St. Louis CITY SC fell 3-0 to Los Angeles FC on Saturday night at Energizer Park. Denis Bouanga opened the scoring for the visitors in the 15th minute, and Son Heung-Min added two goals to LAFC’s advantage to seal the three points. CITY SC will resume action next weekend in its final road match of the season, playing against Austin FC at 7:30 p.m. CT next Saturday at Q2 Stadium.
Postgame Notes
- Tonight’s match was St. Louis CITY SC’s 50th regular season home match which featured the one millionth fan enter Energizer Park since the team’s inaugural season in 2023
September 27, 2025 – Energizer Park (St. Louis, MO)
Goal-Scoring Plays
LAFC: Denis Bouanga, 15th minute –Denis Bouanga scored with a right footed shot from the central position outside the box to the bottom left corner.
LAFC: Son Heung-Min (Artem Smolyakov, Mathieu Choiniere), 45th minute + 4 – Son Heung- Min scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.
LAFC: Son Heung-Min (Artem Smolyakov), 60th minute – Son Heung-Min scored with right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.
Scoring Summary
LAFC: Denis Bouanga, 15’
LAFC: Son Heung-Min (Artem Smolyakov, Mathieu Choiniere), 45’+4
LAFC: Son Heung-Min (Artem Smolyakov), 60’
Misconduct Summary
STL: Sangbin Jeong (caution), 3’
LAFC: Eddie Segura (caution), 51’
STL: Célio Pompeu (caution), 66’
STL: Eduard Löwen (caution), 73’
STL: Timo Baumgartl (caution), 90’
STL: João Klauss (caution), 90’+10’
Lineups
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Conrad Wallem (Tomas Totland, 58’), D Timo Baumgartl, D Fallou Fall (Kyle Hiebert, 74’), D Devin Padelford; M Chris Durkin (Alfredo Morales, 58’), M Eduard Löwen; M Brendan McSorley (Célio Pompeu, 65’), M Marcel Hartel, M Sangbin Jeong (Mykhi Joyner, 65’); F João Klauss
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, M Tomáš Ostrák, M Seth Antwi, F Simon Becher
TOTAL SHOTS: 9; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 4
LAFC: GK Hugo Lloris © (Thomas Hasal, 46’); D Artem Smoliakov (Ryan Hollingshead, 78’), D Ryan Porteous, D Nksoi Tafari, D Sergi Palencia; M Eddie Segura (Kenneth Nielsen, 87’), M Mark Delgado, M Mathieu Choiniere; F Denis Bouanga (David Martinez, 87’), F Heung Min Son, F Andrew Moran (Frankie Amaya, 78’)
Substitutes not used: M Yaw Yeboah, M Ryan Raposo, M Alexandru Baluta, F Jeremy Ebobisse
TOTAL SHOTS: 21; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 3
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Kieso, Lyles Arfa, Benjamin Meyer
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR: Craig Lowry
Venue: Energizer Park
Postgame Audio: Audio
Postgame Video: Footage (Passcode: M2fF5*b^)
Interim Head Coach David Critchley
Q. LAFC looked really good. When you look at that game, as dominant as they were, did you feel you were in it at any point?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: No, not today. I think for us, our performance on who we are was not good enough, was not up to our expectations and our standards. Taking nothing away from L.A., I think that they have a very, very solid roster. The talent in their locker [room] is very high level, and you see that today.
We give two goals away in the first half that are too sloppy, too easy. On teams that quality, with the roster they have, will punish you and that’s why they are where they are in the standings.
For us, yes, taking nothing way from LAFC, their hot run continues, fantastic team, very well-coached, a lot of talent all over the field as we know. But you can still find ways. We can still find ways to win football games. Maybe it’s not based on talent for at that time, quality for quality, but the work ethic, the mentality, is where that has to shine, and you can’t give away goals that we gave away today. That’s what kind of got us down early, and then from there we were just always chasing.
