51黑料

McSorley has six weeks at the MLS level to show he belongs after two seasons with City2 in MLS Next Pro provided a compelling case that he might. McSorley had eight goals this season with City2, second-most on the team behind Mykhi Joyner, and a team-high eight assists. He has not looked out of place in his three first-team appearances this season and should get another chance on Saturday when City SC plays at Montreal.

鈥淗e鈥檚 looked ready for quite some time,鈥� said interim coach David Critchley, who had McSorley at the start of the season with City2 before taking over the first-team job. 鈥淏ut like you do with these situations, you don鈥檛 act very, very quickly. You have to analyze it, give it time. So for him, it was: Could he be consistent in that environment? Come in and train with us, impress us in training and then take his opportunities when he gets them. He did a great job with that this weekend when he came in and had a couple of shots on target.鈥�

McSorley had four shots, two on goal, in just 21 minutes in City SC鈥檚 1-1 tie with Dallas. He almost scored in the 83rd minute, with an acrobatic shot that required a diving save, but the goal would not have been a surprise to him.

鈥淓very time I go into the field, I think I鈥檓 going to score,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 say a little bit more than half, I鈥檓 wrong. But that鈥檚 just kind of my mentality. And it was an interesting game to come into. I knew I was going to get crosses into the box, and I鈥檒l try to do everything I can to try to get my foot or head on it. I think that showed and I wish it went in, but I鈥檓 also confident that my time will come when I do score a goal, hopefully it鈥檚 this weekend. I feel like it might be since my parents are going to drive from New Jersey to Montreal.鈥�

McSorley was City SC鈥檚 third-round pick in the 2024 MLS draft, and he has 20 goals with City2 in his two seasons. The promotion came with a raise, but again, nothing has really changed. He just wants to play at the highest level he can.

鈥淭his has been my goal for almost two years now,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o just thrilled to have finally cracked into it. I plan on keep making my City2 guys proud and trying to make moves in this league. I鈥檓 using this end of the season to try to prove myself to staff and the rest of the players.鈥�

City SC playing it safe with Teuchert

Cedric Teuchert, who has missed the past five games with an injury, could be done for the season. He did some one-on-one work with a trainer Tuesday before watching his teammates practice from a chair and then doing some jogging. With five games to go in the season, there may not be enough time for him to get well, and there鈥檚 certainly no reason for him or City SC to push it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 tough,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a situation where you鈥檙e tweaking on the line of like a sports hernia-type situation, which can put you out for several months. So he鈥檚 out. He鈥檚 doing some cardio. He was out there today, working on the field. We just take it day by day with him. I know you guys hear that answer a lot in these situations, but we really are just because we don鈥檛 want to put him in a situation where it could be a lengthier injury than what needs to be.鈥�

Teuchert has three goals this season, fourth-best on the team, but hasn鈥檛 scored since May 14, a 10-game drought. He lost his spot in the starting lineup when Sangbin Jeong was acquired and hasn鈥檛 gotten a chance to win it back.

Shots and shots and shots

City SC had originally been credited with 43 shots in the game, against Dallas but the number was revised down to 41, which cost the team a piece of a record. Instead, they finished with the second-most shots ever in an MLS game, behind the 43 by San Jose in 2019, a game San Jose won 3-1 over Vancouver. (Jake Nerwinski scored Vancouver鈥檚 goal.)

Dallas goalkeeper Jacob Jackson, who came on in the 20th minute after starting goalie Michael Collodi got a red card for a tackle on Klauss just outside the box, was named the MLS player of the matchday. Jackson made 12 saves, a career high, and tied the FC Dallas club record, set by Mark Dodd in 1996.

鈥淲hen you create 41 shots, you can鈥檛 take this all negative,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 some positives there. You generate an attack almost every two minutes in a game if my math is right. So I would say on top of that, we need to be more ruthless.

鈥淥bviously, when we have 41 shots and the opposition has two on target and the game finishes 1-1, there鈥檚 moments where we need to be more ruthless. But again, 41 chances created is also something that you can say is good, to some extent, like I鈥檇 be more concerned if they go down to 10 men and we wind up and we finish the game with only 12 chances created, I鈥檇 have more concerns. But yeah, so 41 shots it was.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a game that we should win 5-0, all due respect to Dallas,鈥� said midfielder Celio Pompeu, the only City SC player who was able to score. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a game where we have to kill them, and especially at home, in the place we鈥檙e most comfortable. We have our fans screaming the whole game supporting us. So it鈥檚 a game where we have to kill them and kill them early, in the first half, but no. In this game they put pressure on us. We have to score, we have to score, and then we don鈥檛 score.鈥�

No, they did not score, and they were quite emphatic about it. They had good chances that were saved, good chances that went high, good chances that were blocked by Dallas. It was a group effort: 11 players had shots in the game; nine had shots on goal.

