Beat writer Tom Timmermann and guest Jen Siess talk about City SC’s penchant for ties and what the team’s chance creation says about its prospects during its recent scoring troubles on this week’s podcast.
Injuries have limited the playing time for midfielder Rasmus Alm, but when he plays, City SC has a 14-7-7 record, thanks in part to the high energy he brings.
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A busy, and demanding, stretch for City SC: STL Soccer Talk
Aziel Jackson opts to put his first name on his back for City SC this season
Just about everyone around CityPark calls ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC midfielder Aziel Jackson “AZ,†and he played last season with his last name, Jackson, on the back of his jersey.
But for this season, Jackson went with his first name, Aziel, instead of Jackson on the back.
“Aziel is my first name,†he said. “It means God is my strength and I want to be known as Aziel. I would like to be called AZ, but a lot of people don’t know how to pronounce Aziel (it’s Ay-zee-el, as if you were just saying the letters A-Z-L.). They say Uh-zeal, or Az-ee-el. They pronounce it wrong all the time. I just want people to know who Aziel is. Jackson is my family name but I have my own story that I want people to know about and I want Aziel on my back.â€
He has come a long way over the past two seasons, first getting City SC’s attention while playing in MLS Next Pro for Minnesota and after a slow start last season became a regular in City SC’s starting lineup and made an appearance with the U.S. national team in its January camp. He started the first seven Major League Soccer games for City SC, though the past three have been off the bench as Rasmus Alm has moved into the lineup after recovering from his sports hernia surgery.
Jackson came off the bench at halftime Saturday against Houston to replace Celio Pompeu, the most playing time he has gotten in his past three games. City SC has a lot of options in the midfield, and it will only get more crowded when Njabulo Blom and Eduard Lowen return from injuries.
“We have a group of hungry guys that want minutes,†City SC coach Bradley Carnell said after Saturday’s tie in Houston. “So when we just feel something is a slight change, a slight moment that we’re looking for that either we can get in a defensive balance stability or we can gain an attacking threat, these are the moments we’ll go through on the bench and that’s a decision we’ve made. We have a group of hungry guys here and we’re just managing everybody on the roster and getting them good minutes.â€
Now, Jackson is fighting to get back in the starting lineup. He’s likely to get a start sometime soon as City SC enters a stretch of three games in eight days starting with Saturday against Chicago. He has no goals and one assist through 10 games after having one goal and four assists in 25 games last season.
“I think it just comes with just being patient and doing what I have to do,†he said, “just being patient with the opportunities that I get and take advantage of them. I think that’s what I’ve got to focus on for myself. It’s just what I need to do for myself and the team. … I think it’s just feeds my mentality more, even if I’m starting or not starting or just coming off the bench for 45, 20, 30 minutes, I want to give all for the team any way possible and make a difference.â€
Lowen, Blom rejoin practice
Midfielders Eduard Lowen and Njabulo Blom rejoined the full squad in practice Tuesday, a significant step on the road to getting back in the lineup. Blom hasn’t played since April 6, and Lowen last played March 9. Both have been out with hamstring injuries, though Lowen has also been away from the team at times because of a family emergency.
Given the time they’ve missed, it will likely take more than a week of practice to get them into game shape.
“We’ll have to see how they progress through the week,†Carnell said. “We just have to evaluate. They’ve been out for quite some time. So I’m not putting any hopes, I’m not putting any pressure. We just have to see how they handle the load this week.â€
Defender Josh Yaro has moved to the next stage of his rehab, working separately with a trainer on the field before practice.
Practice tests
Goalkeeper Roman Burki talked after the Houston game about the team’s strikers needing more confidence with the ball. He was jokingly asked if he could help that confidence by letting some shots go in during practice. That’s not going to happen.
“I could, but that’s not how I am,†he said. “I try to challenge my guys and my friends. It’s not just letting goals in because I want confidence too. I need confidence too. And I always say, I’m the first guy who says, that the way you train, that’s the way you’re going to play. That’s the way you’re going to be in the field and if they can score a lot of goals in training. I’m very happy that they do that because I’m trying my best to save them. The backline is trying everything to defend it and so should that attacking side be very hungry to score these goals.â€
Burki’s 10 saves Saturday earned him the starting goalkeeper spot on the league’s team of the matchday.
Ten Hochman: Do you realize how bizarre ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC’s record is?
A lesson well-learned: City SC gets shutout but can't get a win after 0-0 tie with Houston
Through 10 games this season, City SC is tied with Columbus for the fewest losses in Major League Soccer with one; it is also tied with nine other teams for the fewest wins in the league with two.
The one place City SC stands supreme is in ties. City SC picked up its league-high seventh tie in 10 games Saturday in Houston, playing to a 0-0 tie with the Houston Dynamo at Shell Energy Stadium. However fine the line is in soccer between a win and a loss, it’s apparently more than big enough to accommodate City SC. City SC can’t stop tying games.
