Playoff hopes over for St. Louis City SC, but optimism abounds after Teuchert's big game in 3-1 win
On the night St. Louis City SC was officially eliminated from playoff contention, the team's optimism may have gotten as high as it has all season.
It wasn't that City SC outplayed a worn-down Sporting Kansas City team resting some of its better players in a 3-1 win that, for the first time this season gave City SC wins in consecutive games. ("It's a winning streak!" said City SC interim coach John Hackworth), or that it beat its most disliked rival.
It's what the team's new players have brought to the team and the impact they are making. Cedric Teuchert, the first of the six players the team added in the summer transfer window to arrive, had a goal and two assists in the win. He's the second player on City SC this season to have three goal contributions in one game, the other being Marcel Hartel, the team's new designated player, who had three assists in his first MLS game. There may still be three more games in 2024, but City SC likes how 2025 looks.
"This group has the ability to be a really good team," Hackworth said, "and then regardless of what happened to end this year, I am very confident that we would be a good team next year. Those guys are working toward that, and they are putting it on display against our main rival. So really confident that we are going to be a good team next year."
"To not go to the playoffs was hard for us," Teuchert said, "but I think every week is important for us for the next season. We have a lot of new players. It's not easy to go straight in the perfect shape. So, we train hard, and yeah, end of the week, we have the game. And to celebrate the win, yeah, makes it fun."
"You can see a different soccer," said midfielder Eduard Lowen, who scored an insurance goal in the 75th minute. "You can see something is developing. The team has been really good. But there are still a lot of things that we can improve and that's how we try to approach also the next couple of games. We want to win the games, every single one of them. But also we want to play very well and get to know each other more and more, improve on the things we want to and need to improve on, and then make it to the next season."
Despite the win, City SC was eliminated from playoff contention by Minnesota's 3-0 win over Colorado, giving Minnesota 45 points while the most City SC can get is 43. City SC is in 12th place, three points behind 10th place Dallas (and three points ahead of 13th place SKC, which has one less game to play).
While the win belonged to the team, it was made possible by Teuchert. After scoring in the fourth minute of the previous two games, he was held off the board until the 33rd minute this time, when a shot by Akil Watts, starting in place of the injured Chris Durkin, was blocked and fell right to him. He settled it with his left foot and then drove it with his right foot between two defenders and out of the reach of goalkeeper John Pulskamp for his fifth goal of the season, which ties him with Klauss and Lowen for the team lead, and he's done it in just seven games. It was the third game in a row he scored and the fourth in the past five. He also had two goals in Leagues Cup for seven goals in the past 10 games overall.
Then he added two assists, first with a cross to Rasmus Alm for a short-range tapin that was, statistically, the easiest goal the team has scored all year. (The goal had had an expected goal value of .83, the highest for any City SC goal this season, even higher than penalty kicks.) And then, after SKC had cut the lead to 2-1, made another pinpoint cross, this time to Lowen, who had time to drive it in from 18 yards out.
"It's not only the goals and assists he is giving the team," Lowen said, "but also tactically, defensively, he's in great spots. He is somebody who knows how to read space very well, and I think today his performance was even more exceptional."
Hackworth had said Thursday that Teuchert, who was practicing with a knee brace, was 50-50 to play on Saturday. The decision came down to the wire.
"Really close (to not playing). Like really close," Hackworth said. "But he's tough. He's passionate. He is a really exceptional teammate. When we came in at halftime, I just said, "Are you feeling OK?" He's like, "You know. ..." I'm like, "Well, you can ask me to come off the field but you're not coming off. So, you're going back out there." And for him, he's like, "OK. No problem. Going back out." Even though he was probably in a significant amount of pain."
After Teuchert scored, his post-goal celebration included a search for Tyler Harris, the team's director of sports medicine. "I worked this week a lot with Tyler," said Teuchert, "so I want to say thank you to him that I had I think a good game today."
If Teuchert was gritting his teeth to get through the game, Alm felt like he was in heaven. When he scored to make it 2-0, he started by hugging Hartel and Klauss (who had a low-key very good game), then leapt into the arms of Teuchert, smiling all the time. Alm got a late start to the season because of offseason surgery on a sports hernia and then, after finally getting back on the field, strained a knee ligament and missed 15 games.
"With these two years with a lot of injuries, it felt like such a relief," Alm said. "I can't describe it in words. I'm sorry."
"He's an amazing person," Hackworth said. "He's an amazing professional. He works so tirelessly for everybody else. To see him get that reward, it just makes everybody smile."
Joakim Nilsson, who had missed 16 of the previous 17 games with a series of hamstring injuries, came on in the 86th minute for his first playing time since July 17. Indiana Vassilev is in concussion protocol and didn't suit up for a game for the first time in City SC history, over all competitions. It was the third game he has missed in two seasons.
City SC has two games next week, starting with Los Angeles FC on the road on Wednesday and then Houston at home in the season finale at CityPark.
Soccer reporter
