LAFC 2, St. Louis CITY SC 0 | Positive Performances. Negative Results.

Another hard loss for St. Louis CITY SC and, stop me if you’ve heard this before, another match where CITY SC will feel hard done by the result.

The 2-0 win saw LAFC extend their shutout streak to four matches, but that betrays the fact that St. Louis had the lion’s share of opportunities in Downtown Los Angeles. Yoann Damet’s side went into BMO Stadium and controlled large swathes of the match, generated more of the opportunities, and made LAFC look uncomfortable.

Alas, positive performances don’t earn results on their own, and CITY SC’s continued lack of finishing touch cost them another match against the best of the Western Conference. 

Damet was, once again, frustrated by the result.

“I look at the performance, I'm proud, I'm happy, I think, there are a lot of good things that we will keep building on, but I've got the feeling I’ve gave you the same answer as the past 4 weeks.” Damet said, “[There] are little moments, little mistakes here and there. Again, you can see from 2 shots outside the box. So are there things we can do better? 
We can always look at things we need to do better, and we win. But it is a little bit frustrating for the guys to put in such a good performance in a tough place.”

LAFC put St. Louis under pressure early, but CITY SC weathered the storm, won the ball and took control. A dangerous free kick in the 13th minute came dangerously close to an opener, but Timo Baumgartl’s push off was deemed too powerful, and the first away goal of the season was taken off the board. That moment changed the match, but St. Louis were able to keep LAFC to just one shot on target entering halftime. 

Coming out of the half, Cedric Teuchert made way for Sergio Córdova, and Damet would stick with that lineup until Brendan McSorely replaced Simon Becher in the 77th minute. 

Córdova had some strong moments, as well as McSorely, but it would be undone by a turnover in the 72nd minute that jumpstarted LAFC’s attack. Mathieu Choinière’s first of the night capitalized on his side’s growing momentum, and a second quickly followed eight minutes later. 

“I felt like on that turnover, there is one moment, and we can see, those are moments in the game, right now, that are not going in our favor.” Damet reflected.

The subs made a difference, but it was too late, missing the window as Célio and Sangbin watched Choinière’s second attempt inch past Roman Bürki while the 4th official readied his sub board, 

Mykhi Joyner was the final sub, replacing Conrad Wallem in stoppage time. Joyner instantly looked like something CITY SC had been needing all night. Damet wasn’t committed to reading too much into his performance, but the 19 year old needs more minutes. 

“I'm happy with the guys that came in tonight,” Damet revealed. “It's very difficult to draw too many conclusions in 5 minutes here and there, where you play with nothing to lose and you just have to attack. A performance is built across the course of the game.
We go to that stage, and when we make those subs at the end, and you're 2-0 down, it's almost like going all out, all in to get a goal back, and eventually to change the game for the remaining time. I thought they brought some energy. So it is frustrating because yes, maybe with those guys coming in and being 1-0 down, that could have changed the dynamic, and maybe we could have gotten something out of it.”

All of this sets up a pivotal return to Energizer next weekend, where Damet’s side will host the New England Revolution in what has become a bit of a must win. Not for the club’s playoff chances, but to earn some benefit of the doubt. To earn some goodwill against a side that is beatable, a side that won’t be expected to come into St. Louis and leave with a share of the points.

CITY SC’s strength of schedule was the toughest in the league, but that doesn’t matter if they don’t win the easier matches that come in its wake. 

“The outcome will change.” Damet finished. “If we keep controlling the performances the way we do, the outcome will change. It's 100%.
But now we need to keep sitting that feeling of, “okay, we're performing, we're good on the ball, we're good on the press, we're winning ball back, we're creating some chances, in transition, on set pieces, in open play. And now, we just need to see the game out with a different outcome." 
So again, it's not an easy pass because we're all human, and we all want to win. We all want to get results. We all want to get those feelings, but at the same time, right now, I think the feeling needs to be focused on the performance.
There are a lot of things to show for that, in terms of data from the past few games. We knew the start of the season was against some top teams as well.
So, I'm not looking too much at the results, and I think right now, 4 games in, the performance of the team – the way we look collectively – is pretty positive, and I want to build on that.”

Final Conclusions:

The attack was much better against an LAFC that has been stingy at the start of the season. They found passes through the middle, were more creative in their weakside runs, but ultimately, the wingback play has to be better and a striker has to put the ball in the back of the net.

LAFC scored on two poor chances from outside of the box; St. Louis whiffed on both of their big opportunities. 

That is the difference.

Great teams win despite not being at their best, and depth midfielders like Canadian international Mathieu Choinière nail home the difference between St. Louis at the start of this project and the best in the league.  

“We have to understand that we are going through a process.” Marcel Hartel reflected. “We change our playing style a lot, and we have to see what we are doing good. And I'm very proud of the team for today, for the performance in the last few weeks. We are going in the right direction, and everybody understands that. Everybody is sad with the game today, and this is a good sign.”

It’s a process, the players understand that, but at some point, it will have to turn into results. 

Thanks for reading, there will be a STL Soccer notebook later in the week following Sunday's CITY2 match and Wednesday's First Round US Open Cup match between BOHFS and Union Omaha. Subscribe if you haven't already and consider becoming a paid subscriber. More NWSL Power Rankings this week, as well.