St. Louis CITY SC earned a point on the road after a 0-0 tie with San Diego FC at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night. St. Louis again showcased stout defending, limiting San Diego to one shot on goal during the match. Both teams continued to create chances but ultimately could not capitalize in the final third. CITY SC remains unbeaten through regular season play and will revisit California next weekend as they face the reigning MLS Cup champions, LA Galaxy, on Sunday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. CT.
Postgame Notes
- CITY SC earned back-to-back clean sheets for the fourth time in club history (the other three being from March 18-25, 2023, July 1-8, 2023, and April 6-14, 2024)
- Per OPTA, Henry Kessler led all players in defensive actions (interceptions, blocks, tackles) with 15
- Célio Pompeu made his first appearance for CITY SC since June 14, 2024
- Conrad Wallem made his first start for St. Louis CITY SC after making his MLS debut last Saturday
March 1, 2025 – Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, CA)
Misconduct Summary
SD: Franco Negri (caution), 37’
STL: Eduard Löwen (caution), 39’
STL: Simon Becher (caution), 44’
SD: Aníbal Godoy (caution), 68’
STL: Conrad Wallem (caution), 73’
STL: Chris Durkin (caution), 76’
STL: Kyle Hiebert (caution), 87’
SD: Christopher McVey (caution), 90’ + 2
Lineups
SD: GK C.J. dos Santos; D Franco Negri (Ian Pilcher, 71’), D Patrick McNair, D Christopher McVey, D Jasper Löeffelsend (William Kumado, 79’); M Aníbal Godoy (Onni Valakari, 71’), M Jeppe Tverskov ©, M Luca De La Torre; F Chucky Lozano (Emmanuel Boateng, 31’) (Tomas Ángel, 80’), F Marcus Ingvartsen, F Anders Dreyer
Substitutes not used: GK Pablo Sisniega, D Luca Bombino, M Alejandro Alvarado, M Alexander Harris, F Alex Mighten
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 2
STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Tomas Totland, D Kyle Hiebert, D Henry Kessler, D Jannes Horn; M Conrad Wallem (Josh Yaro, 79’), M Eduard Löwen (Alfredo Morales, 61’), M Akil Watts; M Marcel Hartel (Celio Pompeu, 86’), M Cedric Teuchert (Chris Durkin, 46’); F Simon Becher (João Klauss, 61’)
Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Timo Baumgartl
TOTAL SHOTS: 2; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 0; SAVES: 1
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Felisha Mariscal, Elton Garcia
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR: John Krill
Venue: Snapdragon Stadium
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 56 degrees
Postgame Audio: Recording
Postgame Video: Footage (Password: Avl%y2%0)
Head Coach Olof Mellberg
On the defense’s play tonight:
I thought we started a little bit in the first 10-15 (minutes) that found a couple of balls in behind us that were dangerous, but after that, we defended really well. I think their expected goals for them was 0.8 so credit again, to the guys for the hard work they put in. Fought for each other and some strong individual defensive performances as well.
On the atmosphere during tonight’s match:
It was really nice before the game, and especially in the beginning of the game. I think we managed to do well to sort of kill the party a little bit. They didn’t really get as many chances as they were hoping. Also, it was a little bit unfortunate for them, or very unfortunate for them, to get their big star injured early on. But great atmosphere, we enjoyed that.
On why he brought on Chris Durkin for Cedric Teuchert at halftime:
We wanted to be a little bit stronger there defensively. They’re good on the ball, they found central passes on a few okay occasions. We wanted to be a little bit more solid with a trio in the midfield. Cedric didn’t have more than 45 minutes, it was planned from before the game, so it was a possibility. We were also hoping to get another player on the ball in the buildup, and for [Marcel Hartel], to maybe try to be a little bit more involved in our build up. I think that defensively, it worked out well. Attacking, it didn’t work out so well.
Goalkeeper Roman Burki
On if he has concerns about the team’s offensive performance tonight:
No, not at all. I think we played a really good team today, which just didn’t allow anything. Obviously, now, after the game, we can always say, we should have gone a little bit higher, tried a little bit to press higher. But the quality that I saw from San Diego was there. It would have been maybe too much of a risk that they played us out and then we did not have enough guys behind the ball. I think definitely the way the game was going; we were happy with the point on the road. I told the team before the game that we are not here to entertain the party that they want. And we did that.
On how tough it was to play against a possession-oriented team like San Diego:
It’s definitely frustrating, obviously especially for our offensive players, maybe also for the midfield players. You obviously want to play. The game is more fun when you have the ball. But I would say, if you compare our performance to a game like this last season, we would have never gotten away with a point last season. We played really good defensively, and that’s not just the defense, the whole team, also the strikers. I think there was a just a good fighting performance from our side.
On the difficulties from playing out of the back tonight:
Obviously, you try, and if you have a game plan, you try to play the way we plan it. And obviously, if we had the chance to play out on the back, then we would have done that. But at the end of the day, it’s not just that we cannot do whatever we want. We have to adapt how the how the opponent plays, and they had really high pressure. It was better in the second half, I think when we when we changed some things, but at the end of the day it was a fight, and we had to win the fight without the ball.
