St. Louis CITY SC continue to score in 3-0 win over NYRB.

St. Louis CITY SC had to wait a few days for this one. The latest nor’easter to hit New Jersey postponed Saturday’s first trip to Harrison, New Jersey. So, CITY SC flew back to St. Louis, trained for a few days back home, and then trekked down the same voyage. The clubs were up for it, but the disjointed prep meant that Wednesday night’s affair was a sloppier performance than manager Yoann Damet would have liked. 

The excuses were built in for both sides. 

CITY SC were fresh off another hectic stretch of matches following the transfer window, where the club’s newest arrivals barely had time to settle into their new surroundings.

“I think we've got a group that reacts very well to the moments of adversity and the moments that are out of our control.” Damet said, “We try to control a lot of things, and there is some stuff that you can control.”

Damet designed a training schedule to accommodate that fatigue while intensely focusing on tactical principles. Then, Damet had to pivot from that schedule following the match’s rescheduling to Wednesday. 

“I think the way it was handled the first time the past weekend was very good.” Damet said. “I've been involved in this kind of games in the past, where the decisions are made quite late, and I think the fact that the decision was made early enough for us to fly back and to follow our preparation was very good, and the group was very much locked in.”

CITY SC will now take a few days off before resuming that schedule… but it’s a problem that RBNY would have loved to have. 

Instead, Michael Bradley’s side was largely unimpacted by the postponement. RBNY still had 13 players on the availability list, with the international break compounding a few important injuries. 

All of those factors led to a sloppy match on a waterlogged pitch, but that didn’t stop CITY SC. St. Louis won its 3rd straight, its 4th win over the last 5 to extend the unbeaten streak to 17 matches in MLS play, 19 matches across all competitions. It’s an incredible feat on the back of scoring 2.24 goals per match, only allowing 1.06 goals per match, a league best 1.18 goal differential per match. It has been an impressive stretch, and CITY SC have actually been better over the last 5 matches, a 1.8 goal differential. It’s still an overperformance to their expected numbers, but CITY SC still rank 3rd in expected goal differential and 2nd in expected points.

It’s easy to over hype a group of players on a run like this, but the additions this summer have started to make this team their own, all while Simon Becher continues to score – even off the bench. 

How it happened.

Rafael Navarro’s goal in the 5th minute set the tone for this one. The goal stemmed from a recycled free kick out to Totland; his pinged ball was headed back across goal by Conrad Wallem, and Navarro scored his 5th goal in his 6th appearance, his 15th goal of the season. That’s now 6 goal contributions (1g, 5a) for Wallem in his past 6 matches too; the wingbacks are rolling. 

From there, RBNY would find some success beating players on the dribble to bypass CITY SC’s man coverage, but they would continually falter in the final 3rd, with just 0.31 xG on target compared to 1.19 expected goals. Roman Bürki came up big on a few occasions, as did Chris Durkin, who bailed out Bürki’s giveaway in the 2nd half with his goal-line save. 

The match could have changed there, but with CITY SC up 1-0 in the 70th minute, it had become clear that Damet could adjust and attack with more verticality. The subs of Sangbin and Simon Becher for Carlo Holse and Alex Mǎțan achieved some of that goal, compounded by Lukas MacNaughton’s sub for Daniel Edelman that pushed Dante Polvara out of the RCB spot – he started opposite Fallou Fall in this one – and St. Louis found the insurance goals they needed when Tomàš Ostrák’s sub for Navarro, which became the final piece of the puzzle. 

In the 88th minute, Chris Durkin disrupted RBNY’s buildup out of a goal kick, flipped a pass up to Simon Becher, who notched his 10th goal of the season across all competitions.

The floodgates were open, and another poor RBNY turnover became trouble when Becher created a Sangbin chance on the doorstep, only for Tomàš Ostrák to pounce on Ethan Horvath’s initial save.

On reaching the 10 goal mark, Becher was ready to relish a moment that contributed to another win for his club.

“The staff has pushed me since day one; they’ve continued to push me, to give me the confidence, to work with me on my finishing and getting to the right spots,” Becher said. “I just want to continue to build on it, continue to take the chances as they come, and continue to help the team. I’m happy that I could put the game to bed.” 

*I wrote about Becher’s journey this season in this week’s St. Louis Magazine newsletter*

“I think [Becher, Sangbin, Ostrák, and MacNaughton] gave us a lot of energy and allowed us to have a little bit more composure in terms of our decision making.” Damet said. “I was quite happy with the way those guys came in, when I speak about the group, it's the whole group. It's the guys that are there tonight, but also the guys that stay behind, and how well they've been working together. And when those opportunities come, I think they have to they have to take them, and they have to help the team the best way they can.”

It’s another week where Damet’s mid-match adjustments have led to an explosive breakthrough. It bodes well for the team’s future chances. RBNY had figured out a key weakness in CITY SC’s marking scheme with Cade Cowell’s ability to advance on the dribble, and the press had made it difficult for CITY SC’s patient buildup at times. However, Damet brought out his blunt hammer, and the Ravioli Boyz found the energy they needed to run downhill at a tired RBNY squad who had to cope with their 3rd options along the backline.

CITY SC now has the longest break in their schedule until they travel to Houston on Decision Day next month. They sit in 2nd in the West, just 3 points back of Vancouver, whom they will host in a few weeks. This is where the rubber meets the road, and St. Louis still has a chance to wrap up the top seed in the Western Conference. 

On the streak, Damet says they rarely talk about it out of context:

“Our focus is all of the time on the next game,” Damet said. “We need to be in the present moment. I tell the guys, we can’t be focusing too much on the past, but we don’t want to be anxious about the future either.”

On the other side of the International break, CITY SC will have two straight home matches against the Galaxy and Whitecaps before embarking on a a 3 match road trip that will encompass the club's first ever Cup Final. It's a big 5 match stretch that could see Yoann Damet's side top of the conference as they lift their first ever trophy.

At this point, the club expects it.

Who could have imagined all of this just 5 months ago?