SAN JOSE, Cal. - It had been nearly a calendar year since St. Louis City SC last won an MLS regular season game away from their Downtown West home of CITYPARK.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Two days before that less-than-impressive anniversary, City broke their road schneid Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over the worst team in MLS, the San Jose Earthquakes.
The starting eleven looked a bit odd on paper, with St. Louis’s No. 10 Eduard Löwen not in the squad at all for rest/load management. Henry Kessler, an ever-present since arriving from New England, also didn't make the team after going through concussion protocols after last week's game against Minnesota.
“It's unfortunate because he's been in really good form,” said St. Louis City interim head coach John Hackworth. “(The decision to rest Löwen) was more precautionary than anything… He tried to push through training this week and look good to a certain point, but then felt like he couldn't go.”
Chris Durkin, on the other hand, surprisingly started the game after leaving last week's contest with what was explained as a tweaking of the knee. As of Thursday’s pre-match press conference, it didn't seem like Durkin would play. Hackworth said postgame that Durkin felt good enough to play Saturday.
City's goals came early, both in the opening quarter of an hour of play. Both goals came from sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel’s summer signings.
The first was an easy enough finish for Cedric Teuchert in the fourth minute. City left back Jannes Horn played a low cross along the PayPal Park grass into the Quakes’ box. Rasmus Alm, back in the starting lineup, played a nice dummy to draw in the defense as he ran into the box, and Teuchert was wide open in front of goal for a simple but firm shot for the game's opener.
It's Teuchert’s fourth in six MLS matches, a healthy number for a striker, but even better for a man playing more as a creative or attacking midfielder behind the likes of Klauss or Simon Becher.
City's second came by way of a VAR check. Marcel Hartel had been fouled at the top of the San Jose box in the 8th minute, though not called at the time. At the next stoppage in play a few minutes later, the VAR called referee Ricardo Montero to the monitor to review the call.
Sure enough, the foul to Hartel happened on the line of the 18-yard box, which counts as inside the penalty area. With no Eduard Löwen in the team, Hartel took it upon himself to take the penalty.
A hop, skip and a jump in the run-up fooled Quakes keeper William Yarbrough and City were up 2-0. With the momentum of the opening 15 minutes, it felt like City could score plenty, and run away and hide. That did not happen.
Instead, a City team in the ascendency played incredibly conservative, trying to hold possession in their own half for long stretches. This invited San Jose to press higher, and as the first half wore on, the hosts were growing into the game they seemed checked out of early.
It didn’t help matters that Chris Durkin had to leave the game after just 24 minutes. After leaving last week’s game, it seemed that Durkin reaggravated, or at least couldn’t continue on the knee that was causing him problems last week at CITYPARK.
Hackworth didn’t think it was a dangerous call to start Durkin.
“No, not at all,” Hackworth responded when asked if it was risky to play City’s appointed holding midfielder. “He's got a bruise on his knee, yesterday and today was fine, but he took a knock, and then he hit a ball, and he just felt it. He gave his best shot, which is what Durkin does. But at the same time I told him, ‘If you're suffering, I don't want you to suffer.’”
If it didn't say 2-0 to City on the scoreboard, it would have felt like John Hackworth’s team was second-best in the first half. The Earthquakes pressure finally paid off in the 40th minute.
Jeremy Ebobisse finished off a move that was simply too easy. Ebobisse played a one-two with Carlos Akapo that left the City backline in the dust. Akapo dragged a pass back to Ebobisse who smashed a shot Roman Bürki had no chance of stopping.
With the score at 2-1, San Jose took some momentum into the second half. City's defense was able to keep the Quakes at bay for the remainder of proceedings to hold onto a 2-1 victory.
It wasn't the best of St. Louis City performances by any stretch, and not the most exciting affair to watch either. But a win is a win, especially when you've been chasing one away from home for a full year now.
“I know I sound like a broken record sometimes when I talk about progress,” admitted John Hackworth postgame. “But getting our first win on the road this year, that's definite progress. Doing it in the fashion that we did it tonight, absolute progress. It wasn't pretty, in particular, there were phases of that game, the end of the first half, some moments in the second that did not look great, but I give our guys a lot of credit.”
“We've lost points from this position previously, but tonight we didn't. I was really upset with the latter part of the first half, because I think it was self-inflicted. We gave the ball away, far too easy, and we didn't take what San Jose was giving us. I think that's part of what this team is has to get through.”
While City’s playoff hopes are still mathematically alive after this week, if Minnesota United picks up just one more point for the rest of the season, City will be officially eliminated from postseason contention.
The loss for San Jose clinches them the not-so-proud honor of winning the Wooden Spoon, used as a metaphor in sports for finishing in last place.
In MLS, however, there is an actual, physical Wooden Spoon Trophy. By clinching the 2024 edition, San Jose has the most Wooden Spoons (4) since the physical trophy was created by the Independent Supporters Council to be “awarded” to the worst MLS team.
While it's been a bad year for City, a positive result Saturday in what is more a 2025 preseason game than anything else. John Hackworth did a bit of tinkering with the formation, going with a 4-3-3 with the ball, and a 4-1-4-1 without it.
“We went out into a new formation,” Hackworth explained. “When we were with the ball, we were playing in a 4-3-3, single six. Chris [Durkin] is very good at that. In fact, he is extremely good at that. I wish we could have seen it for the whole 90, but unfortunately, you know, he took a knock and couldn't go on.”
“When we were defending, we dropped into a 4-1-4-1. Would have loved for us to be able to press a little more. But we went up two goals and to a certain point, we didn't give up anything, until we started some self-inflicting problems.”
City goalscorer Cedric Teuchert admitted that it wasn’t City’s best game, but they’ll reevaluate why during the week.
“I think we have to see the video next week,” said Teuchert. “It’s true, it was not our best game. We started very well and after 20 minutes, I think we lost a little bit of the game. But at the end of the day, we have three points, and that's what we wanted.”
Playoffs and “meaningful” games may be off the cards, but City returns to CITYPARK Saturday, September 28, to host Sporting Kansas City for Show Me State bragging rights.
More like this:
