St. Louis CITY SC add a new chapter to the book of STL playoff heartbreak

It’s not how they wanted this to go, St. Louis CITY SC were swept by Sporting Kansas City on Sunday, sending the upstarts back down I-70 with nothing to show for their season of barnstorming through Major League Soccer.

The raw weight of the loss wore on the faces of CITY SC players and staff after the match. No one wants to lose this way, especially after Bradley Carnell’s squad found momentum late in Sunday’s crucial match.

With the pressure of 100 years of STL soccer on their shoulders, CITY SC started the match well enough. Seemingly learning the lessons from their 1-4 loss at CITYPARK, and bringing high intensity to a SKC backline that looked to have genuine trouble playing the ball under pressure.

Exposing SKC’s back four was something CITY SC struggled with in game one, forcing the play through the center of the pitch to the detriment of everything else, but things were different from the moment Roman Bürki launched a ball deep into SKC territory just 20 seconds into the match.

Bürki’s distribution had been a key aspect of the club’s success this season, Bürki launched 20 balls throughout Sunday’s loss, a severe uptick from the 14 balls that he sent long in the opening matchup.

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However, Logan Ndembe’s 1st half stoppage time effort would send CITY SC into the half down 1-0, a disappointing end to a half where the defense had managed to put themselves in front of - or disrupt most of - SKC’s attempts on goal.

Ndembe’s goal was the first shot of the match that registered over .1 xGOT, coming from the exact same move that saw him score in the opener. Finding space by pushing horizontally across the CITY defensive line, and firing a shot that had eyes, through the crowd and directly into the far right corner of Bürki’s goal.

“The only thing that I really remember is that we just don't track Denver's run, you know, and then he's all of a sudden, completely free in our box and can have a shot without pressure. And as we know from last week, he's he hits a target. So that's definitely a part of that we we have to improve, you know, we have to track or to watch the plays, runs and not always just the ball because at the end it's well played from Kansas.” - Roman Bürki

The frustration builds for St. Louis, they weren’t outplayed the way that they were at CITYPARK, but they simply failed to capitalize on opportunities that would have resulted in goals earlier in the season.

Bradley Carnell made a very impactful change at the break, bringing on Célio for Sam Adeniran, changing CITY SC’s formation from the 4-4-2 diamond to their preferred 4-2-3-1, attempting to use Célio’s skill on the ball to disrupt SKC’s defensive scheme.

Bradley Carnell likes what Célio can do on the ball, and his positive mentality is usually the first thing that Carnell points to in tough moments.

“He brings a lot of the dynamic into our setup, you know, with Célio, we’re always working to get him both sides of the ball. We always have to work with him, you know, coming back in the game and being part of the group defensively so certainly has helped us in many, many months. I think he's grown and outperformed what we've ever thought expected of him. So we're excited to be seeing where Célio is at.” - Bradley Carnell

The 23 year old Brazilian might be the most improved player in MLS this season, but Célio hasn’t experienced anything close to the pressure of playoff soccer on the road with the season on the line.

Asking Célio after match, he seemed to take the moment in stride;

“To be honest, on my heart was zero pressure because I have done this my whole life. I’ve played soccer my whole life -- in front of ten people or 10,000 people, it doesn't matter. I just play soccer. We practice every day. We know what we have to do. We know our formation – like, I know everything. So, I just wanted to go there and give my best and try to give it all my energy and try to give the players energy so we could win the game.”

For his part, Célio was the difference maker for CITY SC, his skill in close opening up opportunities for the attack in ways that weren’t available in the first half.

However, SKC would soon double their lead.

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A true dagger to the heart after St. Louis dominated the chances up until that point, Salloi’s shot being the first attempt from SKC in the 2nd half.

St. Louis put themselves under pressure by simply being too aggressive, and as Johnny Russell played out of a 2 on 1, SKC had numbers going towards Roman Bürki.

Bürki was able to get a hand on Salloi’s shot but his effort was too strong as the Goalkeeper had to fight against his body to even be in position.

“We tried a lot, you know, we knew we need a goal and then you are a little bit open, but still we should still like be a little bit more experienced. Like know that. One goal, you can always go one goal but two goals is going to be very difficult. So whatever happens don't concede the second goal and we conceded that so that's a little bit of immature I would say how we calculate that out but at the end, like I said, we had we had the chance to for two goals and we didn't we didn't score.” - Roman Bürki

Momentum ebbs and flows but CITY SC deserved something from their performance, but the pressure of going down two goals can be too much for many clubs to recover from… but CITY SC kept fighting… kept pushing.

An ugly play late in the game saw Danny Rosero take down Célio in the final 3rd, a collision that saw Rosero need to be stretchered off the pitch after Célio’s momentum took him through the incoming defender - Peter Vermes will have an update on Rosero’s status tomorrow.

When the dust settled, Edu Löwen sent a free kick in the box, but SKC’s clearance fell into the gravitational pull of Njabulo Blom. Blom kicked it out to Célio in space, and his lofted ball beat Melia at the far post, giving St. Louis a glimmer of hope as they looked at an enormous amount of stoppage time.

Unfortunately, CITY SC wouldn’t be able to break through again, despite a chance from João Klauss late in the match, Melia stood tall, and did enough to send SKC into the conference semi-finals.

The disappointment was palpable, and the players certainly felt the gravity of the loss.

“I just hope [they understand] that we did everything we have on the field. We try to to do our best every time we step on the field especially as for them because today again the support that we had some some time they were louder than the Kansas fans and I mean, that's that shows a lot and it's just amazing the support that we have. But obviously, they can just can be disappointed. as well. You know, I mean, we tried our best to win the conference to then go out in the first round. could definitely be better. But I would say to guys to the whole team, “Try to give everything in every game.”” - Roman Bürki

There will be time for a deeper dive into the club’s offseason plans after Wednesday’s end of season media day but, for now, Bradley Carnell offered perspective.

Yet again, thank you to the fans, you know, for the unwavering support from matchday one through 34 Plus these playoff games. I think we've grown we've grown as a group, we've grown as a unit. And all we wanted to ask for today was to see our signature and and I think that's what we saw, you know, to go you know, fighting into this last game and to show commitment and a belief and, and to show some character getting into this one. credit to the voice you know, they never let a moment get away from them, and they always bounce back. So, yeah, bigger picture. We fall short today, but we grow for tomorrow.

So, for now, it’s ok to sit in the emotion, it’s what makes us human.

“If you can’t hang, then there’s the door, baby.” - Sleeping With Sirens