Samuel Adeniran chats about ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC's ties and his father's influence: STL Soccer Talk
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ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC forward Samuel Adeniran joins the podcast to discuss the team's recent performance, his impressions of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, and his father's influence on his career.
City SC beat writer Tom Timmermann and co-host Beth O'Malley also discuss the team's most recent game (a tie), and how the coach responded to it.
Lowen, Nilsson return to City SC practice, but Yaro and Blom are out with injuries
The constantly shifting scene of who’s in, who’s out for ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC took another turn on Wednesday.
Midfielder Eduard Lowen and defender Joakim Nilsson were back on the field and practicing with the team for the first time since their respective injuries as the team resumed training Wednesday. But absent were defender Josh Yaro and midfielder Njabulo Blom. Yaro will be out at least four weeks, Blom from two to four weeks, both with hamstring injuries.
It’s too soon for coach Bradley Carnell to say if Lowen (hamstring) or Nilsson (rib) would be available on Sunday when City SC faces Austin at CityPark, but their presence at practice is an encouraging step. Both had been working out separately from the team as they got back into game shape. Lowen has missed four games — he didn’t train last week as Carnell said he dealt with a personal matter, but Carnell had said earlier Lowen likely wouldn’t have been ready anyway — and Nilsson three. Both wore yellow jerseys as “neutrals†in practice.
“Get a touch, get a feel,†Carnell said. “We can start progressing them from here. So yeah, the outlook is good on those two.â€
Not so good for Yaro and Blom. Yaro left Saturday’s 0-0 tie with Dallas in the 63rd minute, replaced by Kyle Hiebert after overextending his leg. Yaro missed four games earlier this season with a hamstring injury but had come back and played 90 minutes in the three games prior to the Dallas game.
Blom had missed three games earlier in the season with a knee injury. He has played a full 90 minutes in only one of the three games since returning to the lineup but said last week he felt 100%. Against Dallas, he came on as a sub in the 73rd minute.
“They both picked up problems from the last game,†Carnell said. “Unfortunately, Josh just aggravated the same muscle that he had previously. So it’s the same muscle group, same muscle side. So unfortunately, he’s out a little bit longer.â€
City SC has had all four of its center backs healthy for just one game this season, the season-opening Champions Cup game with Houston. But the group has been proficient in taking turns: Yaro missed three games but came back just as Tim Parker went out with a tight back. Parker missed two games but came back just as Nilsson went out with a cracked rib. Now Nilsson may be available again just as Yaro goes out.
“Every season, every year has its ups and downs and challenges,†Carnell said, “so we try to find ways to mitigate that as well. On the grand scheme of things, it feels or sounds like a lot, but we’re still having a good turnout in terms of training availability from everybody. There’s just a couple of names that keep popping up.â€
In the first nine games of this season (including Champions Cup), City SC has lost 21 man-games to injury. Last season, City SC lost 22 man-games in its first nine games, though 17 of those belonged to Nilsson or Jon Bell, who had been out from the start of the season as they rehabbed from surgeries.
Changes coming to MLS?
MLS will soon make changes in its salary setup, The Athletic reported Wednesday, as the league tries to maximize the value of having Lionel Messi in the U.S. The changes were approved by the league’s board of governors Tuesday, the report said, citing sources, but still need approval from the MLS Players Association, which has no reason not to approve them, considering the end result is more money being spent on players. The rules would take effect this season.
Teams presently can have three designated players, players who teams can pay over the league maximum salary without having that count against the salary cap. The league also a similar program, called the U-22 initiative, for players younger than 22; teams with three designated players can have one U-22 initiative player, and teams with two designated players can have three.
Under the proposed changes, teams with three DPs can have three U-22s, and teams with two DPs can have four U-22s, plus $2 million in general allocation money.
City SC has two designated players (Klauss and Lowen) and one U-22 initiative player (Chris Durkin).
Schulte makes history
Patrick Schulte, the goalkeeper from St. Charles who played at ºüÀêÊÓƵ University and is now with the Columbus Crew, made two saves in a shootout as the Crew beat Mexican club Tigres and advanced to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Tuesday. Columbus is the first MLS team to advance against a Liga MX team after failing to win the first game at home.
“We gave confidence to Pat,†Columbus coach Wilfried Nancy said, “and life is good. I believe that when you challenge yourself and when you do good stuff, you’re going to get the rewards, and he got it. That’s why Pat saved us.â€
Schulte stopped the first two penalty kicks he faced, guessing correctly and blocking shots by Andre-Pierre Gignac and Guido Pizzaro and allowing Columbus to go ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five shootout.
“I don’t think really anything is going through my mind other than trying to give the team the best chance of winning,†said Schulte, a Francis Howell High graduate. “They’re big players and guys who have been successful throughout their careers, but I just want to give our team the best chance of winning. I was fortunate to be able to do that.â€