Q. What’s the impact of that first goal? Because you don’t want to give a team like them easy chances, and seems like the longer you can keep them off the board, the better it is.
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I think so. We had one early chance with [João] Klaussy, Sangy [Jeong] and [Brendan] McSorley coming off the left side. Hugo [Lloris] comes out big, obviously makes a 1v1 stop on him. Those are the plays that you have to convert. Get a 1-0 lead and build off momentum because they are the earlier moments in the game where, you know, teams are going back and forth and trying to adjust and figure out the tactics.
But once we let them get settled, at our home stadium, on the ball and control the game as much as they controlled it, that defensive performance wasn’t good. And you tack that on with, again, the mistakes that we made tonight, yeah, made it a long night for us.
Q. Were emotions high out there? Looked like there was a lot of pushing and shoving and sniping as that game went on.
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I mean, I think so. You know, we feel the energy that these guys give a lot even when we are in situations where we are down. I felt like there was moments, small moments where we were competitive, which allowed us to be feisty or snipy in that moment, but there was also moments where we got played around way too easy as well.
So I think some of the built-up anger in them moments for the individuals that make these types of tackles, you’re chasing shadows for 89 minutes, you finally get close to them, sometimes you want to take a shot. I think we just need to be better at not being reckless in moments and being more disciplined and defending better as a group.
Q. Looking at the second half, momentum did shift a little bit after the subs that you made; did you like what you saw from those moments of that adjustment of bringing some of the intensity back?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I did. I felt like that was one of the highlights is our guys went into the game, tried to impact it. All the names really impacted. All five did really good stepping in, controlling the game when he can control the game. Célio looked dangerous at times when he got on the ball, especially with some space to take. And then Totland and Mykhi done good late in the game trying to push their last line and get opportunities.
I felt the groups came in — the individuals that came in helped the group tonight, but again, you know, game state, they are up 3-0. They are just managing that game, absorbing our pressure, and even when you’re up 3-0, you’re looking for moments to counter through Son or Bouanga, and they had a couple moments, as well.
Q. And then tapping [Alfredo] Morales in that moment — is that just wanting some stability in the midfield because he can anchor it?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: You said Alfie, right? He does a good job. He’s aggressive defensively. I think he had a couple slide tackles today and a couple big moments where he helped the group out, and he does a good job on the ball as well.
So he’s a complete midfielder, uses some experiences in games like that as well. He came on, trying to slow the game down when we needed to and speed it up when we needed to as well. But when you try to speed the game up against a team like that, sometimes it actually hurts you more than helps you.
Q. Sangbin, I noticed that he played on the left side today. Primarily I feel like he’s been playing on the right ever since he arrived. What was your intention putting him on the left and also if you could talk about how he’s settled since he arrived from Minnesota.
DAVID CRITCHLEY: Yeah, I think it was a decision we made on a couple of factors. One is trying to isolate him off the left side well with his speed. Secondly, a couple — Brandon McSorley is coming off two goals, and it was one of those that you balance those two decisions and I think it’s a good formula for Sang-bin and McSorley and Célio and all of our wingers, I expect that they should play on both sides effectively of the field at this level.
I thought they had good moments, especially early in the game. They did a good job isolating him but finding his biggest strength, his speed and taking away from him didn’t help in them moments. Second part of the question, he settled in well. He comes out, trains well, has a good mentality. Looks to improve himself every day whether improving with the team or staying behind and doing individual work. I liked his mentality what I saw with the group so far.
Q. Since he’s gotten back from the Korean national team, his first return in four years, do you feel that’s given him a big boost in confidence?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I think so. You look at any time you get that call up it does increase your confidence. He’s come into our group from Minnesota and got significantly more play time as well which naturally increases a player’s confidence also. He’s a confident young man tonight.
I’m sure he’ll tell you didn’t have his best game and wanted to rise to the occasion of what it was tonight. Yeah he keeps getting better every single week.
