It’s all over but the mathematics.
The numbers may say it’s still possible for ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC to make the playoffs this season, but the reality is its 3-1 loss to Minnesota on Saturday night at CityPark pretty much killed off City SC’s already remote playoff chances. With an opportunity to pull within five points of the ninth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, City SC’s loss left it 11 points back with just five games to play, while Minnesota has six left.
“This hurts,†said right back Jake Nerwinski. “This hurts a lot.â€
One of the reasons it hurts is that, like so much of City SC’s season, the team showed promise at the start and then took a sour turn and couldn’t recover. A bad pass by Eduard Lowen turned into the tying goal, a defensive mix-up led to the fall-behind goal and a VAR-reviewed handball produced the penalty-kick goal that sealed it for Minnesota.
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Meanwhile, after going ahead 1-0 in the fourth minute, City SC, with Klauss back in the starting lineup, had some chances to extend the lead that would have changed the complexion of the game but didn’t. In six of City SC’s past seven games, including Leagues Cup, it has scored first, and it has won only two of those games.
“Disappointed,†interim coach John Hackworth said. “It’s clear in that locker room, we’re all feeling that disappointment. We believe that we could come into this game and not only win the game but put on a really good performance, and for a lot of crazy reasons that happened in the game, some things didn’t happen for us, and we lost the soccer game.â€
City SC’s predicament is now this: Even if it wins its five remaining games, all Minnesota needs from its last six games is a win and a tie, and that seals it. And even if somehow Minnesota couldn’t muster that, Austin and Dallas each would have to win no more than two games of their final six. Even Hackworth, who often refers to himself as “Positive Pete,†wasn’t going there on Saturday. The official end could come as early as next Saturday.
City SC also played the decisive second half without two of its key defensive players, center back Henry Kessler and defensive midfielder Chris Durkin. Durkin’s knee bothered him for most of the first half, and in first-half stoppage time, he couldn’t go any longer and was down on the field with a concerned look on his face. He eventually walked off the field and reentered the game for the final few minutes of the half but didn’t do much. He didn’t return in the second half. Kessler took a knock to the head in the first half but, after clearing the concussion protocol, went back into it during halftime and couldn’t return.
That led to a scrambled defense — Jannes Horn moved from left back to center back and Jayden Reid came into the game, while Jake Girdwood-Reich replaced Durkin. The back line of Reid, Horn, Kyle Hiebert and Nerwinski was not one that has been together much, even in training, and that lack of familiarity could have been a factor when Minnesota took the lead in the 52nd minute.
“It’s hard to change that in-game,†Nerwinski said. “I know guys obviously did the best they could. I think the guys that came in did well. It just messed with us a little bit, I think.â€
It all started so well. Cedric Teuchert scored four minutes in after a pass from Nerwinski to Simon Becher in the box led to the ball dropping perfectly for Teuchert, who one-timed it in for his third goal in four games. It was everything City SC could have asked for: coming out attacking, getting an early goal, putting the opponent on its heels.
But in the 23rd minute, Lowen tried to change the point of attack from the left side, but his pass was blocked almost immediately after leaving his foot by Bongokuhle Hlongwane. He got the ball to Kelvin Yeboah, who dribbled down the middle of the field to the top of the arc and took a shot that goalkeeper Roman Burki could only parry away. But Hlongwane had kept his run going and was first to the rebound, putting it past the sprawled Burki from about 6 yards.
That goal dampened the mood in the locker room at the half. It’s not the first time City SC has gone into the half feeling it had played better than the score indicated.
“I think we controlled the game in every situation,†Teuchert said. “I think they had no chance to make it 1-1. A mistake from Edu, but mistakes happen in the game, so it’s no problem, but I think we have to come out of the of the locker better. And I think Minnesota was beatable. It’s not a good feeling.â€
With the scrambled back line, Minnesota attacked to start the second half. A long ball out of the back found Yeboah, challenged by Horn. Yeboah got around Horn and then avoided Horn’s slide-tackle attempt to stop the play. Yeboah came in on Burki and then passed to Hlongwane making a run toward the net, but the ball never got there. Reid slid in to break up the play but knocked the ball into his own net for an own goal.
“I think (Horn) tried to take a foul,†Hackworth said. “I wish he would have taken more of a foul, and then we would have given up a restart and maybe given up a yellow card, but that would have been it. Now we’re scrambling. ... So just one of those things, very unlucky on our part, and we have to own it.â€
Now the situation had gone from bad to worse. One of the fears for City SC was that if it needed to play catch-up, it would leave itself exposed in the back. In the 58th minute, a ball played by Minnesota into the City SC box was cleared away by Hiebert and Teuchert, but video referee Ismail Elfath saw what referee Marcus DeOliveira had missed, that the ball had been headed by Michael Boxall off the arm of Hiebert.
It didn’t look all that different from the handball that wasn’t called against Hiebert the week before in New England, but this time, when the referee was told to give it a second look, he changed his mind and awarded Minnesota a penalty kick. DeOliveira said in a pool report that Hiebert’s right arm was above his shoulder when it touched the ball, and he had made himself unnaturally bigger. Yeboah converted the PK to make it 3-1 in the 62nd minute and pretty much settle things.
“I think them getting that second goal was a bit deflating for us,†Nerwinski said. “We wanted to come out on the front foot those first 15 minutes, and unfortunately, we didn’t. I think 2-1 it’s still manageable to come back into, and then we get some kind of handball call again. And I think that deflated us even more.â€
City SC almost had a chance to close the gap when Klauss was fouled outside the box in the 67th minute, though he protested that he had been fouled in the box. Elfath again told DeOliveira to take another look, but this time, the referee stayed with original call, saying in a pool report that there was no evidence that the foul against Klauss had continued inside the box.
Lowen took the free kick from just outside the box, but it was blocked and quickly cleared.
That was pretty much it.
City SC needed three goals to get the win it desperately needed, and that wasn’t happening.
“I think it was a really bad day for us,†Teuchert said, “but we have to keep going. Have to work hard every day, and I think we have to work hard every day for next season. But I think today was a really hard day.â€