Marcel Hartel's Wonder Goal Caps Off An Emotional 3-1 Win.

St. Louis needed that one.

CITY SC finally find themselves in the win column following Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the New England Revolution. After four straight weeks of falling short of their underlying numbers, the Ravioli Boyz found the panacea, which was… apparently just smashing the ball on target from either 4 or 40 yards out. 

It was a character defining win for Damet’s men. 

St. Louis conceded early, paying the price for staying too loose on their pressing triggers and too expansive in their buildup. The misstep is understandable on such an emotional evening.

The club honored Ilona Löwen with a moment of silence before the match, followed by a minute of silence after the 10th minute when fans around the stadium held up signs in honor of Ilona's battle with cancer. 

The Revs grew into the match following that moment. Ilay Feingold missed a prime opportunity on the counter, only to bury a second bite at the apple two minutes later. Carles Hill and Luca Langoni combined to throw Conrad Wallem into the spin cycle, and the ball through the mixer was answered by Feingold crashing in from the weak side. 

“This group has a strong mindset. They push really hard. You can see it every game, even when we are behind, there's that belief that we can get back in the game, and there's that belief that we can get the results.” Yoann Damet reflected afterwards, “I saw a group of guys that even going 1-0 down, kept on pushing, kept on believing. We changed the game at the end of the first half, like that was going back into the locker room. And yeah, I think it says a lot about the mindset of the group. These guys, they have got special mindsets.”

It took another 10 minutes for St. Louis to finally shake off the rust. Opportunities for Wallem and Raphael Santos threatened to level the match, but it was Simon Becher finally opening his account that tipped the scales. 

“I think the goal itself – winning the ball high, and playing the ball forward – kind of what we want to try to do. And, yeah, just nice to get my first one.” Becher said of the goal. “When I got my head up, the center back had a lot of momentum going, and he was kind of trying to block the shot, and I still kind of had it close to my feet. So, I think the quick chop and getting the shot off quickly just uses momentum against him a little bit.”

Heading into halftime, St. Louis would find a way to pull ahead. A stoppage time corner provided the opportunity, and Santos’s delivery landed directly onto the foot of Chris Durkin.

“It was perfect service from Rafa.” Durkin beamed, “That was the area we were targeting, which was the second post. Didn't realize I was going to be that free.”

CITY SC led at halftime for the first time all season, but Damet needed his squad to tighten up if they were to see out the win. Coming out of halftime, they won more duels, the defensive structure tightened up, and transition opportunities were far less dangerous. The Revs were still able to create chances through Carles Gil, but Roman Bürki was up to the task, diving low to his left to save a chance worth 0.74 expected goals on target. 

Bürki emphatically bounced back from a poor performance in Los Angeles, keeping CITY SC ahead, only to be rewarded by an absolute golazo moments later. 

Chasing a goal, the Revolution backline didn’t take enough care in their buildup, and Brayan Ceballos tried to thread a pass right through Marcel Hartel. Hartel picked out the pass, collected the ball, and, slightly off balance, drove a ball past Matt Turner from way downtown. 

“I intercepted the ball. I was speculating a bit that he's playing there. And then I had actually a bad touch,” Hartel explained. “But this bad touch, I had a bit of time to watch where the goalkeeper is, and then I was like, all or nothing, and I hit it perfect.”

An early favorite for Goal of the Year, Hartel’s bomb sealed the club’s first 3 point night of the season, and gave Damet a proof of concept vs a club not trying to contend for an MLS Cup. 

“I'm going to be honest, it's probably our worst performance this season.” Damet reflected, “Two halves: I think in the first half, I thought we were a little bit disconnected. In terms of our structure. I felt like we gave too much space. We were a little bit late in terms of our shifting, in terms of our defending. And that's why I thought that we increased the amount of running our midfielders had to do. So you could tell that Chris [Durkin] and Danny [Edelman], they worked really hard again tonight and they covered a lot of ground. I thought the second half, we were a little bit more control of the space, a little bit more the way we looked in the past four games. Again, credit to the guys. When you speak about mindset, work ethic, I think our midfield is that.”

The 6s were key to CITY SC constricting New England’s opportunities to claw back into the match. Edelman and Durkin pushed up to overload the Revolution 3 man midfield, forcing Alhassan Yusuf to drift centrally from the wing to compensate. 

Edelman’s assist and Durkin’s goal show up on the statsheet, but underneath it all, the pair won 15/20 duels with Edelman losing just one duel all night. Helping that cause was Sergio Córdova, who replaced Célio in the 73rd minute. In just 17 minutes, Córdova won 8/10 duels, made 3 tackles, and was successful on the dribble. 

If not for cramps and minor injuries along the backline, Córdova would have been the only sub for the night. Lukas MacNaughton replaced Dante Palvara in the 89th minute, while Mbacke made his debut for Orozco in the 90th. Damet was happy with the energy and structure as the group moved from the 3-4-2-1 to a 5-2-3 with Córdova occupying the right wing.

The strategy doesn’t seem sustainable long-term – especially with players like Mykhi Joyner itching for an opportunity – but on the verge of the first win of the season, Damet was sticking with the players on the pitch rather than risking an unbalanced structure. 

“Overall, the performance is, I would say, average. But at the same time, the mindset that we showed, the energy that we brought all the way to the end, and the work that we put in, I thought that at the end of the game, in those games, teams are pushing, and they are trying to create opportunities. I don't think we conceded too much. That's credit to the guys for staying compact, for staying on task. Also, we didn't make too many subs. I thought the guys were locked in. I thought the energy was good, and again, I think it's a credit to them, and they deserved the win tonight.”

It’s a tough slate of matches on the other side of the international break. 3 straight away days sees CITY SC traveling to NYCFC, FC Dallas, and Seattle, respectively. In between, the club will host a US Open Cup match following the trip to Dallas, but until then, St. Louis will have to continue improving.