City SC’s new acquisitions continued to provide a boost to its offense but not enough to get the team a win on Sunday night in a Leagues Cup match.
A goal by Simon Becher, playing in just his second game since coming in from Denmark, gave City SC a second-half lead. But FC Juarez quickly tied it, and the game was even at 1-1 after regulation. The game immediately went to penalty kicks, in which Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel, the team’s other two new attackers, both had shots blocked as Juarez won the shootout 4-1.
The result left City SC in second place in its group, setting up a round of 32 game with Portland, the winner of its group, at CityPark, probably on Friday. City SC gets the home-field advantage even though it didn’t win its group because it has the higher seed in the tournament, based on last season’s results. If City SC advances to the round of 16, however, it potentially would have to go to San Diego to face Club America, which clobbered City SC 4-0 last season in the Leagues Cup.
People are also reading…
City SC has gotten goals from each of its three attacking additions in the past two games. Hartel and Teuchert scored last Saturday against Dallas in the first Leagues Cup game, with Becher playing a role in both.
Becher put City SC ahead in the 58th minute, flicking in a corner kick from Eduard Lowen from a foot or so away. Hartel jumped into the arms of Lowen, while Becher exhorted the crowd with his first goal since joining the team.
The lead didn’t last long. Four minutes later, Akil Watts headed away a cross by Ralph Orquin, but not far enough. Dieter Villalpando recovered it and, from just outside the box, put it just inside the far post and out of the reach of a diving Ben Lundt.
While there were a few things at stake — mostly what City SC’s path through the knockout rounds of Leagues Cup would look like — interim coach John Hackworth took the opportunity to give goalkeeper Roman Burki and defender Tomas Totland a night off, especially with the next game coming on short rest. Couple that and the departure on Friday of Tim Parker in a trade and it was a very different look for the team’s back line: Josh Yaro and Kyle Hiebert at center backs, Jake Nerwinski at right back and Watts at left back, with Lundt in goal. (With Burki out and Parker gone, Lowen wore the captain’s armband.)
Lundt had his share of work in the first half, with a few diving saves and a lot of traffic in his box as Juarez had the ball in the box often. But it was City SC that had the best chances, in a flurry of opportunities in the 32nd minute that produced four shots. One was saved by Juarez goalkeeper Sebastian Jurado, and three more were blocked by defenders, including one by Diego Capillo on the goal line on a shot by Cedric Teuchert with the initial rebound that looked headed for the net.