Q. I know you talked about the goals already but goals number two and three, the defense sits back and let’s the run come to them. Son gets a lot of time in the top of the box. The defenders don’t step out and take away Deni in that play. What are your thoughts on the goals, not the plays where the team gets beat but the one-on-one moments not stepping up?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: Yeah, we have to get better on the field with our decision-making. Something we talked about this weekend in our training environment was when we feel like they break our pressure and we see Son and Bouanga running at us, we do need to eliminate space behind. But at some point, you have to step in and not let him dribble inside eight, nine, ten yards and tuck one in the corner.
In them moments, we have to read them better as individuals. We definitely need to try to take away their strength, which is runs behind, but you have to step at some point as you mentioned and put a block in there. There’s goal no. 2.
Goal no. 3, it’s something that’s conceded on us, especially early in the season, which we put enough players in front of the ball to block it but somewhere keeps trickling through.
We’ve just got to defend individually better in them moments. There’s no escape around it. There’s nothing I can say other than we’ve just got to be better defending inside our own box in them big moments.
Q. It seemed like Sangbin was crashing inside as the striker. I know you guys have done that a lot but considering his move from that striker position to the right wing this year for McSorley what was the decision-making process to have sung be the one crashing more as the striker?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I think just like they are, in my opinion, the best team in the League at counterattacks and transition, that was something we felt like they might hurt their back three in as well. We have to know the opponent we play. We knew we were not going get on the ball and dictate the game with 65, 70 percent possession.
So finding transitional moments, trying to find moments where we can be a little bit direct and get them behind. I believe you saw one action very early which we were successful back but (inaudible) makes a good recognition of that moment and comes off the line.
But we just have to know the type of opponent we are playing and find where their weaknesses are. You are not going to pin them back a lot and over-possess them a lot in games but you can get after them in a direct fashion. And that was one of our objectives to try and do and Sangy was one of those personnels that we felt like might have been able to get him behind and find a 1v1.
Q. Going down 2-1 the at half, what was your message to the guys?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: You can’t give the ball away the way we gave the ball away in situations like that. We did do a couple of adjustments tactically. We tried to set up a different — more pressure ton their three center backs.
But quite frankly, if you don’t give those two moments away as a team, yes, they had some of the ball and some opportunities, but you might go into the half at nil-nil and you never know from there.
So have to be much better when we defend for longer periods of times and then you finally win it, you can’t just give the ball away every single time. The top teams in this league will punish you, and we showed that twice tonight.
Q. In the attack, did you think our attackers did enough to get behind, or what would you like to see?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I mean, I haven’t see any of the data or any of the stats. I can only kind of what I feel is we just as a group wasn’t good enough on the ball tonight.
I’m not going to isolate any single player because if we can’t get in behind the last line, maybe it’s the defenders on the ball and can’t play out of it. Maybe it’s the midfielder’s fault and we can’t connect enough passes.
It’s a collective on the ball tonight for us. We have to have players that are more brave playing in these types of events and situations and getting on the ball and playing out of it. We didn’t have that tonight.
Q. This makes it official that you’re eliminated from playoff contention, but it’s been obvious this is coming for some time. But does it hit you in any way when it becomes official that you’re out of it?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: No. Because mathematically we knew the situation we were in several weeks ago. It was inevitable it was going to happen.
Now it’s just about coming back and seeing how we as a club and the players respond this week in training. For us, it’s one game that I felt we were dominated in in a lot of moments of the game, but, when I look now at how we prepare for Austin at this point next week; it’s a team that we can go out and beat.
So for us now, nothing changes. The objective is to pick up six points in the last two games and try to push ourselves into a position of finishing the season strong and trying to build momentum as we go into 2026.
Q. Is Fallou okay?
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I haven’t heard anything. It was a situation where he makes the tackle, I think with Bouanga may have slipped on him or stood off him. Tried to shake it off or five or ten minutes but inevitably we made the decision to get him off the field.
Q. Did it look like Sangbin was pumped up for tonight’s game? For a guy that runs a lot, looked like he was running a lot.
