This story was produced in partnership with the River City Journalism Fund.
The competition between St. Louis City SC and Sporting Kansas City is the latest edition of an interstate sports rivalry that goes back several decades and includes the baseball Royals and the Cardinals and the football Chiefs and the Cardinals (and then the Rams).
Though this MLS soccer rivalry goes back just several months, it hasn’t lacked for passion, spills and thrills. City won the first battle 4-0 on May 20 at CityPark, and Sporting claimed a 2-1 victory at Children’s Mercy Park on September 2.
But City won the series Saturday night with a scintillating 4-1 victory in front of a sold-out CityPark.
“The second [match] in Kansas City left a bad taste in our mouth after the loss. So we definitely wanted to come here and win for the fans,” City’s Samuel Adeniran said in a post-match press conference.
Remaining calm and composed is the key to winning rivalry matches where emotions run high. After a few chippy moments and close calls in the first half, City head coach Bradley Carnell’s half-time message to his team was clear: “Be patient, and [the goal] will come.”
Rivalry matches are special, and Carnell knew his team needed to take it all in. “Whatever is your why — whether it's the fans, whether it's individual, family and what-have-you — just keep a moment for this, what's going on around here. This is something to behold, I think to cherish for a long time.”
Impactful Substitutions
Carnell’s half-time message resonated with his players and City started the second-half reinvigorated. Still, City was unable to break through until Carnell made changes in the 64th minute. Carnell subbed on Nicholas Gioacchini for Aziel Jackson, and Jared Stroud came in for Indiana Vassilev. Stroud’s introduction changed the match completely.
City’s Njabulo Blom attempted to pass the ball to Stroud in the 72nd minute. Though Stroud received the ball far from his opponent’s goal, Sporting’s Logan Ndenbe inexplicably fouled him from behind. That gave City an opportunity for a set piece, at which they have become increasingly adept and dangerous. Sporting assigned 5’10” Alan Pulido to mark City’s 6’5” Samuel Adeniran. Eduard Löwen recognized the mismatch and crossed the ball to Adeniran. Adeniran headed the ball into the net to give City a 1-0 lead.
City wasted no time to score its second goal just minutes later.
“That's just how it is in CityPark. When we get one [goal], the floodgates just open,” Adeniran said.
Sporting’s Dany Rosero attempted to shield the ball from Gioacchini in the 75th minute. Rosero believed Gioacchini committed a foul and fell to the ground as the ball rolled out of bounds. Referee Armando Villarreal disagreed and Gioacchini quickly threw the ball back into play.
Gioacchini tossed the ball to João Klauss, but Klauss was unable to control it and it rolled to Sporting’s Andreu Fontàs.
Fontàs attempted to shield the ball as it rolled toward the byline for a Sporting goal-kick. But Löwen and Adeniran immediately pressed Fontàs and he decided to clear the ball instead. Stroud followed the play and positioned himself at the edge of the box. Stroud found himself at the right place at the right time as Fontàs’ clearance went straight at him — and Stroud scored to put City 2-0 up.
Though the match was important to City in gaining home field advantage for the playoffs, it was even more important to Sporting, which was just hoping to keep its playoff hopes alive. Once Sporting went down two goals, it needed to take risks offensively. This meant City found itself with more space to create dangerous opportunities in transition. “They couldn’t just sit back like they were doing, so they had to take risks. And when you have someone like Klauss up top, it's not smart to take risks,” Adeniran said.
City’s clinical transitional play proved to be effective yet again in the 80th minute. Sporting’s Erik Thommy misplaced a pass near the halfway line and City’s Anthony Markanich intercepted it. Markanich immediately lobbed the ball to Gioacchini and Gioachhini flicked it to Adeniran.
Sporting’s Rosero won the duel with Adeniran, but the ball rolled to Löwen near the edge of the box. An unmarked Klauss found space at the back post and Löwen crossed the ball to him. Klauss hit the ball off the volley to score City’s third goal within seven minutes.
City’s second-half onslaught continued in the 85th minute. Stroud stopped a Sporting counter-attack near the halfway line and passed the ball to Adeniran. Adeniran dribbled the ball forward and passed it to Löwen. Stroud ran forward and received a pass from Löwen inside Sporting’s penalty area.
Klauss roamed inside Sporting’s penalty area unmarked throughout City’s counter-attack. Stroud spotted Klauss at the back-post and passed the ball to him. Klauss shot the ball and scored his second goal of the match to put City 4-0 up.
Sporting would score a consolation goal in the last seconds of the match to spoil City’s clean sheet. City’s Nökkvi Thórisson misplaced a pass to Stroud near midfield, and Sporting’s Ndenbe intercepted it. Ndenbe dribbled the ball forward and passed it to
Dániel Sallói in City’s penalty area. Sallói crossed the ball to William Agada who headed it to score.
“We worked really hard for a clean sheet. It’s something special for the defensive line,” City captain and goalkeeper Roman Bürki said. “It was unnecessary to concede that goal. We lose the ball and then with the transition we concede that goal in the last action of the game where we just have to be smarter.”
St. Louis Continues to Make History
City’s 17th victory means it now holds the Major League Soccer record for the most wins by an expansion team in its inaugural season. City has the opportunity to extend the record with two matches left in the season against the Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders.
Los Angeles FC’s loss on Sunday night also meant City clinched the 2023 Western Conference title, and City is now guaranteed homefield advantage throughout the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. The team will also compete in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, an international tournament consisting of the best teams in the region.
But City is chasing another MLS record: The most points accumulated by an expansion team. LAFC set the record in 2018 with 57 points, and City currently has 56 points with two matches remaining in the regular season.
“You can check a few things off the list, but we want to keep on going now.We need a couple more points to make [the record] all our own,” Carnell said.
Julian Trejo, a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, is a native of Arkansas, and a former goalkeeper for several state championship teams. His work is supported by the River City Journalism Fund.
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