"The Team Is All That Matters," CITY SC Find Statement Win In Vancouver.
St. Louis CITY SC are now 14 unbeaten following a statement win in Vancouver. On perseverance, growing relationships, and a growing mentality in Yoann Damet's squad.
St. Louis CITY SC headed to Cascadia and found the statement win of the Yoann Damet era, or at least the most important win to date. The final: a 3-1 victory over the top-ranked Vancouver Whitecaps was hugely important, not just because it extended the unbeaten run to 14 matches across all competitions, but because it was a thorough victory on the road against the undisputed best team in the west.
The win also came on the heels of early adversity.
Vancouver’s early relentless pressure forced St. Louis to stay patient as they looked for an exit out of the back. As they attempted to move at pace out of the defensive third, Daniel Edelman turned into Vancouver’s trap, and his attempt to pass back towards Dante Polvara landed right on the foot of Emmanuel Sabbi, who then turned and ripped it into the far corner.
Edelman’s mistake was an uncharacteristic moment for a player who has been flying lately; however, the response, growing into the half once St. Louis absorbed the first 10 minutes, was characteristic of everything Yoann Damet has preached about his roster since taking the helm last winter.
“It’s a game of mistakes; everybody makes mistakes at some point during a game, during a season. Nobody is looking at that.” Damet said about that moment. “We have such a good environment; it’s all about looking forward; we learn, we move on. In the game, every player is going to have moments, but we have to forget very quickly so that we stay on task. The start of the game could have gone better for him, but at the same time, his reaction, the way he stuck to the plan, the way he kept fighting was amazing.”
St. Louis answered in the 23rd minute, playing out of a deep free kick after Carlo Holse drew a foul to kill off a Vancouver attack.
Justin Horneker
The goal comes off that free kick, a short pass into Edelman who sprays it into the half space for Holse to carry the ball through the lines before picking up his run, finding Alex Mǎțan centrally, and then his through ball into Simon Becher is immaculate, on a platter for Becher’s 5th goal in as many matches.
“We had a good 5 or 6 days this week to work on stuff, and get some different looks with different guys.” Becher said afterwards of the variety of passes into him, “Being able to train with [Mǎțan and Holse], they’re both so good with the ball at their feet in open space. Unbelievable ball just driven into my feet.”
As an aside, Yoann Damet thanked the traveling support after the match; the broadcast picked up the S-T-L chant after each goal, and Damet seemed astounded to hear that all of the way up north.
St Louis CITY SC
St. Louis started to win the possession battle, and the go-ahead goal came after CITY SC were again able to relieve the pressure. At a standstill, Timo Baumgartl put his foot on the ball, played back to Bürki as he drifted; Mǎțan tracked back to receive after he swapped places with Edelman. Then it’s direct: Edelman took a few strides, played Waallem into the attacking third, followed the ball, and then flicked his pass centrally for Totland as he made the run into space vacated by Simon Becher’s run towards the near post.
The goal is Totland’s 4th goal contribution since the World Cup break, but more on that later.
“It’s getting more games under my belt, but it’s all about building those connections with other players,” Totland said, “today we felt that connection.”
The goal is also possible because Edelman can shake off the early miscues and grow into his role throughout the first half, a testament to the team mentality that never second-guessed working through him as they looked to quickly progress forward.
“It’s a credit to [Edelman] as well for keeping his head up.” Totland said, “For still showing to the ball in the build up phase and for making those runs to the fullbacks and the centerbacks, a lot of credit to him for keeping that up.”
The 3rd goal is a reverse of the 2nd, minutes later.
CITY SC worked the ball around patiently before earning a throw-in around in the attacking 3rd; the ball was worked from right to left, and Mǎțan played Totland into the attack, where he cut his ball back across the middle. This time it was Edelman’s dummy that set up Wallem with time to pick out the bottom corner.
For Damet, it was a similar refrain.
“The team is all that matters.”
One final big moment of the half came at the hands of Roman Bürki. Thomas Müller somehow heeled a ball out of the air as defenders hung off of him. The ball fell to Rayan Elloumi in on goal, but it was the captain coming up big and keeping the match 1-3 heading into halftime. It was a big save and a nice bounce back after the keeper would have liked to have a goal or two back from the draw vs FC Dallas.
That’s where the match ended.
St. Louis kept Vancouver without a shot on target over the 2nd half despite the Whitecaps bringing on Gauld, White, and Oliver Larraz. That highlights that this was a slightly rotated Whitecaps XI after the Canadian Championship semifinal draw last Wednesday, but perhaps a better representation of the return match next month when St. Louis’s big summer acquisitions will be more up to speed as well.
Rafael Navarro debuted in the 60th minute for Carlo Holse, who was mostly fine in his first start. Not as explosive as his sub appearances over the last two weeks, but he was also asked to sit deeper and link play as opposed to creating directly. Damet’s usage of Holse was more about pulling Vancouver out of position than using him directly.
