St. Louis CITY SC suffered a 1-0 loss on the road to Houston Dynamo at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night. After back-and-forth play in the first half, both sides were scoreless entering halftime. The deadlock was broken in the 66th minute when Houston’s Ezequiel Ponce found the back of the net. CITY SC pressured the Dynamo in second-half stoppage time but could not find the equalizer. St. Louis heads west to face Real Salt Lake for the first time this season on Saturday, July 5, with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. CT at America First Field.
June 28, 2025 – Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, TX)
Goal-Scoring Plays
HOU: Ezequiel Ponce (Felipe Andrade, Franco Escobar), 66th minute – Ezequiel Ponce scored with a left footed shot from the center of the box to the lower left zone.
Scoring Summary
HOU: Ezequiel Ponce (Felipe Andrade, Franco Escobar), 66’
Misconduct Summary
STL: Joey Zalinsky (caution), 2’
STL: Jay Reid (caution), 21’
HOU: Pablo Ortiz (caution), 38’
STL: Ben Lundt (caution), 42’
HOU: Franco Escobar (caution), 90’+6
Lineups
HOU: GK Jonathan Bond; D Felipe Andrade (Femi Awodesu, 85’), D Erik Sviatchenko (Ethan Bartlow, 54’), D Pablo Ortiz, D Franco Escobar, M Artur ©, M Duane Holmes (Lawrence Ennali, 46’), M Brooklyn Raines; F Ondrej Lingr (Sebastian Kowalczyk, 77’), F Ezequiel Ponce, F Amine Bassi (Nico Lodeiro, 85’)
Substitutes not used: GK Jimmy Maurer, M Junior Urso, F Toyosi Olusanya, F Gabe Segal
TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 6; FOULS: 22; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 1
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Joey Zalinsky (Tomas Totland, 46’), D Jake Girdwood-Reich (Kyle Hiebert, 77’), D Michael Wentzel, D Jay Reid (Tomáš Ostrák, 72’); M Alfredo Morales (Akil Watts, 15’), M Conrad Wallem (Cedric Teuchert, 46’); M Célio Pompeu (Xande Silva, 67’), M Marcel Hartel, M Simon Becher; F João Klauss
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Josh Yaro, D Jannes Horn
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 0; SAVES: 5
Referee: Alexis Da Silva
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Diego Blas, Elton Garcia
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero
AVAR: Fabio Tovar
Venue: Shell Energy Stadium
Postgame Audio: Recording
Postgame Video: Footage (Passcode: *?xtQ8W+)
Interim Head Coach David Critchley
On what did not work for the team today:
We weren’t good enough with our build up. If we’re going to be a team that tries to build and play through opponents or around opponents, the end objective is to always try to create the shot from it or at least create the ball into the final third. And that was that for us was the missing piece. We just couldn’t break down Houston’s block. We couldn’t find balls that were breaking lines in order to get players like João [Klauss], and Simon [Becher], Célio [Pompeu], those guys involved, into the attack.
On if he takes positives out of only conceding one goal:
I take the idea that two of our younger lads, JGR [Jake Girdwood-Reich] and Michael [Wentzel], who haven’t been given a ton of opportunities under my tenure so far, both stepped in, both I thought were very good on the defensive side, and had good moments on the ball as well. But I was very happy for those two young men coming in together as well as a new partnership and compete well. So, I was very, very happy with their two individual performances.
On if he expected to have a lot of rotation in the lineup:
Yeah, we have to find a balance. We have to find the rotation. There were a couple of guys that were with a little bit of a quick turnaround time in these difficult conditions. So, we were always planning to get [Tomas Totland] back into the game after coming off two assists. We hoped that he would have been able to come in the second half and provide some more attacking moments for him to help us score some goals in the second half. We just had issues breaking down their first line of confrontation today, so getting him involved wasn’t as much as we anticipated. But we have to put a team out there that’s as fresh as they can be, and sharp as they can be, to try and win the game.
Defender Michael Wentzel
On the young backline tonight:
I can only speak for myself, obviously, my second game only this year. First off, tough conditions, but I felt like we all tried to give our best. It was very good playing with JGR [Jake Girdwood-Reich]. I felt like he and I had good communication on the field. So I think we have to build on that. I don’t know when our next chance will come, but that’s part of being a team player. Sometimes you gotta help the other guys when they’re starting, and if you play, you just try to take your chance. And we told or we talked to each other before the game that we really, really want that clean sheet. So, I’m very frustrated that we weren’t able to do that.
On what he was seeing from Houston tonight:
I feel like they gave us a lot of space out wide, even though before the game, we tried to, or we said, we want to try to penetrate through the middle a little bit and find our pivots, but sometimes you also have to respond to the opponent, and I feel like where we definitely could have done better is taking that space and accelerating the game, or accelerating the play, and through that, maybe creating new space. So, I felt like it would have been an easy switch in the game, but we weren’t really able to do that in the game, so we have to look back and see how we can do it better next time.
On how the team is feeling after difficult results:
I feel like it’s been a tough season so far. Not only the last four games, but it’s also been all year where we really try to find momentum. I think it’s great that we were able to score more goals in the last couple of games, but now we also have to be defensively, just ruthless. Like I said before, really try to not concede easy goals, and then maybe grinding out games and finding results like that. And once you get a result, things can start rolling, and in this league, it’s very possible both to win a couple of games in a row, and we won’t be first after this year, but we can make the playoffs. We can still make the playoffs, and then everything resets. So that’s our goal. I know it may sound weird to be honest, after the season we had so far, but it’s not over yet, and we know that, and we make everything until the last game, and we will see where we are then.
Defender Jake Girdwood-Reich
On the optimism within the team currently:
I mean, we’re still hungry. Like we said, we still want to win. I think this is a time where we come together. We can’t go off to live in our own little groups. We need to stick together as a team, and it’s still the main goal. We still want to win games. You just want to try and make the playoffs; that’s simple.
On what it was like to play with Michael Wentzel tonight:
I think me and Michael did well together. I’m very disappointed with the goal, but I think we’ve worked well together. And in my old club, I had a partner that was my age as well. So, I’m used to playing with a younger center back. And I think for me and Michael, that was the first time we really actually played together. I mean, never CITY2, two games didn’t play together. So yeah, it was nice to play with him.
On if feels that he can build off his play at center back:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think most people actually forget that I think I am more of a center back than a six. I played there mostly back in my old club, so I was happy to be given a chance at center back tonight.
