With Roman Burki out of the lineup against FC Juarez on Sunday and Tim Parker traded, the captain’s armband for the game fell to midfielder Eduard Lowen. And when Lowen came out of the game in the 80th minute, he gave the armband to defender Josh Yaro, much to the surprise of interim coach John Hackworth.
“I had nothing to do with that,†Hackworth said Thursday. “Thought he might have given it to Kyle (Hiebert) or he might have given it to (Chris) Durkin. Point is we have some guys that are stepping up and coming together, and you love to see that. So I’m going stay out of their way and let them cook.â€
With Burki’s status up in the air for City SC’s Leagues Cup round-of-32 game with Portland on Friday at CityPark (7:30 p.m., Season Pass on Apple TV+), Lowen may end up with the armband again as City SC rebuilds itself on the fly with lots of moving parts. Lowen is, in many ways, the perfect person to play a big role in that: Not only do the players who have been with the team for a while know him and respect, but three of the team’s six new players are from Germany and have been teammates with him in the past.
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And asking Lowen to be a leader isn’t a stretch as it’s a role he has taken on naturally. Ask a young player on the team who has helped him with the adjustment to the first team and the answer invariably includes Lowen. There’s no such thing as an increased leadership role for Lowen.
“In the end of the day, being a leader of the team or wearing the captain band or being in a leadership council doesn’t mean you have a higher position than somebody else,†Lowen said. “It just means that you have more responsibilities. You have to figure out a group, and you are trying to help the guys. You are trying with all the experience and wisdom you might have in the situations to help out the team. And I think this year has been very challenging sometimes, to figure out the group and to figure out what was wrong, because, obviously, when you are winning, you are not questioning a lot of things.
“So in these scenarios, it’s not easy being a leader of the team. ... Being a leader means being humble, trying to lead the guys, trying to help the guys. And I think in a situation like this, the easiest thing you can do is just take a step back and have the other guys figure it out because when you are losing or not doing well, and I’m talking for the season, not right now, then it’s always a challenge.â€
“He’s stepping up as a leader,†said Hackworth, who said he had not thought about picking a replacement for Parker as vice captain, “but he’s such a good person overall, it’s not hard to let Edu kind of have his previous relationships with these guys translate into how we’re going to play on the field. That’s nice to have. It’s really good. I can kind of step back and let those guys have conversations. Edu is really good about trying to get information from the coaches and translate that to his teammates. One of the reasons he’s a really good leader.â€
Lowen has been teammates with forwards Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel and defender Jannes Horn, a new acquisition yet to join the team.
“We speak the same language,†Lowen said. “I know the guys already, and I’m trying to help them as best as possible to get settled in here as well. And yeah, the guys are very easy. And this is an easy team and easy atmosphere to get settled in because I think everybody here gets treated very well.
“It’s exciting because you can tell already with (Hartel) and (Teuchert) coming in, we know each other, and you already know what you get and in small moments in the game, or a couple moments, you can already see the quality in easy things, the space they occupy, first touch. And I think we had some really good moments in the last couple games. I’m excited. I’m looking forward to getting connected even better and getting into the rhythms with all of them. Also, I think Simon (Becher) has done a great job in the last couple of games, so I’m really excited.â€
Burki will be a game-day decision, Hackworth said. Burki was held out of the Juarez came with “back issues,†with backup Ben Lundt making a rare start. Lundt had probably the best game of City SC career against Juarez, though City SC lost on penalty kicks.
“He’s still dealing with some pain in his back,†Hackworth said of Burki, “and so just trying to be careful, but our medical staff and our doctors are on it. And so hopefully, we will have him available.â€
Definitely missing the game will be midfielder Njabulo Blom, who has been suspended for one game for violating team rules. Hackworth didn’t go into specifics, but Blom remained on the bench during the penalty-kick shootout after the Juarez game while the rest of the reserves and coaching staff stood arm-in-arm on the sideline. Hackworth went over and said something to Blom shortly before the kicks began.
“When a player does something against our standards or rules,†he said, “and there’s a situation like this, the player is always welcome back because the idea is that they learn a very valuable lesson and then come back and are even stronger. So that’s my expectation. I feel like I’ve had a really good relationship with him since the day he arrived. It didn’t look that way the other night, so we’re going to correct that and I don’t think there’ll be any problems going forward.â€
City SC and Portland met earlier this season, playing to a 0-0 tie at CityPark. The Timbers have won seven of their past nine games over all competitions, including both of their group matches in Leagues Cup.