St. Louis CITY SC lost for the third consecutive match following a 1-0 defeat to the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field. It marked a second straight loss to Chicago after the Fire eliminated CITY from the U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday.
“We go twice down to Chicago in a week,” CITY coach Bradley Carnell said after the match. “I thought we took a step forward today, despite the result.”
CITY struggled to generate dangerous opportunities throughout the match. The team’s offensive woes in recent weeks can be attributed to striker João Klauss’ absence due to a quad injury. Klauss scored five goals in nine matches before his injury.
Goalkeeper and team captain Roman Bürki acknowledged Klauss’ absence was a factor in the defeat but added “I have a feeling something is missing in the team.”
Center-back Tim Parker and midfielder Rasmus Alm also missed the match. Parker received a one-match suspension due to yellow card accumulation, while Alm is recovering from an abdominal injury.
Despite missing key starters, sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel believes CITY should have played better. “We don’t make excuses at CITY. The result wasn’t good enough. We must improve- and we will,” he said on Twitter.
Chicago controlled the first 10 minutes of the match and forced Bürki to make two crucial saves. Bürki believes the defense started the match sluggishly. “They were sleeping, like the whole team, in the first minutes. They were not ready.”
Chicago set up in a traditional 4-2-3-1 formation. A 4-2-3-1 produces triangles all over the pitch which a team can use to create numerical advantages. Chicago used these advantages to break CITY’s press and create dangerous transitions throughout the match.
Turning Point
Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri stood over a free kick for Chicago in the 40th minute. “There’re two dangers when Shaqiri’s on the ball, right? The one danger is he puts it in the top corner. The other danger is he picks out a teammate,” Carnell said.
Shaqiri opted for the latter as he crossed the ball to Rafael Czichos at the back post. CITY’s defensive line failed to track Czichos as he ran in unmarked to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. CITY players looked at each other in confusion as Chicago ran off in celebration.
Bürki is familiar with Shaqiri’s set-piece abilities due to their time as teammates in the Swiss national team. “I was surprised that [Shaqiri] crossed the ball. But I mean, in the end, the [defensive] line has to be aware of that. It cannot happen that a guy who is strong in the air, like Czichos, is all alone,” Bürki said.
Carnell questions whether CITY could’ve done more to prevent Czichos from being wide-open. “Are we doing enough in our defensive responsibilities? Are we blocking guys? Are we bumping guys? Are we, you know, trying to impede their runs a little bit?”
Being down 1-0 forced CITY to take more risks. CITY earned a corner kick in the 70th minute and squeezed into Chicago’s box. The team left John Nelson, who was on a yellow card, alone as the last defender. Chicago won the initial header and launched a counterattack.
Nelson found himself isolated against Chicago’s Brian Gutiérrez. Nelson lunged and committed a foul against Gutiérrez. Nelson received a second yellow card for the challenge. Nelson’s second yellow card automatically turned into a red one, which resulted in CITY playing the rest of the match down a man.
“I fully stand behind my player who tries for the best reasons possible to try and win the ball and win the game for his team,” Carnell said.
Nelson’s red card significantly lowered CITY’s chances of overcoming the 1-0 deficit. Carnell made numerous adjustments as the match progressed, but to no avail. Chicago comfortably withstood CITY’s attack for the remainder of the match.
The Road Ahead
“The result didn’t go our way today. But you know, there’s a couple of successes in terms of guys’ performances and what it meant to them,” Carnell said.
One of those successes included 16-year-old Caden Glover’s professional debut in the 77th minute.
CITY signed Glover as its first-ever homegrown player in January. Glover’s appearance against Chicago made him the second academy graduate to play for CITY, with the first being 18-year-old Miguel Perez.
“We believe in homegrowns, we believe in the development of our academy, so we see this as a big success moving forward,” Carnell said.
Captain Roman Bürki made his frustrations about the loss clear. “I’m far away from being happy with the performance. I mean, we had almost no real chance to score a goal.”
CITY is vocal about its culture of accountability and lofty expectations. “We are aware of what we can do better. Of course, we talk with each other, we are very open and straightforward,” Bürki said.
CITY moves from one rivalry to the next when it faces Sporting Kansas City on Saturday at CITYPARK. Bürki believes a full week of training can help the team end its losing streak. “I’m happy that we have one week, one full week, to prepare for Kansas [City].”
Julian Trejo, a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis, is a native of Arkansas, and a former goalkeeper for several state championship teams. His work is supported by the River City Journalism Fund.
