51黑料

As 51黑料 City SC staggers to the end of its ill-fated season, every game seems to serve as a metaphor of its ongoing woes. Saturday鈥檚 lesson: too little, too late.

A plucky final 15 minutes was not sufficient to make up for the 75 minutes that had come before. City SC gifted Houston three goals and could not make up for its generosity. Two late goals, including the first MLS goal for Mykhi Joyner 鈥� this game鈥檚 token bit of good news 鈥� made the final score at Energizer Park presentable at 3-2 and even tantalized the players and fans, if only for a moment, with the potential for a tie. As with much of everything else for City SC this season, the only way the thing could end was with disappointment.

鈥淲e beat ourselves,鈥� said interim coach David Critchley. 鈥淲e had three mistakes against the ball that led to three goals. And as much as I do appreciate the response and the effort, it took 75 minutes of a football game to get to that point. So I wanted the response and the effort to be much cleaner and sharper from the players.鈥�

鈥淚 think a lot of things that we could have done better,鈥� said Eduard Lowen, who scored his fifth goal of the season and revived the team for its closing surge. 鈥淚 think being more efficient in front of the goal. The goals we conceded is just, 鈥楬ere we go again,鈥� and talk about the same thing again. It鈥檚 just too easy. Obviously, I think we had too many easy ball losses. Houston wasn鈥檛 really a team that should have scored three goals tonight, but we just gave it to them.鈥�

The game was played in the immediate aftermath of the firing of the team鈥檚 original sporting director, Lutz Pfannenstiel, on Monday. Critchley said he didn鈥檛 think that was the cause of the team鈥檚 troubles and that the reports he got from his assistants on how pregame warmups went showed energy and focus.

But, as Lowen said, it can be a battle.

鈥淥bviously, it鈥檚 not just something that you just hear and then it just disappears,鈥� he said. 鈥淟utz has been a key contributor to this club from Day 1, he has been here from Day 1. He has a lot of connections and relationships within the team. So obviously, it鈥檚 the same with the coaching change, it鈥檚 always a big thing, but at the same time, we all have got to be professional enough to be able to step up on the pitch and go out and train and work out and play well. And that鈥檚 just part of our profession. It鈥檚 tough, but we have to deal with it.鈥�

While City SC鈥檚 offense managed to score multiple goals for the fourth game in a row 鈥� something it鈥檚 done only two other times before, in Games 2 through 5 of the 2024 season and in the first five games of the inaugural 2023 season 鈥� its defense continues to leak. City SC has allowed three goals in three straight games and in four of its past six.

鈥淚鈥檒l just say it very simple,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to concede this amount of goals, you鈥檙e not going to win football games, and you鈥檙e not going to be in playoffs. It鈥檚 very simple. We have to button up. I need so much more from the guys on the defensive side of the ball, not just the back four I鈥檓 talking about or Roman (Burki). It鈥檚 a collective. It鈥檚 an entire team. We need to do much better on the defending side. ... It鈥檚 an absolute given.鈥�

鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 happen so much,鈥� Lowen said, 鈥渂ut it does because we are just doing easy mistakes. We are, I don鈥檛 know, just not there in the moment. Set pieces, it just happens too often. But if we say, OK, we can鈥檛 just do it, getting clean sheets, OK, then we have to score more goals to just win games.鈥�

The loss moved City SC one game closer to official elimination and didn鈥檛 move it any further away from the bottom of the league standings. City SC is two points ahead of the last-place Los Angeles Galaxy and three points back of Montreal and D.C. United. Most of the league is off next weekend because of the international window, but City SC will play Dallas on Saturday at home.

What鈥檚 most maddening for many about this team is that it has done just enough well to make it seem that better results are close at hand. The reality is they remain just out of reach.

鈥淚鈥檒l be honest,鈥� Lowen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough, it鈥檚 frustrating. When you come in, week in, week out, it鈥檚 a different story when you are not competing, when you are a team that is really bad, and you can tell, oh, OK, like we just don鈥檛 have the quality. And yes, there are certain aspects where we have to increase our quality, for sure, and what we have to get better at, but at the same time, we have proven so many times that we are able to even compete with the best teams and that we should have gotten results, but that is a good thing and something you can build on. That鈥檚 a good foundation, but at the same time, you just can鈥檛 console yourself with that and say, like, 鈥榃ell, we鈥檙e actually doing doing good,鈥� because in the end of the day, it鈥檚 about results. It鈥檚 about getting points and we are not doing that right now, so we can鈥檛 be satisfied with ourselves. But at the same time, we also can鈥檛 drag each other down and say, 鈥極K, the season is over.鈥� We gotta continue. And we will continue. We will get up one more time, and we will get up again and again and again, until we get it figured out.鈥�

On Saturday, City SC had no shortage of possession. It just didn鈥檛 know what to do with it. It got a little better as the first half went on but really had just one good chance in the first 45 minutes, a close-range miss by Klauss. The second half was more of the same.

鈥淲e were arriving into the final third often,鈥� Critchley said, 鈥渂ut there was no end product. ... We were probably too slow in moving the ball around early in the game to really hurt them.鈥�

Meanwhile, City SC was making it easy for Houston. Timo Baumgartl couldn鈥檛 keep tabs on Ezequiel Ponce on a set piece, and the Houston forward put his team up 1-0 with a header in the 20th minute. In the 50th minute, a Houston cross didn鈥檛 get to Ponce, but Henry Kessler, running right behind him, did get to it and put it into his own net to make it 2-0.

And then in the 72nd minute, Fallou Fall, who came on as a sub in the second half, didn鈥檛 keep his eye on the ball and whiffed on an attempted back pass to Burki. and the ensuing two-on-one led to a tap-in goal for Duane Holmes that made it 3-0 and looked to have finished off the game.

鈥淭o be honest, when it was 3-0, nobody really felt like we could get back in the game,鈥� Lowen said.

But City SC did, first with Lowen driving in a pass from Simon Becher after Becher鈥檚 shot had been blocked for his fifth goal of the season. Three minutes later, Joyner got his first MLS goal (鈥淪uper-surreal moment,鈥� he said. 鈥淪uper happy.鈥�) heading in a cross from Chris Durkin, and all of a sudden it got a lot more interesting.

It looked like Klauss would score in the 93rd minute, but a diving save by Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond kept the ball out. Critchley admitted the way this season has gone, the ball not going in came as no surprise. But in that moment between when the ball left the head of Klauss and hit the hand of Bond, anything seemed possible.

鈥淚 think there鈥檚 actually nothing (Klauss) can really do better,鈥� Lowen said.

There鈥檚 another metaphor for City SC: Its best just hasn鈥檛 been good enough.