For his wife’s birthday on Sunday, City SC striker Klauss made her a promise: He would score a goal for her.
This was not quite as simple as it sounds for the player who was City SC’s leading scorer last season. A year ago, Klauss had five goals in his first five games and was among the leaders in goals per 90 minutes. In 2024, he had just one goal in his first nine games — seven in Major League Soccer play, two in CONCACAF Champions Cup play — and that goal was on a penalty kick.
Klauss made good on his promise to Bruna and lifted the feelings of a whole lot of people on the first warm game day of the season for City SC. His goal in the 57th minute gave City SC a 1-0 win over Austin FC and ended a whole lot of streaks: City SC’s five-game winless streak, the team’s 234-minute goalless streak and Klauss’ personal streak without a goal in the run of play, which had just ticked over the 1,000-minute mark over this season and last before he scored.
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“The goal was important for me, important for the team,” Klauss said. “As we spoke this week, I think we were doing well. Some details that we had to change to be more concentrated during the games. We got a lot of ties, but this shows that we are also a very tough team to beat. So this win was very important for everyone, and we are proud of ourselves. We have been working so hard to get this win.”
“I think everybody’s happy for him,” goalkeeper Roman Burki said. “He needed that. He’s working a lot for the team, and he was just a little bit unlucky in front of the goal the last few games. I hope that reaction, that gives him confidence, that he finds the spaces in front of the goal again.”
It was clear just how much the goal meant to Klauss. Tomas Totland made a long run down the right side, with Rasmus Alm on his right. When Totland got into the penalty area and picked up some defenders, he passed the ball to Alm, who then found Klauss near the penalty spot, standing sideways to the goal, and he swept the ball with his right foot inside the far post.
“It wasn’t the best finish,” he said, “but it was there.”
After the ball went in, Klauss turned to his right, toward where Bruna was sitting. He leaped in the air and pumped his fist and let out a couple of yells as his teammates gathered around to hug him. He pointed, made a heart gesture with his hands and patted his chest.
“This goal is for my wife,” he said after the game. “She’s the woman that is always with me, giving me the support in the good moments and even more in the tough moments.”
And the moments have been tough for Klauss lately. His last goal in the run of play had been in the Sporting Kansas City game on Sept. 30 of last season, the 32nd game of City SC’s 34-game inaugural season. Since then, Klauss had played 13 games, with his only goal coming on a penalty shot that he took only because Eduard Lowen was out with an injury. But the lack of goals has not brought down the rest of Klauss’ game or sapped his confidence.
“He should be on 15 goals for the amount of work he puts in,” City SC coach Bradley Carnell said, “because that’s the reward he deserves. Really happy to see him getting on the score sheet. You can see he invests a lot. The staff, we invest a lot in the individual, and it’s nice to see it when it all comes around. We know the value. We’ve seen it last year in Klauss. It’s just a matter of time. It’s progression. Good players might have a rough patch here and there, but quality will always shine through in the end.”
“I think I have been working very hard,” Klauss said. “Sometimes the people, they just say, ‘Oh Klauss is not scoring.’ But look how many times Burki saves us. So there are other good keepers in the league. Sometimes they made good choices and the keepers just save it or like last game it was the crossbar. So yeah, I’m very happy for this goal but especially for the win.”
If not for Klauss’ goal, the game very easily could have been the latest in a long line of ties for City SC. For the second week in a row, City SC got a shutout, and this one looked a lot cleaner than the 0-0 tie the week before against Dallas. Austin had just two shots in the game, neither of which required a save from Burki, though its best chances ended with dangerous crosses not finding their marks. Austin’s expected goal total of 0.3 was the low for a City SC opponent this season.
“It was way hotter (this week),” Burki said, comparing the shutouts. “Not that much physical work on the field, but it feels good. I think it’s a big, big step forward from the team. If we’re a little bit more clinical up front, the game would have been decided earlier. But very well done from the team.”
“I thought we put out as good a defensive performance that we have in a long time,” said Carnell, who picked up a yellow card for saying a bit too much to referee Ted Unkel.
City SC’s lineup still isn’t whole. Joakim Nilsson, who missed two games because of a cracked rib, entered as a sub in the 84th minute for a cramping Kyle Hiebert and finished the game, while City SC’s other player returning from injury, Lowen, didn’t make the roster and will have to wait another week to return.
“Sometimes he puts his body in harm’s way,” Carnell said, “and all of the sudden he has a setback or a breakdown. We are just trying to manage him wisely in the right way. I think with a push and a shove we could have got him on, but we didn’t want to put him in that predicament.”
Lowen watched the game from the stands along with forward Samuel Adeniran, who was not included on the game-day roster even though there was space for him. The team labeled his absence a “coach’s decision,” and Carnell declined to go into more specifics after the game, saying, “For me, the focus today was on the players who were here on the roster and the guys who emptied the tank for each other.”