ºüÀêÊÓƵ

Samuel Adeniran, who was left off ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC’s game-day roster Sunday against Austin, was not with the team Tuesday as it resumed practice in advance of Saturday’s game with Sporting Kansas City.

“Right now, we’re focusing on the guys who bring a certain standard, intensity, work ethic in training, and those players will get rewarded,� coach Bradley Carnell said after practice. “Sam, until further notice, will be training on his own.�

Asked if this would preclude Adeniran from playing Saturday, Carnell referred to his previous comment.

Adeniran was a surprising omission from the roster for the Austin game as City SC had only eight players, instead of the usual nine, on its bench. Carnell also declined to get into specifics on the situation then, though the issue seems to be Adeniran’s work rate.

“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,� Carnell said after City SC’s 1-0 win Sunday.

Adeniran is one of three players on the team with two goals, and he’s gotten his in just 320 minutes of playing time, ranking 21st in the league in goals per 90 minutes. Adeniran’s two goals came in the first two games of the Major League Soccer season and briefly bumped Klauss out of the starting lineup. Adeniran hasn’t scored since those first two. In the two games prior to the Austin game, he came off the bench as City SC has gone back to using a one-striker formation.

Also absent from practice Tuesday was midfielder Eduard Lowen, who has been recovering from a hamstring injury while dealing with an unspecified personal matter.

“It’s a couple of things going on,� Carnell said, “and we’re just trying to give him the space needed and also getting his body progressing in the right way. Edu, for me, the first important thing is on my pillar of beliefs as a person, and I just have to give Edu the time to feel comfortable when he feels good with his body and mind to really come back and offer something. He has all the time and space he needs.�

Seeing yellow

Carnell picked up a yellow card, his first with City SC, in the second half Sunday after a series of frustrated pleas with referee Ted Unkel.

“If I can play, I can put it in my hands and try and help the boys out,� Carnell said. “But I can’t play. So what am I doing to try and help the boys with that performance and try and help off the field to get us in a winning position? So I ask questions. I pose situations, and I poke holes. And we’ve seen it over time now how teams manage the game here at CityPark. So it’s always just a reality check to the officials to just keep a little bit of accountability, and yeah, maybe I pushed it too far, and for that I apologize. But yeah, it’s all in a competitive day’s work.�

Goalkeeper Roman Burki said he couldn’t tell from his position who was getting the yellow.

“I was hoping it was Ben (Lundt, the backup goalie), but if it’s Bradley, OK,� he said. “He’s the coach, but I know I always look at the bench and Ben is always a guy who likes to talk too.�

In or out?

There was confusion on the sidelines in the 82nd minute over an attempted substitution that left City SC playing with just 10 men for 30 or so seconds.

Kyle Hiebert was coming out of the game after cramping up, while his replacement, Joakim Nilsson, stood at midfield, waiting to go in. After getting medical treatment on the field, Hiebert headed straight to the bench, but Unkel, for some reason, did not signal for Nilsson to come on. Play continued, and Nilsson could only come on at the next stoppage. So Hiebert, who because he was technically still in the game needed only a wave from Unkel to take the field, jumped off the bench and went to midfield, where he and the fourth official got Unkel’s attention and he returned and played a few seconds until there was a stoppage.

“I felt like I couldn’t move like I needed to be able to to stay out there,� Hiebert said, “which sucked, but I didn’t want to be out there in a detrimental way to the team. I could come back on, but then it was like my legs were both going. It was a wonky one; for some reason, they weren’t allowing the subs to come along on a restart, which was strange.�

“Credit to Kyle because he’s like, I can’t go, but I’ll go,� Carnell said. “He went for another 25 seconds, and that just showed the mentality of the group, which you take that one moment, I think we had so many moments of that for sticking up and being great teammates with each other.�

Changes in Germany

Burki played eight seasons in the German Bundesliga, mostly with Borussia Dortmund, but his career there fell during a run when Bayern Munich won 11 consecutive titles. He came in second four times with Dortmund and was happy to see Bayern’s run come to an end as Bayer Leverkusen clinched the German title on Sunday.

“I think it’s amazing for the Bundesliga,� Burki said, “because someone else is winning the season. It’s crazy how they play, how confident they play, and I think they are at the moment one of the best teams in the top five leagues.�

Two years ago, Leverkusen played in the first game at CityPark, beating City2 3-0 on Nov. 16, 2022. Two players from that Leverkusen team were in the starting lineup Sunday.

“I think it’s great,� said Carnell, who also played in the Bundesliga. “I’m even more happy that we got to host Leverkusen here and then they go on that fairy tale run and part of that core squad are there and the coach as well, and thinking that was kind of the start of this journey, and we’ve played a role in it, which is awesome.�

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC

Streak buster: Klauss’ goal ends his scoring drought, snaps City SC’s five-game winless streak

• Tom Timmermann

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC

Klauss keeping positive amid scoring slump: "I'm sure that the things will start to go my way soon"

• Tom Timmermann

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC

Lowen, Nilsson return to City SC practice, but Yaro and Blom are out with injuries

• Tom Timmermann

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC beat writer Tom Timmermann and co-host Beth O'Malley discuss Klauss' run-of-play goal in the team's defeat of Austin FC. Timmermann gives an update on Samuel Adeniran and Eduard Lowen.

-

-

-

-

-

-

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.

“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.�

Sports-section

Klauss gets a goal, City SC gets a win, 1-0 over Austin

• Tom Timmermann

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC

Klauss keeping positive amid scoring slump: "I'm sure that the things will start to go my way soon"

• Tom Timmermann

ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC

Lowen, Nilsson return to City SC practice, but Yaro and Blom are out with injuries

• Tom Timmermann