ST. LOUIS - St. Louis City SC hosted their rivals to the West, Sporting Kansas City, on a beautiful Wednesday evening for soccer in downtown St. Louis.
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In a game that was a must-win for City, they came out of the gates hot and scored early, but fell apart in the second half. What looked like a convincing performance after 45 minutes turned into a highly disappointing result after 90, as City drew with Sporting, 2-2.
City’s lineup featured the return of the team’s captain and one of the best goalkeepers currently playing on this side of the planet, Roman Bürki. Bürki has missed the majority of the season since going down with a fractured hand injury suffered in training nearly two months ago.
In front of Bürki, from left to right, was Celio Pompeu, back in the starting eleven as a left wingback. Kyle Hiebert, Timo Baumgartl, and Josh Yaro played as center backs, and Akil Watts manned the right side as a wingback.
Tomas Ostrak and Conrad Wallem started as central midfielders, as Marcel Hartel and Cedric Teuchert flanked Joao Klauss at the sharp end of the City attack.
Sporting Kansas City had more time on the ball in the first 15 minutes, but didn’t trouble City’s captain and goalkeeper in his return to MLS action. At the quarter-hour mark, City jumped out to the lead in style.
Pompeu, who’s been primarily used as a bench option for Olof Mellberg in recent weeks, latched onto a bouncing ball following a City corner kick. Pompeu found some space just outside the left corner of the SKC box, and curled a gorgeous right-footed shot into the far top corner.
There haven’t been many goals scored by St. Louis City in 2025, but Pompeu’s 15th-minute strike will certainly be a contender for goal of the season.
For the first time since April 13, City had given the packed house at Energizer Park something to cheer for in the first half. Downtown West was rocking.
City added a second in fortuitous fashion just before the halftime whistle. Tomas Ostrak, bearing down on the Kansas City box, attempted a low driven shot that clipped the heel of Cedric Teuchert, who was leaping to get out of the way of Ostrak’s shot. The ball then looped in the air, over John Pulskamp and into the back of the SKC net.
For the first time since August 24, 2024, City went into the half with a two-goal lead. For the first time in two months, City went into the half with any lead at all.
Sporting KC put their foot on the gas a bit more to start the second half, and Roman Bürki was finally called into action in front of the supporter’s section on the north end of the stadium, where he was serenaded by the City faithful who’ve eagerly awaited his return.
City made a couple substitutions for fresh legs, bringing on SImon Becher for Joao Klauss and Xande Silva for Cedric Tuechert around the 60-minute mark. For a second straight game, the reason for the substitution was fitness, with Teuchert and Klauss needing subbed off as they had ran themselves into the ground.
“We really need to build on our physical capacity,” said Olof Mellberg postgame. “It's not where we want it to be at the moment for various reasons. First of all, we need players to be able to play 90 minutes. We need a lot of energy from players coming on as well, and for various reasons, we don’t have that at the moment.”
But even with fresh legs in attack, City was giving up more possession and more time on the ball to the visitors, who eventually made their possession count. Tim Leibold and Daniel Salloi played a one-two inside the City box that took the defense out of the picture, and Leibold beat Roman Bürki to bring Sporting back into the game at 2-1 in the 71st minute.
It took only six more minutes for SKC to find a second and equalizing goal. Dejan Joveljic rose highest on a free kick in the City half and found the far corner with a header. City’s two-goal lead had evaporated, and the positive vibes around Energizer Park had shifted to a more-familiar sense of worry and fear.
“It’s extremely important for us to win those aerial duels,” said Olof Mellberg. “Credit to Joveljic for the goal, but we need to do better attacking [the ball].”
Simon Becher had City’s best chance to take all three points late when he found himself through on goal with only Sporting KC keeper John Pulskamp to beat. A sprawling kick-save from Pulskamp kept Becher off the score sheet in the 83rd minute, and the scores remained level.
When the full-time whistle blew, confirming the 2-2 draw, boos rang out from the fans clad in City Red, while the few hundred in Sporting Blue at the southwest side of the stadium left with their heads held high, having salvaged a result that seemed impossible after the first half.
Some draws in soccer feel like wins. City’s 0-0 against Vancouver, for example, was a good draw against a very good team. A 2-2 draw after being ahead 2-0 after 70 minutes is nothing short of a failure for this St. Louis City team.
“After a game like this, it feels like a loss,” City captain and goalkeeper Roman Bürki expressed following the draw. “Especially because we knew about the importance of this game for the fans. We wish we could have won this game.”
Olof Mellberg didn’t have much to say postgame. Mellberg was suspended for the match after picking up his third yellow card of the season last Saturday. Per MLS coach suspension rules, Mellberg’s interaction with the club was cut off 90 minutes before the match.
“Extremely disappointed not to be able to win this game, to be 2-0 up,” Mellberg said with a sigh. “Overall, a lot of disappointment in the team.”
Roman Bürki thought the team changed their style of play in front of him after going up by two goals, which ultimately cost them the win. Goalscorer Celio Pompeu echoed his sentiment, adding that City needs to learn how to finish games off.
“This is just a game that we were up 2-0, we had chances to kill the game, but we didn't,” Pompeu explained. “We didn't take our chances, and then we let them come back to one and then the header [for the second Sporting goal]. I mean, in my opinion, you just have to be able to learn how to kill games, how to finish 30-40 minutes.”
Pompeu also spoke about the mounting frustration in the locker room.
“Of course there’s frustration,” said Pompeu. “When you lose this game you expected to win, a game like this against our rival [frustration is expected]. We’re trying to figure out things, to talk and see what’s wrong. What can we do better? We are men here, we don’t want to speak behind each other’s backs… It’s easy to say we need to work harder in training or try again. We have to show it on the field, we have to score the goals and get three points.”
With the draw Wednesday night, City have now gone nine straight MLS games without a victory, as three points have become more and more elusive. City’s ongoing quest for another win continues Saturday evening when they head north on the Mississippi River to take on Minnesota United.
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