St. Louis City SC turning a corner
Since May 27, when David Critchley took over for Olof Mellberg as coach of St. Louis City SC, it has been a familiar refrain from City SC players and coaches after games, which very often were losses: “We’re playing better, we’re just not getting the results. But we are playing better.”
For City SC, the results have finally caught up with its game.
“It’s hard to say that when you don’t pick up results,” Critchley said this week, “even if the games are very, very close. Right now, what’s happening is we’re starting to see the results too. So that’s exciting.”
Like turning an oil tanker that was headed at a good clip for the rocks, it has taken a while, but the team is heading in a new direction, overcoming a lot of bad momentum. A team that hasn’t been able to win on the road has done it twice in a row, and has won two games in a row anywhere for the first time since the first month of the season. That the team is finding the new direction too late for it to change the ultimate fate of a lost season puts a damper on the whole thing. City SC has miraculously walked the line the past two weeks, avoiding elimination from the playoff race when a loss would make official what has been obvious for a long time. (In addition to a loss, a win by Dallas, Houston, San Jose or Salt Lake, or a tie by Dallas, would make it official.)
“I think this team has had an upward strength for a long time,” said Conrad Wallem, who has found his game since Critchley settled on playing him at right back. “We always had our ups and downs, but I think gradually now, during the last three months, we have progressed in some way, and now you’re starting to see the product also come out in points. I don’t think you can point out, ‘OK, we are more efficient here, efficient there,’ but I think it’s a combined thing. Finally, we’re getting points out of it.”
“A new system has to make clear for everybody, everybody has to understand what the coach wants from each position,” said midfielder Marcel Hartel. “Because also, it’s for me as an (attacking midfielder) very important how my left back, my right back, my center back, are moving on the field, that I know exactly where they’re supposed to be in this situation or in the other situation. But it’s also a bit of luck. Maybe, if we had the luck on our side when we started with Critch, and we had a couple of games where we get the points to our side, maybe then we start earlier to get out with a lot of confidence, and maybe then we have the success earlier in the season. It’s a bit from everything. It’s a lot of training, a lot of time in the meeting room to show videos and, yeah, I can say it again, Critch and his staff makes an amazing job there that helped everybody. And now I’m very happy also for them, that the results are also getting on his side.”
The new and improved City SC will be put to the test on Saturday when it faces Los Angeles FC at Energizer Park. Since LAFC acquired forward Son Heung-Min from the English Premier League, the combination of him and Denis Bouanga has been unstoppable. LAFC has scored four goals in each of its past three games, with either Son or Bouanga having a hat trick.
For a City SC defense, which has seen opposing teams regularly put up some big numbers, this will be a challenge. But one of the major byproducts of this run — two wins in a row! Points in three games in a row! — is a confidence level not heretofore seen this season. If there was a time for City SC to take on a red-hot opponent, this is it.
“Now it’s a big difference, of course,” Wallem said, “because when you lose games, you can say as much as you want that it doesn’t affect you, that you will work on as much as you can, but somehow it affects you, the mentality and your confidence, that’s as a human being. I think you see as a team now, I think if you ask everyone in the roster, even if you’re on the bench, if you’re not in the squad, if you’re playing, doesn’t matter. I think everyone feels there is a connection, that everyone thinks that we can beat whoever comes here, wherever we go. So I think the conference is a massive thing for sure.
“I couldn’t find a better moment, but (LAFC) will probably say the same also. They have had a couple of good games also. So I think it will be a really fun match.”
The match will feature two of the league’s five South Korean players, and for City SC’s Sangbin Jeong, who recently played with Son on the South Korean national team, the game is a big deal.
“A great honor,” Jeong said. “He is one of my idols and his style of play is something I try to pattern my own game after … especially with his speed and how fast he is. Getting to play with him on the national team and now against him is really meaningful.
“For this weekend, my take on how to best defend against him is to do everything possible to not give him the opportunity to shoot.”
Jeong missed last week having to return home to South Korea on a personal matter, but he’s back, as is Fallou Fall, who was out sick last week. Henry Kessler will miss his second game in a row with what is being called a lower-body injury. He and Cedric Teuchert are the only players on the injury report.
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Tom Timmermann | Post-Dispatch
Soccer reporter
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