CITY SC draw with LAFC in Sunday night thriller

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Matrix Midwest) - St. Louis CITY SC and LAFC shared points in a 2-2 thriller at BMO Stadium for MLS Sunday Night Soccer.

In a tale of two halves, fans were treated to four goals in the second leg of the match, including two in the final six minutes.

Cedric Teuchert opened the floodgates shortly after the start of the second half, slotting one past Hugo Lloris from a cross by Jannes Horn.

The goal was Teuchert’s second of the year, and, after four previous meetings, it was St. Louis’s first-ever goal against LAFC. It seemed that the change in formation from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-3-3 was already working in St. Louis’s favor. The goal came just seven minutes after making the adjustment, following a first half that saw CITY take its first shot in minute 40.

But, with St. Louis putting a stronger emphasis on its attack, LAFC was able to find space and equalize. The formidable Denis Bouanga scored off a cross by substitute Cengiz Ünder in the 70th minute. And just four minutes later, Bouanga was brought down in the box by Josh Yaro, prompting the referee to point to the spot.

It seemed as if the entire hard-fought effort up until this point had just been swept away from St. Louis in a matter of minutes. Bouanga had only missed one of his 11 penalties in MLS play up until this point.

But St. Louis goalkeeper Ben Lundt was prepared.

Lundt made a perfectly timed dive to his left to deflect the penalty and keep St. Louis in the match. It was his first career penalty kick save and one of his seven during the outing.

“I think I had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do,” Lundt said after the match. “We try, you know, to prepare for those kinds of situations, to help the team. And yeah, that’s why I think I was prepared and knew his rhythm.”

Just as it seemed St. Louis had reclaimed momentum, Alfredo Morales made a tactical foul during an LAFC break, leading to his second yellow card of the match.

St. Louis would now have to continue to fend off its opponents down a man for the final 10+ minutes. But, miraculously, with the match slipping away, it was CITY that seemed to rally back on offense. After being awarded a free kick from several yards outside of the LA box, Marcel Hartel delivered a challenging ball into the box.

The ball sent both Simon Becher and Lloris flying into one another before bouncing to Joakim Nilsson, who fired it towards goal. LAFC was able to make a goalline block, but the ball deflected off the back of forward Nathan Ordaz and into his own net, giving St. Louis a 2-1 advantage just before the 90-minute mark.

The club celebrated the possibility of stealing three points with 10 men, against a team it had never beaten.

But the celebrations were short-lived, and disaster struck once again. With just over a minute remaining, St. Louis had the ball in its opponent’s half, looking to run out the clock. A pass from Célio Pompeu went wide and was intercepted by LAFC. The ball was played forward and found the feet of a sprinting Bouanga, with Yaro giving chase.

Bouanga gave Yaro a light shove to create space, took the ball into the box, cut towards the center, and sent a rocket flying into the top right corner of the goal - there was nothing Ben Lundt could’ve done.

BMO Stadium erupted, as LA’s top forward had once again delivered in the final moments of the match.

St. Louis was moments away from stealing three points on the road, but instead, will be sharing them. With this most recent result, St. Louis ended the month of April without a win and two total points.

“We’ve got to continue with this fighting spirit, the will to win,” Coach Olof Mellberg said after the match. “They’re putting in a great effort out there, the boys, and have done so far for the whole season. They’ve got to keep that going. And try to improve on the ball, and hopefully we will start winning games.”

Up next, CITY will play a rematch with Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday, May 3, at Lumen Field.

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