St. Louis CITY SC secured a point in a historic MLS match at San Diego FC. The chrome and azul dominated the match, but a relentless defensive performance, led by centerback Henry Kessler, saw St. Louis escape Snapdragon Stadium with a point.
Final Score: SDFC 0 - 0 STL
Match Points:
- Lets make one thing clear: Henry Kessler, Jannes Horn, and Kyle Hiebert had oustanding matches defensively. San Diego dominated the ball, but the St. Louis defense only let one real test reach goalkeeper Roman Bürki, who delivered his first and only timely save so far in 2025; a tell-tale sign of quality defense.
- The attack suffered without a target 9, as João Klauss started from the bench. By the time he entered, CITY were too uncomfortable with the ball in the midfield. Forwards Cedric Teuchert and Simon Becher were out of sync and didn't generate any threatening chances. Midfielder Akil Watts was the only player bold enough to test the keeper in the first half, with a strong strike from distance steered aside by the San Diego keeper. João Klauss later put CITY's highest xGOT up with the only decent chance to come from a striker in the second half. Still, those two half-chances weren't enough.
- The midfield could not progress the ball. There was a painful struggle to do much of anything with the ball, quite frankly. Conrad Wallem, who made his first start for CITY, had the only successful 1-on-1 take, and there were a shockingly low 6 progressive passes into the final third. Eventually, every touch became a defensive clearance.
Key Takeaways:
- Quality defense is a theme for St. Louis thus far. That will have to continue as they take on 2024 MLS Cup Champions and wounded warriors LA Galaxy on the road in their Sunday Night Soccer debut on March 9th. Missing Riqui Puig and Joseph Paintsil to injury and losing Dejan Joveljic is tough for them, but the quality of Borussia Dortmund legend and former Roman Bürki teammate Marco Reus along with Brazilian Gabriel Pec cannot be taken lightly.
- Célio Pompeu made his long-awaited return to MLS play, racking up a couple minutes at the end of the match. Could he start at Galaxy to try and spark the attack? Chris Durkin also made his 2025 debut, recovered from a knee inflammation issue.
- CITY are statistically the most defensively composed team in the league. One of three clubs (STL, LAFC, SDFC) to not concede a goal through two matches, and sport a league-low fouls (18, T-RBNY) for clubs who have played two matches.
- CITY still haven't scored a goal... they sit next to New England Revolution and Nashville SC as the only clubs to not do so through two matches. The situation needs a resolution, but it is NOT time to hit the panic button yet, despite what you may read on social media.
(1/2) Stats: Scoreless fixtures are frustrating, but the defensive performance of #AllForCITY cannot be undermined.
— Will Bratton (stlcityscviews) (@willbrattonstl) March 2, 2025
Despite playing defense for basically 80 minutes against #SDFC, CITY remain one of three clubs in #MLS who have yet to concede a goal (STL, LAFC, SDFC).#stlcitysc pic.twitter.com/Kd4JEQLymL
Betting Recap:
The DraftKings draw hit (+230), with the under (-125) never threatened in the scoreless fixture. Eric Sontag's same game parlay fell short, as both teams failed to score.
Next Up:
St. Louis CITY SC take on LA Galaxy on the road in their Sunday Night Soccer debut on March 9th before coming home to host Seattle Sounders on March 15th.