St. Louis CITY SC earned a 2-1 victory over San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday afternoon at Energizer Park, with the goals from João Klauss and Eduard Löwen. St. Louis broke the scoreless deadlock courtesy of a goal from Klauss, who pushed past the Earthquakes’ defense following a ball over the top from Löwen. The visitors evened the score late in the second half, but CITY SC returned the favor a few minutes later. Simon Becher won a penalty after getting fouled in the box, and then Löwen converted his attempt from the penalty spot to seal the victory. The win kept St. Louis perfect in its history against San Jose, moving to 5-0-0 in the team’s five all-time contests against the Earthquakes. CITY SC returns to the pitch on Sunday, June 8, for a showdown against Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
Postgame Notes
- João Klauss scored his third goal of the season
- Eduard Löwen notched his second goal of the season from the penalty spot. Löwen also tallied his first assist of the season
- Joey Zalinsky made his first career MLS start
- CITY SC remained perfect across its five all-time matchups with San Jose (5-0-0), outscoring the Earthquakes a combined 11 to 3 in those contests
- St. Louis snapped San Jose’s six-match MLS unbeaten streak and eight-match unbeaten streak across all competitions
- David Critchley earned his first win as CITY SC’s interim head coach
May 31, 2025 – Energizer Park (St. Louis, MO)
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL: João Klauss (Eduard Löwen), 41st minute – João Klauss scored with right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
SJ: Josef Martinez (Vitor Costa, Beau Leroux), 83rd minute – Josef Martinez scored with right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner.
STL: Eduard Löwen (penalty kick), 90th + 2 minute – Eduard Löwen scored a penalty kick with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Scoring Summary
STL: João Klauss (Eduard Löwen), 45+2’
SJ: Josef Martinez (Vitor Costa, Beau Leroux), 83’
STL: Eduard Löwen (penalty kick), 90th +2’
Misconduct Summary
STL: João Klauss (caution), 30’
SJ: Max Floriani (caution), 35’
STL: Xande Silva (caution), 43’
SJ: Earl Edwards Jr. (caution), 90’
STL: Conrad Wallem (caution), 90’+4
STL: Conrad Wallem (second caution/ejection), 90’+6
Lineups
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Joey Zalinsky (Alfredo Morales, 72’), D Chris Durkin (Henry Kessler, 46’), D Timo Baumgartl D Jay Reid (Tomas Totland, 62’); M Conrad Wallem, M Eduard Löwen; M Cedric Teuchert (Xande Silva, 41’), M Marcel Hartel, M Célio Pompeu; F João Klauss (Simon Becher, 72’)
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Josh Yaro, M Tomáš Ostrák, M Akil Watts
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 18; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 3
SJ: GK Earl Edwards Jr.; D Dave Romney ©, D Reid Roberts, D Max Floriani; M Jamar Ricketts (Vitor Costa, 66’), M Mark Anthony-Kaye, M Nick Fernandez (Beau Leroux, 61’), M Nick Lima (Amahl Pellegrino, 79’); F Ousseni Bouda (Josef Martinez, 61’), F Preston Judd, F Hernan (Cristian Espinoza, 61’)
Substitutes not used: GK Daniel, D Paul Marie, D Rodrigues, M Jack Skahan
TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 2
Referee: Ismir Pekmic
Assistant Referees: Andrew Bigelow, Stephen McGonagle, Matt Thompson
VAR: Ramy Touchan
AVAR: Tom Supple
Venue: Energizer Park
Weather: Sunny, 80 degrees
Postgame Audio: Recording
Postgame Video: Footage (Passcode: 6CRj3K2^)
Caretaker Manager David Critchley
Thoughts on your first game as interim head coach:
Fantastic. I, obviously tried to enjoy the moment. I’ve talked to the players about it day one, it was having more smiles around here, enjoying our job, enjoying our work.
So obviously going into a stadium and a packed stadium with great fans, the emotion can get carried away. But I took a moment before kickoff to just enjoy it, and then for me, once the ball started and the game started, it was about how do I get three points today. All my focus shifted.
Fully enjoyed it. The fans were out as always. The players performance was, for me, fantastic. So, I’m a super proud coach today.
What’s the feeling after the 83rd minute:
“Belief” is one word we’re going to have around here. I just had a feeling. I believed in the team, and I knew everything we talked about. We accepted nothing today but three points as a team. So, the mentality was super, super important for us.
Yes, they equalized, gave us a little bit of adversity. It’s okay. We’re changing things around here. We don’t sit back in those moments. We go and try and win a football game, and that’s what we done and that’s what was deserving of the three points today.
What is the value of having Eduard Löwen back:
Fantastic value. Obviously, we know his skills on the field. Obviously so composed, so calm in that moment where a lot of players can get carried away. But I had no doubt he was going to score that penalty at the end. It was written for him. So, to have him back on the team has been fantastic.
Löwen plays 90 minutes for you last week at CITY2. Was having him in the leadup to this week helpful, since you had firsthand experience with how he plays?
Any time I get the chance to have Edu in a lineup, it will help.
To familiarize myself with him, understand how he plays, what we’re looking for. Obviously, we had a little runway with CITY2. To build, now, two weeks with him, build three days with all the rest of the team, has been fantastic.
Yeah, it’s been good to have him.
To come into this game, short runway with everything that happened this week, but from the start, the energy and to jump up, seemed improved from recent weeks, how important was the start in the first five minutes:
Massively important. I think we get a corner kick in 20 seconds, and you can already feel fans on the edge of their seats ready for this place to explode.
We talked about the first ten minutes, what did we want to look like and how did we want to engage the fans and how did we want to bring them into the game with us.
This is the best stadium in the country at home for me. Why not utilize our fans and support, get them on the edge of their seat, and we done that from 30 seconds into the game all the way to 96 minutes.
How are Cedric Teuchert and Chris Durkin, and any issues with Klauss:
I haven’t, obviously, got the chance to talk to the medical team yet to see where they are at with their status. Both in a situation where they had to come off with an injury.
To my knowledge right now, Klauss is okay, but until I hear from the medical team, I’m sorry, I don’t have an update.
Talk about Jay Reid and Joey Zalinsky. What did you see from them in training this week that gave you the confidence that they were your first-choice fullbacks:
Obviously, the quality for them as players is important, but they were able to bring great energy into the training environment, and we knew we had to get out there right away and create energy.
Two individuals that can cover a lot of space, cover a lot of ground. We knew San Jose was going to play out of, obviously, a pressing 3-2-5. There was going to be space in those areas, and we needed players that could cover the ground, be really aggressive, and meet the physical demands of the game. And they were able to do that for us today.
You mentioned you want to see more smiles around here. Is that something that had to be spoken to the guys? Obviously, you weren’t in the room prior to, but did you get a sense that was an issue up until Wednesday:
Not really, I don’t want to say an issue, but we have to enjoy what we do. We have to enjoy our work. We have to be out there and enjoy it.
Sure, when you’re not winning games and you go on a long losing streak, it’s almost really difficult to come in and smile in them moments.
So my kind of idea there was to get them to enjoy training and work hard in training because I know that directly correlates with three points on the weekends. And winning games and getting three points will automatically bring smiles back there.
So they have to enjoy being intense in training to go out there, in front of our fans, and be intense on the field. Again, when you win the game and get three points, you’re going to have smiles on your faces.
Löwen spoke post-game on the screen and talked about how your post-game [pregame] speech got the guys fired up:
We always talk about, especially at home, how we can set the tempo, how we can control the game. The first ten minutes were crucial for us. The message to the team was very, very clear: that we have a 12th man here. We better utilize them and for us, going out there and showing ways to do that, getting the crowd engaged with us and us being engaged with the crowd, was super important.
Also, they are also a group that they don’t need a ton of motivation. They are motivated internally themselves. They are in a position now where they know they need to go out there and get three points every single week. That gets all the motivation.
Is Chris Durkin at center back something you could see happening more often or is it a one-time deal:
If he keeps putting performances in like that, he’ll make me think about it. But for Chris, we know his qualities on the ball. I hope one thing we saw today is we all tried to enjoy the ball and keep control of the game. Chris was able to bring some good qualities on the back line for that.
But we were also talking about moving a couple of those guys in and out of positions with some players returning, also. Something I expect from these players is to have the versatility to play in numerous positions. Chris is a really, really talented midfielder. He will see some time there.
Was the idea all along to bring in Kessler at the half:
To bring in Kessler, yes. We were just going to wait for the right moment and the right time. We felt obviously as the game went on that was a moment we could utilize.
Obviously it’s difficult conditions out there. It’s hot. Utilizing one of our moments at halftime that don’t count in games is sometimes a strategy standpoint from a coach as well.
Is there any concern, that was a back line that has not played together at all, any apprehension about making big a change to the back line:
No. I trust every player I’m working with right now.
