Wednesday afternoon was the first time most St. Louis City SC fans had a chance to see the club in a match since October as they kicked off the Coachella Valley Invitational against Real Salt Lake. It was a match that saw some highlights and a few lowlights for the Boyz in Red as they played to a 1-1 draw.
St. Louis started the match brightly with a few regulars and a new face in Conrad Wallem playing starring roles. Mellberg’s first XI of the competition featured Roman Bürki, Joakim Nilsson, Michael Wentzel, Kyle Hiebert, Indiana Vassilev, Josh Yaro, Cam Cilley, Akil, Watts, Simon Becher, João Klauss and the debut of Wallem lined up in a rather fluid combination of formations that ranged from an attacking 3-5-2 to a more defensive 5-3-2 at times. City seemed particularly strong in the wide areas as their lone goal came as a result of a weak clearance of a City free kick. Watts floated a ball into the box that was dealt with by the RSL defender but Klauss was able to recover and play it back into Wallem who managed to maneuver between defenders and push a shot onto the cross bar that was eventually headed into the goal by RSL’s Alex Katranis in the ‘36.
St. Louis would hold onto that lead through the halftime break with a nearly full squad rotation coming into the second 45; which was dominated by the Claret and Cobalt. RSL’s attack was relentless as they earned multiple corners inside the first 15 minutes of the second half and forced multiple saves from back up keeper Ben Lundt. St. Louis managed to persevere through the first barrage with Célio Pompeu nearly making it 2-0 in the ‘60. Unfortunately for City, RSL was able to get back on the front foot and their pressure eventually yielded an equalizer as Lachlan Brook curled a fantastic left-footed shot into the back of the net in the ‘71. The Boyz in Red would continue to defiantly defend in the final 20 minutes to hold onto a point in the Coachella opener.
On the whole, the match featured a number of positives with most starters playing at least a full half as they continue to ramp up workloads. It also saw the debuts of Wallem, Alm, Pompeu, and Ostrák who each had some positive moments to take away from the contest. Both keepers also had strong matches with both claiming multiple saves on the afternoon.
On the flip side, Mellberg may be less pleased with the second half as his squad was largely stuck defending over the final 45 minutes with less than a handful of attacking opportunities generated over that span.
City will look to rebound and put together a complete performance when they continue preseason play in Indo, CA on Saturday against Austin FC.
Taking his passion for soccer and St. Louis to the next level, Jeremy aims to provide analytical coverage of all this St. Louis City SC.