“You learn how to win games,†City SC coach Bradley Carnell said, “and when you win one or two then you go on a streak. You can learn to lose games as well. And then there’s the other part, you learn to draw games. So at the moment, where we’re so impressive in so many ways, I don’t think we’re far off. … We want to just make sure that we’re doing our business away from home and all we can ask for is a clean sheet and a chance to win the game. And I think we had that tonight. I think that was what we’ll walk away with here.â€
City SC is undefeated in its past four games, and has three shutouts in those games, which is a pretty good turnaround for a team that had allowed 10 goals in the four games prior to its shutout blitz. But in those three shutouts, the team has taken only five points because it failed to score in two of those games. As a rule, teams are generally much better with ties on the road than ties at home, so this one was a bit more palatable than some others, but it also has to fall in the category of a game that wouldn’t have taken too much to become a win for City SC.
“You can look at it from both sides,†said goalkeeper Roman Burki, who is tied for the league lead in shutouts with four. “I think the positive side is we don’t lose games. We are staying in the game. We survived difficult phases, and we defended good, and on the other hand, today once again and I think it’s a little bit through the whole season, we need a lot of chances to score a goal. And today again, I think we had the better chances to score goals but unfortunately, we didn’t score. So we need to look at that in training and keep doing it to get the confidence back in training and just work harder, maybe a little bit more focused in training.â€
City SC had a season-low 36.6 percent possession, but it was more dangerous when it had the ball than Houston was. But only to a point. City SC took 17 shots in the game; only three of them required a save by Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark.
No player had a tougher time than striker Klauss, whose early season scoring struggles seemed to have faded away after he scored goals in two consecutive games. Against Houston, Klauss took five shots, none of which were on goal. He looked to have a goal gift wrapped in the 56th minute from Tomas Ostrak, who set him up for an open shot from close range, but Klauss slipped on the shot, got under the ball and put it high over the crossbar. In a throwback to earlier in the season, Klauss laid on the ground in the penalty area on his back, a look of disbelief on his face.
Klauss wasn’t alone, he just had more chances than anyone else.
“In training, we just need to be a little bit angrier if you don’t score,†Burki said. “Not just, OK, I’ll get the next one. We need to maybe analyze why we are not scoring goals or are we taking training seriously enough in front of the goal. Are we doing enough to improve and to be more comfortable in tight situations in their box to make the right decision.â€
“Klauss does a lot for the team,†Carnell said. “He could have rewarded himself with a big chance there where he finds himself in the corner of the 6 and just gets it sky high. Unfortunate for him, but those are the types of moments you wish for him because he deserves that.â€
Tomas Totland had a good scoring chance in the first half when he came in alone on the right wing, but his shot went straight to Clark.
While Houston took 23 shots, the most for a City SC opponent this season, the shots produced little threat. Burki made a season-high nine saves but it didn’t seem that way to him.
“I was surprised when I heard that number,†he said. “It felt like three or four saves, but it’s like when you look at the game, it can go both ways. And if we lose here, everybody is going to be frustrated why we didn’t score a goal, and the same happened before as well, in other games. So we need to focus on finishing the games and scoring goals, So, the opponent is like, ‘OK today we have no chance for us to win this game.’ â€
Burki had to make only one challenging save, in the 83rd minute when he had to make a quick reaction to get his hand up to swat away a shot from Artur from outside the box. Most of the remaining shots were pretty much at Burki. City SC also caught one break when a header by Daniel Steres on a corner kick caught the crossbar and bounced away.
“We forced them to shoot from distance,†Carnell said. “When they got the one on goal, he made a good save at the end, a clutch moment for sure. But credit to the team that they were defensively solid.â€
Samuel Adeniran, who missed the previous two games for unspecified reasons that seem related to work rate, returned to action, coming on as a sub in the 64th minute for Rasmus Alm, though he didn’t get a shot off in those 26 minutes. Still, his return to the playing field provides one more piece to City SC’s sometime struggling attack.
Midfielder Eduard Lowen missed his seventh game with a hamstring injury, but Carnell said after the game Lowen could rejoin the team in a limited role in practice in the next few days. Though Carnell suggested Thursday that the personal issues that were keeping Lowen out haven’t gone away.
Even in savoring a solid defensive performance and his unit’s improvements, Burki couldn’t escape the one thing that seemed to be on his mind.
“The games we had, I didn’t really have a lot of saves,†he said. “Against Austin, I don’t even know if I had one save (he’s right), so we’ve definitely improved offensive wise. But once you’re not scoring goals up front, the pressure is getting bigger and bigger on the backline and on me and you know how soccer is. Things happen, you never know. They need one good action and maybe score and on the other hand, we had like three or four and we miss them. So at the end of the day, you need to be a little more focused in front of the goal.â€
City SC is back home next weekend, facing the Chicago Fire at 7:30 p.m. Saturday; City SC then faces LAFC the following Wednesday.