Most of the attention of ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC’s active summer transfer period has been focused on the team’s new attacking trio of Cedric Teuchert, Marcel Hartel and Simon Becher, but a fourth new acquisition expanded his role in the win Friday over Portland.
Jake Girdwood-Reich came on in the 64th minute for an injured Kyle Hiebert, the most playing time so far for the young Australian. And while his preferred position is as a defensive midfielder, JGR (as he’s called within the team) on this occasion stepped in at center back.
“Really pleased with his performance,†interim coach John Hackworth said. “I thought he did great. He showed all of those things in the previous appearances, that he is a ball-winning player, whether that was at the 6 (defensive midfield) or center back. It just so happens that he and I had a really good conversation (Thursday), and he said, ‘Hey, you know I can play center back, too.’ And I was, OK. So right before I put him in the game, I’m like, ‘Hey, thanks for that conversation yesterday.’ It was a good heads-up, and he did great.â€
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“I saw Kyle go down,†Girdwood-Reich said, “and the coaches said to come over. I’m really grateful for the manager to trust me to come in and do a job, and I’m just happy to help the team.â€
Girdwood-Reich has appeared in all four games in which he’s been eligible since the transfer window opened, but his time has been limited: six minutes against Sporting Kansas City, injury time against Dallas, 10 minutes against Juarez before his 26-plus minutes against Portland. In those occasions, he came in as a midfielder. Moving to center back was no big deal though. He played there last season at his Australian club, Sydney FC.
At 20, Girdwood-Reich is the youngest player regularly seeing action for City SC (only the club’s four Homegrown players, Miguel Perez, Mykhi Joyner, Caden Glover and Tyson Pearce, who turns 17 on Monday, are younger). He’s a long way from home, but he said that once he got his body on the right sleep schedule, it’s gone well.
“I think I’ve been here for about three or four weeks,†he said. “It was it was tough in the first couple of weeks. I didn’t know anyone here. But yeah, I feel really comfortable. They’ve been really really good with me. I am young, but ... I feel quite comfortable around the guys now.â€
Hackworth said Hiebert had to come out because of a “dead leg.†There will be an update on his status Monday.
“He was impeded enough that he couldn’t get into a sprint,†Hackworth said. “Kyle’s as tough as they come. So for him to say, hey, I can’t sprint anymore, it’s a big decision on his part.â€
Long road of Leagues Cup
Under the format the Leagues Cup used in 2023, the game set for Tuesday between City SC and Club America would have been played at CityPark. But after complaints about the format last season, where Mexican clubs felt they were at a disadvantage by having to bounce around the United States because no games were played in Mexico, the top four Mexican clubs were given what was termed “hub†privileges, limiting their travel by having them play in one general location.
One of those clubs is Club America, which gets to play all of its games in California through the semifinals. It had a bye in group play as the Mexican champion, played its first game in San Diego and will play City SC in Carson, at the home stadium of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Two of those teams with hub status, Monterrey and Chivas, went out in group play.
But another aspect of the tournament structure drew criticism. Portland, which lost to City SC in the round of 32, won its group but still had to travel to ºüÀêÊÓƵ to play City SC, which came in second place in its group.
Home-field advantage for knockout rounds was determined by the pre-tournament seeding, which was based on last season’s overall standings in MLS and Liga MX. Because of that, City SC, which had the fifth-most points in MLS last season and was the seventh seed, got to host the game over Portland, which was seeded 26th.
Portland was one of four MLS teams to win its group but still have to go on the road for the round of 32. All lost.
“I’ve got to say that when you finish top of the group, win two games with six points, score six goals,†said Portland coach Phil Neville, “and then you have to play away from home, I think that’s ludicrous for me. That’s ludicrous. I think every team that’s finished top of the group and then gone and played away from home, I think has lost. I think scheduling needs to be looked at seriously because I think that’s not fair. I think that’s just not fair, but no excuse for what we went through tonight.â€
Under the tournament format, if City SC can get by Club America, it would be home for any match it played up until the final and could even host the championship game if neither Columbus nor Cincinnati make it. The winner of City SC’s match will play the winner of a match between Toluca and Colorado, probably on Saturday.