DAVID CRITCHLEY: I think so. He knew the occasion. He knew there would be a lot of his home country watching the game. He’s coming up against obviously a player that everyone admires.
So, I don’t think he had to have any more extra motivation to play tonight, let’s put it that way. Started the game off very well. If he gets to that ball early and puts it in the corner, first couple minutes of the game, we are probably looking at a completely different football game. But it wasn’t meant to be for us tonight.
Midfielder Marcel Hartel
On LAFC being the better team tonight:
Yeah, in the end, we have to say, we have to be honest to ourselves and have to say that LAFC was the better team with the ball against the ball, so they deserve the win for sure, but we were preparing very well before the game. We want to come out and play forward, play with courage, out from the back, not just kicking the ball away. And yeah, but we have to be honest with ourselves, it was not enough today.
On being eliminated from the playoffs:
I mean, yeah, of course. When we started the season, we wanted to be much more successful. We don’t make the playoff last season, and we started the season to go for the playoffs, and we missed it again. It’s very disappointing for the club, for us as a team, and now we have to go in the last two games to do our best. We have to prepare well and in the best way we get six points for this club, and especially for coaching staff.
On going behind early:
I mean, if they’re going front with this team with this speed, and their team that can play with the ball, but they can also go and sit back and go for transition. So, this is hard if they score the first goal to come back in the game, but it was two, two goals in the first half. It was too easy. There was like presents for them, and we have to learn all of it and do it next game better.
Midfielder Eduard Löwen
On the disappointing result:
Yeah, very disappointing. I mean, we obviously wanted to win the game. We wanted to put LAFC in a tough game, and I think we didn’t do that at all. LAFC was the better team, and yeah, it was a well-deserved win for them.
On officially being eliminated from playoffs:
Well, to be honest, we all like kind of we’re just focused on game to game, winning every game, and our focus wasn’t over the last couple of games like that that we will talk about and say, like, we still want to make it to the players. We just wanted to be a hardworking, humble team that is, like, hungry to win every single game. We had two wins, thankfully. But yeah, tonight, we just, we just let it slip. Obviously, it’s disappointing, because St Louis CITY is a club that wants to be a playoff team, and I think we should be this club that gives us all the resources. And I think we, this club, have so much potential. We need to do everything next year to get there.
On the improvement shown later in games:
Yeah, you know, to be honest, I said it from the very start, and I keep saying that when the coaching change happens, a new coach takes over in the middle of the season, didn’t have a pre season, and a lot of things, you are catching up. You are trying to fix a lot of things, and I think there were a lot of things to fix, and I think fitness was one of them. And over the last couple of games, we’ve proven that we are actually fitter, that the team is fitter, healthier. And, yeah, I think the data backs that up. We saw so many times that we outran other teams, that we were, that we were having, like, one of the highest sprints, distance, whatever it may be. And I think over the last couple of weeks, you are actually seeing that this team has improved a lot, and a lot of the things that we needed to fix have been fixed, and there are still things to work on.
On issues handling the ball:
Yeah, I think we were just very sloppy on the ball. I think we didn’t have a thought already when we received the ball, what the next move was, and then oftentimes we just played a long ball and expected our wingers to win the long balls against their tall, strong defenders. And obviously that didn’t work out. Yeah, and I think that’s on us. We had a clear game plan, and we didn’t execute it well. We were just very sloppy on the ball. And I feel like the guy on the ball often was the poorest guy on the pitch, because we kind of seemed, especially in the first half, we kind of seemed intimidated. And yeah, a team like that also smells that and takes advantage of that. And I mean, especially when you are down to zero and then three zero, there is nothing to lose anymore. You just have to go after it. You just have to try. And especially when that’s our philosophy. We want to be a ball possessing team. We want to be good on the ball. And then, yeah, you have to have the mentality and the bravery to want every single ball, and you have to have the mentality to not be to not be scared of making mistakes, because sometimes that happens, but you just got to continue that happens also to the best teams in the world.