After the final whistle, you’re embraced by almost every player on the bench, you have Lutz by your side. What’s going through your mind, first three points as interim head coach. What’s going through your mind:
A lot. I tried to soak it all in. I got guys, I’m obviously a smaller guy, and guys are dragging me all over the place, and I’m trying to soak it in and I’m trying to enjoy it. I’m trying to be thankful for the moment.
Obviously a lot of kind words from the staff, the players, from everybody involved in the organization. I think I sat here and told you guys, I felt tremendous support right now from the community, from the fans, from the players, from the staff.
So I had to give everything for these three days and today, and I’ve tried to do that.
But I just try to embrace it and I try to enjoy it.
The strikers today had a pretty big impact, Klauss getting the goal and Simon Becher winning the PK. There’s been criticism of scoring goals. How important was it to have the strikers so involved from day one:
Yeah, that’s their job, right. They want to score goals. They want to create attacking plays, whether that’s Simon drawing a penalty kick, and also a lot of the stuff I talked to those two about this weekend in training was how we score goals and how we create chances and how we move off the box.
Klauss, he had a few moments early in the game as well where we had some decent balls in the box, trying to lose a defender. For him to score a goal, I was so, so happy for him.
And the work rate of Sam, and you see him come in, obviously you see the team mentality, right. He’s in a position where he hasn’t started the game but he comes in. His numbers shot through the roof. He’s working so hard for the team and his work rate and pure determination was what drew the penalty.
And then the composure for Edu to finish it, and that’s what we spoke about all week, how do we have massive intensity. So, you think about that with Sam and Klauss, and then how do we get composed, as well. You think about Edu’s penalty; it’s perfect way to end the game, because it’s everything we spoke about this week.
Forward João Klauss
On how important his goal was:
I think we were playing well in the first half. Of course, it’s three days that we change formation, we change a lot of things that [caretaker manager David] Critch. But yeah, I think we were doing well. And I think this goal was important, also for the confidence of the team
On how it felt to winning the first match of the weekend with added attention:
I think our fans were suffering with the results. All of us — as a player, the club, the fans, you guys that are every day here with us as well, you guys know that this is not a nice situation to be. But yeah, I think it was an important game. I think there were a lot of positives. Of course, there were a lot of mistakes as well, which is normal, but I think it’s a game that we can build on.
On how much it meant to have Eduard Löwen playing again:
I think from day one, everybody in this room knows how important Edu is for us, not just as a player, but for the group. Everybody knows what he’s going through, and we have to respect him and give him his space. But yeah, it’s very, very important for us to have him back. I was joking with him before the game. My job is easier now. I just have to pass the ball to Edu and then run again, and that’s how we scored. So, I’m very happy to have him back, but as I say, we have to give him his space. We don’t know how much he’s going to be around. I think that’s his decision, and I think everybody should respect that.
Midfielder Eduard Löwen
On San Jose tying the game in the 83rd minute:
It was definitely tough. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. We wanted to win that game so much. We knew that game was very important, and then conceding a goal like that, kind of out of nowhere, was a little bit unexpected and a knock on the face. Then, obviously the weather is also a factor. You know, it’s hot out there, but then a great ball from Conrad [Wallem], amazing Simon [Becher] to get that penalty kick. So, it’s amazing to win that game.
On after the final whistle was blown:
Pure gratitude towards the Lord. I mean, there’s been so much going on throughout this year, as you guys know, I had quite some pain. I didn’t know if I would be able to play. I wanted to play so much, and I was so excited for this game. Then, I was able to play throughout the entire game, which I can only give glory to the Lord. And something I’ve seen in my life, especially throughout this year, is that God’s power is perfected in my weakness. I didn’t know if I’d be able to play, but I could go the full 90 and even got an assist and a goal. So, it’s just pure gratitude.
On scoring a penalty kick:
I would say in that moment, it wasn’t like I was thinking about scoring too much, like if I would miss something like that. Once you put things in perspective, you know, like soccer, it’s just a game. I love winning games. I love to play out there, and I love the game. At the end of the day, if you miss a penalty kick, I mean, everybody missed a penalty kick in their career. It’s not that big of a deal. Obviously, you still want to score, but honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot going through my head in that moment. But after I scored, obviously there was a lot of relief and a lot of joy in that moment, celebrating with my teammates, celebrating a win, and after everything that was going on, as I said, like pure gratitude and amazing feeling for sure.
