BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - St. Louis City SC and many local soccer fans made the trek up Interstate 55 for an MLS matchup with the Chicago Fire Saturday night. Originally scheduled to take place in downtown Chicago at Soldier Field, a clash with a Bears NFL preseason game moved the soccer action to Seatgeek Stadium in the southwest Chicago suburb of Bridgeview.
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When droves of City fans arrived at SeatGeek Stadium, they were welcomed by thunderstorms that eventually would delay the 7:40 kickoff time to just after 9 p.m. A late evening saw St. Louis City blow another lead in the late stages, falling 3-2 to the Fire.
Interim head coach David Critchley made just two changes to the team that produced City’s best result of 2025. Center back Henry Kessler returned to the starting eleven after making a rehab appearance for the reserve team CITY2 last weekend.
It's Kessler’s first MLS game time since June 8th, as he’s been dealing with a hamstring injury that has sidelined him for the majority of the 2025 season. In his return to the lineup, he was paired with Timo Baumgartl in central defense.
Jaziel Orozco and Devin Padelford again started as right and left backs, respectively. It’s another game where a healthy Tomas Totland, once a guaranteed starter in the City team, has been benched for the up-and-coming Orozco, signed from CITY2.
Chris Durkin also returned to the starting squad after serving a red card suspension last week and playing with CITY2 to stay fresh. Durkin started in central midfield alongside City stalwart Eduard Löwen.
The rest of the team was unchanged: Marcel Hartel and Sangbin Jeong occupied the left and right wings in attack, and Tomas Ostrak floated in the middle ahead of the holding midfielders and behind striker Joao Klauss.
Chicago seized control early, and it only took 15 minutes for their pressure to result in the opening goal. Fire striker Hugo Cuypers got behind Timo Baumgartl and Devin Padelford on the City backline and tapped home a low cross from Andrew Gutman. The opportunity was created by the hosts playing out of City’s overly aggressive high press, with Gutman unmarked as he ran down the right wing.
An early blow, but City showed more fight than they have in previous games where they’ve fallen behind on the road. The endeavor to attack was there, but the execution to convert chances to goals was not.
The visitors went into the halftime break trailing, but their efforts began to pay off just two minutes into the second half. A City attack to start the half was capped by a Tomas Ostrak goal from the center of the 18-yard box. Ostrak controlled a bouncing ball after a wayward Devin Padelford cross, lifting a shot into the top-right corner of the net, beyond the reach of Chicago keeper Chris Brady.
It’s Ostrak’s first goal of the 2025 season, his fifth in his time with City in MLS. Less than a quarter of an hour later, he would add an assist.
Ostrak, on the right side just inside the Chicago 18-yard box, curled a cross that went beyond those in front of the Fire goal, but landed at the feet of Marcel Hartel. Hartel took a moment to set his feet, and rocketed a short-range shot from the left of goal into the roof of the net.
City had a lead that they deserved. After falling behind in the first half, St. Louis City kept the heat on the hosts on a humid night in suburban Chicago.
That lead lasted roughly seven minutes. The Fire forced a turnover in the City half, and Philip Zinckernagel made substitute center back Fallou Fall miss a tackle and open up space at the edge of the box for a shot that wrong-footed City captain and keeper Roman Bürki.
Having leveled the score again, Chicago seized momentum as they pressed for a winner. But in the 75th minute, it looked as if referee Jair Marrufo handed St. Louis a lifeline by awarding City a penalty, citing a Fire handball in the 18-yard box.
As always, the Video Assistant Referee, or VAR, examines these plays and calls and relays a message to the on-field official in the case that they may need to correct their decision. On replay, a Marcel Hartel header struck the arm of Chicago defender Carlos Teran, but Teran’s arm was tucked against his chest.
Though the ball struck Teran’s arm, since the arm was not extended from his body in an unnatural position, the VAR called for Jair Marrufo to head over to the video monitor on the sideline, and the penalty call was rescinded, the correct call in the end.
The Fire were on the front foot late, and with just three minutes remaining in regular time, they took the lead. Philip Zinckernagel danced around some City defenders at the edge of the box, and laid off a pass to teammate Brian Gutierrez, who hit a grass-cutter from about 25 yards out that beat Roman Bürki to his left and found the bottom corner of the City goal.
It’s a recurring theme for St. Louis City SC. While the performance is improving to the point where City can actually take a lead in a game, something that couldn’t be said under fired head coach Olof Mellberg, the inability to convert a lead into three points has haunted the team since David Critchley took over.
After a lengthy period of stoppage time, 3-2 would be the final. Jair Marrufo blew his whistle for full time just after 11 p.m. Central Time. A long night for City, a long night for the City fans who made the trek up to Bridgeview to support the team currently sitting 14th out of 15 teams in the MLS Western Conference.
“This one, it was tough tonight,” David Critchley admitted following the defeat. “We’ve definitely lost games late, the best thing I can do is analyze [the game] and see what went wrong in Chicago tonight. We’ve played a good team, definitely a team that’s got some good quality in the final third, but we’re going to have to continue to try and get through these moments.”
Despite the negative result, Critchley saw positives in the evening’s outing.
“I thought the guys’ togetherness today and the mentality was the best I've seen since I've stepped in,” Critchley explained. “The way we pressed, the way we defended against a really good team on the ball, was probably for me one of the better games. And I know that might sound silly, ‘well you conceded three goals’, but there's a lot of good things that were happening.”
“Obviously for us right now, keeping these guys together and keeping these guys getting through these moments as we grow, is the most important thing that's on my mind,” Critchley continued. “I just told the guys in there as a fan of this sport, the way both teams applied themselves today and played the game of football, it was super entertaining. So, we've just got to continue to build on it.”
St. Louis City’s quest to continue to build towards 2026 continues in Canada next weekend, when they head to Vancouver to take on the Whitecaps. The Whitecaps have made big headlines in MLS this summer, first by way of their barnstorming start to the season, and second by signing Germany and Bayern Munich legend Thomas Müller.
Müller looks to feature in that contest, if not start, as the Whitecaps try to reclaim their spot atop the Western Conference. City takes on Vancouver on Saturday, August 23, with kickoff set for 8:40 p.m. Central Time.
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