St. Louis CITY SC were defeated 3-2 by Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night at BC Place. Eduard Löwen scored the first goal of the night in the 14th minute off a cross from Conrad Wallem. Vancouver tied it in first half stoppage time as Brian White scored from the penalty spot. St. Louis took the 2-1 lead in the second half courtesy of an individual effort from João Klauss, but Vancouver tied it again just six minutes later. Thomas Müeller scored the winning penalty kick in second half stoppage time as the Whitecaps took all three points on the night. CITY SC returns home to Energizer Park to face Houston Dynamo for the second time this season on Saturday, August 30 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Postgame Notes
- Eduard Löwen scored his fourth goal of the season and 15th in his MLS career
- João Klauss scored his ninth goal of the season and eighth in 12 MLS matches
- Sangbin Jeong picked up his first assist of the season
- Conrad Wallem picked up his third assist of the season and second in back-to-back matches
August 23, 2025 – BC Place (Vancouver, BC)
Goal-Scoring Plays
STL: Eduard Löwen (Conrad Wallem), 14th minute – Eduard Löwen scored with a header from the center of the box to the top right corner.
VAN: Brian White (penalty kick), 45th minute + 4 – Brian White scored from the penalty spot with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
STL: João Klauss (Sangbin Jeong), 73rd minute – João Klauss scored with a left footed shot from the center of the box to the lower right zone.
VAN: Daniel Rios (Sebastian Berhalter), 79th minute – Daniel Rios scored with a header from the center of the box to the lower right central zone.
VAN: Thomas Müeller (penalty kick), 90th minute + 14 – Thomas Müeller scored from the penalty spot with a right footed shot to the middle-left zone.
Scoring Summary
STL: Eduard Löwen (Conrad Wallem), 14’
VAN: Brian White (penalty kick), 45’+4
STL: João Klauss (Sangbin Jeong), 73’
VAN: Daniel Rios (Sebastian Berhalter), 79’
VAN: Thomas Müeller (penalty kick), 90’+14
Misconduct Summary
VAN: Andres Cubas (caution), 69’
Lineups
VAN: GK Yohei Takaoka; D Mathias Laborda, D Belal Halbouni, D Tristan Blackmon, D Edier Ocampo (Tate Johnson, 86’); M Jayden Nelson (Ali Ahmed, 62’), M Thomas Müeller ©, M Sebastian Berhalter, M Andres Cubas (Kenji Cabrera, 77’); F Emmanuel Sabbi (Ralph Priso, 86’), F Brian White (Daniel Rios, 77’)
Substitutes not used: GK Isaac Boehmer, D Sebsatian Schonlau, M J.C. Ngando, M Jeevan Badwal
TOTAL SHOTS: 22; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: 2
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Conrad Wallem, D Timo Baumgartl, D Henry Kessler, D Devin Padelford (Jaziel Orozco, 65’); M Chris Durkin (Alfredo Morales, 65’), M Eduard Löwen; M Sangbin Jeong (Simon Becher, 83’), M Marcel Hartel, M Tomáš Ostrák (Mykhi Joyner, 57’); F João Klauss (Célio Pompeu, 83’)
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Tomas Totland, M Jake Girdwood-Reich
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 4
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Hanson, Brooke Mayo, Mo Mohseni
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr
AVAR: Ian McKay
Venue: BC Place
Postgame Audio: Recording
Postgame Video: Footage (Passcode: ^ex@u8.Y)
Interim Head Coach David Critchley
On how the team feels after tonight’s match:
It’s mixed emotions. I’m pretty upset as you guys can imagine, a lot of situations on the field, out of our control. I think we have to get better as a league and as that goes on. I don’t want the focus to take the attention away from the players, on this club and the direction that these guys are going. We came into this game today 14th in the league, and to watch these guys perform like they did, massive amounts of being proud, being happy. We go ahead and get ourselves in a great position away from home against them, very, very tough opponents. We do enough to win the football game. The calls don’t go our way tonight. I have some confusion on why that and how it happened. But that’s the situation we’re in. But to focus back on the players, we’re looking at some of the data right now, just the physical data is one of top three, is what I’ve heard very quickly of our highest ever recorded data in a game physically. So that just shows the commitments, the passion, the efforts, everything that these guys have put into it. They deserve so much more tonight than a loss, and I’m super proud of them.
On the team’s run of play defense during tonight’s match:
Something I’m very proud of, honestly, is just denying a very dangerous team and very good front four open play opportunities. Three set piece goals conceded tonight. I thought the guys were fantastic in many of those moments, whether that was chasing back in the game, pressing high up as a group, were definitely getting more organized and more compact and sharper on the defensive side of the ball. And I was super happy for not conceding in a run of play.
On the messaging to the players after tonight’s match:
The message tonight was ‘guys we’ve just got to keep going’. As I mentioned here, there’s going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s going to be a bright light. This team is very going in the right direction. It’s getting better every single week. We can see, I know we scored two goals tonight away from home in Vancouver. We were creating a lot, but we are definitely shutting teams down in the run of play as mentioned. I have to be careful about a few things on what I say, that out of my control with this, but I was pretty upset tonight with some situations that didn’t go our way, but we’re definitely going in the right direction. And I was super proud of these guys.
Goalkeeper and Captain Roman Bürki
On the ending of tonight’s match:
It’s very unfortunate for the team. I’m sorry for the guys who put their bodies on the line to defend a lot. With such decisions, it’s hard to win against one of the top teams in the MLS.
On the positives the team can take away from tonight:
We defended very good. I would say, obviously, they have a lot of quality. We were under pressure. But the coach said before the game, be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. They pinned us back, and we just had to be patient. And in transition, I think we did a good job. But like I said, you could put that much effort into it and try everything and compete against one of the best teams, but with these decisions, there’s just nothing you can do at the end of the day.
On things the team needs to improve on after tonight:
We definitely improved our game, also how we defended. We still have some technical mistakes that we are making that other teams like Vancouver, for example, don’t make. They’re very good technical wise, and we just have to improve that technical ability under pressure and stuff. Finding the right moment to play, the right moment to turn your body and play the path, the ball into the right foot side, small details that we that we have to improve on. Because at the end of the day, that makes a big difference, a big difference to how an attack goes.