The manager has continued to find unexpected wrinkles even against some of MLS’s top managers.
Navarro sat between the lines with Becher staying at the 9, and Wallem and Totland almost pushed into a front attacking trio. The look will need more time, but Navarro created a chance and was noticeable against the ball with his recovery efforts and an important headed clearance off a late corner.
The final subs, Sangbin for Becher in the 80th minute, and the duo of Fallou Fall and Damion Downs into stoppage time saw the match out. It was nice to see signs of life from Fallou Fall, who entered this match for an exhausted Tomas Totland, and played at wingback for the first time since the break.
Downs also looked promising in his first minutes, thrashing a powerful shot that forced Takaoka into a diving save at the near corner with one of his first touches in a St. Louis kit.
To follow a frustrating and hectic transfer window with a performance in the image of everything Yoann Damet has preached this season can’t be ignored. Not only was the win probably the best outright performance in St. Louis CITY SC history to this point, but its place, on the road with a vocal contingent of traveling fans, feels like a statement in this new era of CITY SC.
An era that was in doubt as recently as last month.
Simon Becher reflected a bit longer on this run tonight, talking about the momentum since May, highlighting the US Open Cup run as the moment they started to actually see the progress.
“It feels like that Chicago game in the US Open Cup was a turning point for us,” Becher said, a match where St. Louis won 1-2 after falling behind in the 64th minute at Bridgeview.
That win was followed by the loss in Austin, where the team looked flat, and Simon Becher failed to convert on the miss of the century. Since then, St. Louis CITY SC has not lost a match and has won 31 of 39 points since May 9th.
That’s now 14 unbeaten across all competitions, now 8 points clear of the playoff line, and a win on Wednesday could move them into a home playoff spot as they are equal on points with 4th place FC Dallas and 3rd place LAFC.
It seems optimistic, but with a home match vs Vancouver still on the schedule, CITY SC sit 6 points off the Western Conference lead and lead the league with 21 points in 9 matches since the World Cup break.
11 matches left in the season, they will stumble at some point, but Yoann Damet and his team believe they can beat anyone on any night at this point in the season.
Standout Performances.
This was Alex Mǎțan’s statement match. A primary assist and an MLS assist, and active up and down the pitch. Mǎțan isn’t Marcel Hartel, but he had that level of output vs Vancouver with a 0.43 g+ performance and was also comfortable on the ball deeper in the formation. The straw that stirred the drink, if you will.
Mǎțan’s performance is buoyed by the continued success of Wallem and Totland in the wings, and Simon Becher also had his best match since his brace in San Jose. Repeatable performances before St. Louis cast their attention to a Portland Timbers side that just won a 5-4 barnburner vs MNUFC.
Mǎțan finished with the most dribbles (tied with Navarro), won the most duels (tied with Polvara), and completed the most passes into the attacking third. This is also where I point out that Daniel Edelman, despite the early poor play, bounced back to lead the team in xA, chances created, and recovered for 0.12 g+ – an important performance. You should also see in the heat maps that Mǎțan and Edelman are mirroring each other's movements despite the initial 3-4-2-1. Ultimately, it's more of a 3-4-3 diamond with Holse at the tip and Durkin at the base, where Holse tracked into the vacated space as either Edelman or Mǎțan ventured forward.
When Navarro replaced Holse, he stayed central and higher up the pitch, but remained the tip of the midfield diamond until Sangbin replaced Becher.
Also have to point out Bürki’s bounce-back after I focused heavily on him last weekend. It’s saving the expected opportunities, but also the need to use him as CITY SC built back to front on all three goals through the first half. It was an important performance.
Looking to Portland.
Damet’s side has another big test on their hands as they head on the road to face the Timbers. Portland have also been resurgent since the break and won their first match post-Kevin Kelsy sale by a score of 5-4.
There will have to be some rotation as well; Conrad Wallem will be suspended after he picked up his 5th yellow card of the season, and at least Chris Durkin will most likely need a break after he seemed to pick up a knock in stoppage time. Does that mean a Mykhi Joyner start? Or perhaps Rafael Santos returns with Totland flipping to the right, or even Fallou Fall(?) who came in at the death at wingback on Saturday.
It’s hard to predict where Damet’s winds are blowing with new acquisitions and a squad that hasn’t rotated much this season. The midfield answer is most likely Mǎțan floating back into the pivot, but Damet has also rolled Miggy Perez in Durkin’s spot previously. Then, does Holse start back-to-back? Does Navarro start with Becher playing so many minutes lately?
It’s also true that Damet would be more likely to rotate back home next Saturday before a Wednesday trip to Colorado for the US Open Cup Final.
It’s a fine line, all while Damet has to integrate the new arrivals, and the Timbers have been vulnerable defensively.
