu’s eight saves on the night kept the game within striking distance, but that wouldn’t last long.
Three minutes into the second half, Célio Pompeo would drive forward into the box and send a powerful ball toward Nuhu’s back post. Midfielder Joe Gallardo would successfully block the cross, but the deflection would result in an own goal against Gallardo.
With a two-goal lead, St. Louis would continue to pressure Omaha’s backline, resulting in 23 shot attempts throughout the night.
St. Louis benefited from strong performances everywhere on the field, “Every time we put the ball in dangerous places, good things happen”, CITY forward Célio would say after the match, “we love playing like.”
Célio would stay involved, this time setting up Akil Watts for his first-ever CITY goal, a right-footed shot from the right side of the box to the high center of the goal. Watts would have a productive match, completing 42 passes throughout the match along with 6 passes into the final third.
Aziel Jackson would continue his man-of-the-match performance moments later by securing a brace in the 66th minute with a left footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
Union Omaha would hurt St. Louis though, grabbing a goal and cutting the score to 4-1 from a Pedro Dolabella left-footed shot from the right side of the six-yard box to the bottom right corner.
St. Louis would slam the door shut with a 5th goal in the 88th minute, and a newly substituted Eduard Löwen would cut through Omaha defenders en route to easily find the bottom corner of the goal behind Nuhu.
It’s a performance that St. Louis CITY SC won’t forget anytime soon, “yeah, it was really special”, Aziel Jackson would say as he signed off for the night. Jackson’s performance earned him a standing ovation from the capacity crowd.
Another night in St. Louis’ Open Cup legacy.
St. Louis CITY SC Draw Chicago
The fourth-round draw was overseen by the soccer gods as St. Louis drew Chicago away, marking the first of two appearances in Chicago that week. The 4th round USOC venues have officially been set as well and St.Louis will play the Fire at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois on Tuesday, May 9th, before taking the show to Soldier Field for MLS Matchday 12 on the weekend.
The draw helps fan the flames of a potential St. Louis – Chicago rivalry. The flames probably don’t need much fanning though, coincidentally, the draw lines up with a Cardinals-Cubs series at Wrigley, Cards-Cubs being one of MLB’s most storied rivalries.
New Hire: St. Louis City SC Brings on Former Manchester City Executive to Lead Day-to-Day Operations
Diego Gigliani, a former City Football Group executive, will join St. Louis City to lead the day-to-day operations of the club. Gigliani will be knowledge of the global sport and experience navigating those tricky waters. St. Louis was missing an executive after Dennis Moore left to join the NFL’s Denver Broncos earlier this month, Gigliani’s role will take on some of Moore’s responsibilities as well as allow owner Carolyn Kindle to focus more on the long-term growth of the club.
Gigliani will not impact Lutz Pfannenstiel’s role as Sporting Director directly but will be overseeing the sporting day-to-day operations along with the revenue, marketing, experience, operations, administration, and community departments.
In general, this is a smart hire by St. Louis as they collect soccer minds from around the globe.
Portland Timbers Come To Town
Bradley Carnell will have his first repeat customer this weekend as the Timbers visit CITYPARK for the first time. CITY defeated Portland in March through goals from Jared Stroud and Kyle Hiebert, a result that they will want to replicate after last weekend’s draw in Colorado.
Carnell will have to improvise like he did Tuesday night vs Omaha, where CITY lined up with Célio and Aziel Jackson as pseudo strikers, as João Klauss is still recovering from the groin injury he suffered last weekend. Carnell confirmed in Thursday’s press conference that Nico Gioacchini, “will play up top and then we’ll see what we do underneath him at the ten, we have one or two plans”.
Aziel Jackson impressed with his USOC performance and could be one of those options at the ten, but Carnell clearly wants to keep Portland manager Gio Savarese guessing. In Thursday’s press conference, Carnell also called the Timbers, “resurgent”.
Resurgent may be kind, but the Timbers were able to run through the Sounders a few weeks back, along with playing very well in their 2-1 loss to Cincinnati.
“For me, their right-hand side is very dangerous.”, Carnell would say on Thursday, very focused on Portland’s danger out wide. St. Louis has been susceptible out wide this season, allowing 1.92 g+ against directly from the wide areas inside their own half.
If St. Louis wants to stay atop the Western Conference, then they will need to win on Saturday as Seattle and LAFC are right on their heels, but the club can’t look past how hungry Portland will be to move into a playoff spot for the first time this season.
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