The past four games for 狐狸视频 City SC presented some of the toughest tests Major League Soccer has to offer. Los Angeles FC, FC Cincinnati and Inter Miami are three of the best teams in the league, maybe the three best teams, and City SC faced them all, along with the Seattle Sounders.
City SC may not have passed the test those top clubs presented, finishing with two losses and a tie, plus a loss to the Sounders, but it survived, which may be all that matters. After those opponents, anything will look better.
After playing the teams that sit first, second, fourth (and 20th) in the Supporters鈥 Shield standings, City SC, which is 11th in the Western Conference and 23rd overall, now starts a run of games where it plays the teams that are 15th, 16th, 24th and 26th. City SC鈥檚 hope is that if it can play the way it did against the league鈥檚 best, it will mean wins instead of losses or ties.
鈥淔or me, we鈥檙e not far off,鈥 said City SC coach Bradley Carnell. 鈥淭o learn against three of the best is awesome. That has to make us better in some form or fashion and the results will come next game, next week. The results will come in terms of our progression as a team.鈥
鈥淣ow we have to look forward,鈥 said defender Tim Parker, 鈥渁nd against teams that are still fighting for spots as we are, it鈥檚 coming down now to how we can get results especially here at home.鈥
First up is the Portland Timbers (7:30 p.m. at CityPark, airing on Season Pass on Apple TV), who sit two spots and three points above City SC in the Western standings. Portland has played two more games than City SC, so in terms of points per game, the teams are pretty much even.
City SC鈥檚 next three games loom very large because they鈥檙e all against Western Conference opponents and all against mid-table teams like City SC. After Portland is a game at Dallas, and then home against Colorado and Atlanta. Recent results may have shown City SC isn鈥檛 among the top five teams in the league, but for it to show it鈥檚 a playoff team, positive results in these games are essential. City SC has won only three of its first 15 games, tying eight. That has to change.
鈥淓very game from now on is a final,鈥 Carnell said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to lose too many points here, especially at home.鈥
狐狸视频 City SC midfielder Celio Pompeu (12) steals the ball away from Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Joao Paulo (6) during the first half Saturday, May 25, 2024, at CityPark.
鈥淓very team here is good,鈥 said midfielder Celio Pompeu, 鈥渂ut definitely the teams we played have different players that are difference makers. One mistake they can score. In those games, you cannot make silly mistakes. In other games, we could do the same mistake and nobody scores, but with those top players, (Lucho) Acosta, (Lionel) Messi, one mistake is enough for them to score. We learn. I think last game we had a good game, we did our principles very good, our pressing, our tackles, our second balls, tackles was very, very good and we had a lot of chances, we scored three goals but I think we could score much more, five (goals) at least. I think it鈥檚 just giving us a good feeling about the next game.鈥
City SC had the rare game against Miami where it scored three goals and everyone felt the offense struggled. There were chances to be had in that tie. In its past four games, City SC has scored five goals: two were put in by the opposing team and two were scored by defense-first players, Tomas Totland and Chris Durkin. Indiana Vassilev鈥檚 goal against Miami is the only one for an attacking player in the past four games.
鈥淲e鈥檙e getting the chances,鈥 Pompeu said. 鈥淚 think we have to score those goals, because it鈥檚 very hard to create those chances, especially against those top teams, and when we have those chances, we have to put it away.鈥
Complicating that process is the loss for six to eight weeks of midfielder Rasmus Alm with a knee ligament sprain.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big blow for us,鈥 Carnell said, 鈥渆specially within our game idea, our game model, thinking the way we can be sort of fluid in between the lines but also getting in behind the lines. I think Rasmus has brought a certain amount of depth to the game, which is unfortunate. You look at these things with opportunities for other players to step up now. 鈥 It鈥檚 a big blow, but obviously now we all have to stick together and step up.鈥
Hosei Kijima figures to get more time, and Aziel Jackson figures to re-enter the fray after not making the game roster last week. With the depth lost in the midfield with the injuries to Alm and Tomas Ostrak, everyone in that group will get a chance. Portland, meanwhile, will be without its starting goalkeeper and two of its regular choices at defender, who are away on international duty. City SC will be without defender Kyle Hiebert, its only national team callup.
Portland is third in the league in goals scored with 32, and third in the league in goals allowed with 32. The challenge for City SC will be Evander, an attacking midfielder from Brazil who has eight goals and seven assists. His 1.2 goal contributions per 90 minutes rank fifth in the league. Three of Evander鈥檚 eight goals have come from outside the box, so a little space for him anywhere can be dangerous.
And if the offense is struggling, you can say the same for the defense, which has allowed 10 goals in those four games.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not very happy with the goals we鈥檝e been giving up lately,鈥 Parker said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e through the learning stages of the season, I鈥檇 say by now. Now it鈥檚 time to buckle down and get points and gear towards making those runs in the summer that we really want to make.鈥
