CITY SC defeated in sweltering match against Portland Timbers

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis CITY SC lost 2-1 against the Portland Timbers Sunday in a sweltering match at Providence Park.

CITY and Portland faced off starting at 4 p.m. Pacific on a day that hit temperatures in the upper-90s.

CITY was the first to score a goal coming in minute 50 of the second half. Tomas Totland had recovered a ball that Portland had attempted to clear from their end of the field and sent it into the box where Simon Becher was struggling with a Portland defender. The ball deflected away from Becher and to Akil Watts, who put the ball into the net.

Five minutes later, Portland’s Antony Alves Santos got a shot around both CITY defender Henry Kessler and keeper Roman Bürki.

One minute into extra time Portland’s David Ayala scored off of a corner kick . Ayala stayed back towards the back of CITY’s box and was left undefended and was able to easily get one into the net.

This loss is the first for CITY’s interim head coach, David Critchley. CITY has three wins, five draws and nine losses on the season.

“The result didn’t go our way today,” Critchley said to the press after the match. “We obviously had a moment where we conceded late in the game. But I told the guys, my message was very clear to them that my emotions in this game were not disappointment, was not anger, was not frustration. My emotions are proud and excited for the very near future for this team.”

Pregame

Last week, CITY took on San Jose, just days after the announcement of the team letting go of head coach Olof Mellberg. CITY beat San Jose 2-1, the winning goal coming in extra minutes of the second half with a penalty kick taken by Eduard Löwen.

The last time CITY faced Portland was a 4-4 draw in August 2024 that saw the CITY debuts of Henry Kessler and Jannes Horn. CITY’s Simon Becher also scored his first goal for the club during this meet-up.

The CITY side will have a lot to prove during this match with their interim coach. Not helping them is an injury list with several key players out. Rasmus Alm, Joakim Nilsson and Chris Durkin are out with injuries, which has been unfortunately common this season. Also out with injuries for this match are Eduard Löwen and Cedric Teuchert, who are both suffering hamstring injuries.

CITY did add two players to the first-team roster before they left for Portland, bringing up CITY2 forward Brendan McSorley and CITY2 defender Jaziel Orozco to the main CITY team.

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