鈥淚t鈥檚 everybody,鈥� Pompeu said. 鈥淭he center backs, the attacking players, everybody. No words. We create, we cross, we do this, we do that. But in the end of the day, you just need the ball in the back of the night. So it鈥檚 nothing else to say.鈥�

鈥淚 often tell you guys in these situations,鈥� said interim coach David Critchley, 鈥渨hen it鈥檚 not going our way, we have to do a better job of generating more. I don鈥檛 think you can generate more ... in a soccer game. That鈥檚 one of the highest (shot totals) you鈥檒l probably see. You鈥檇 have to go searching really deep to find someone that beats that amount of shots.鈥�

City SC is winless in its past four games and has one win in its past seven games. There were boos at the end of the game, though it鈥檚 quite possible they were directed at the referee, who allowed just four minutes of stoppage time. Not that a few more minutes were going to matter the way the evening was going for City SC.

鈥淚 think we had more than 30 chances to score one goal, and we didn鈥檛,鈥� Pompeu said. 鈥淪o yeah, we can talk about how the ref should have given us more extra time, but we had 70 minutes with a player up and we didn鈥檛 score. So it鈥檚 just, no excuse, we just have to score. It actually feels like a loss for us. This whole season feels very frustrating. There鈥檚 not much to say. Yeah, we should鈥檝e scored more goals, and we had the chances.鈥�

But City SC didn鈥檛 because that鈥檚 the way this season has gone. It鈥檚 been obvious for two months that City SC鈥檚 playoff chances are gone, and that will likely become official Saturday. City SC has five games left in its season, starting with a match against another team near the bottom of the table, Montreal, but it鈥檚 on the road, where City SC has won just once all season. Three of the other four games are against teams currently in playoff spots.

Another truism played out for City SC: Any mistake it makes will be punished in the worst possible way. Three minutes after taking a lead it should have been able to hold, City SC turned the ball over deep in its own end. Fallou Fall took a throw-in not far from the end line and, instead of throwing it upfield, threw it to the first player he saw, Eduard Lowen, which voluntarily pinned City SC deep in its own end.

Lowen passed to Chris Durkin, whose hard first touch gave the ball to Dallas, and in a matter of seconds, Petar Musa was scoring from a tough angle and tied the game.

鈥淲e make a very big mistake on a throw-in on our own corner flag,鈥� Critchley said, 鈥渁nd it was stuff that we had addressed all week and we have certain rules and situations where when this happens, we do something different. We didn鈥檛 do that today on the field in that one moment. ... All of a sudden, we turned the ball over inside our own 18 and it鈥檚 1-1.鈥�

It had looked like this would be a rare game to go City SC鈥檚 way in the 16th minute when Klauss pressured Dallas defender Lalas Abubakar and forced a turnover. Klauss recovered the ball and came in on goalkeeper Michael Collodi, who slid out to take the ball from Klauss. He missed the ball and tripped up Klauss, and the goalkeeper got a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, or DOGSO as they say in soccer. (Because it鈥檚 fun to say.)

The foul occurred just outside the box, so City SC didn鈥檛 get a penalty kick. Even though Lowen put the free kick and the rebound of the free kick into the wall, City SC was going to be up a man for the remaining 74 minutes and, Dallas鈥� top goalkeeper, who had already made two impressive saves to flummox City SC, was out of the game.

Turns out his replacement, Jacob Jackson, was going to do even better. Though Jackson did allow one goal, on a shot from Pompeu from about 25 yards out off a corner kick, he stopped 11 shots, some with some fairly solid dives.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the momentum of the team,鈥� said defender Conrad Wallem. 鈥淚 think if we came from a win, for example, I think we win this game, 100%. But I think it鈥檚 momentum. Also, when we are not ruthless enough in the box, both boxes. They have one chance, and they score on the one chance they have. And we have, yeah, how many chances? I don鈥檛 know. So many chances and we don鈥檛 take them.鈥�

City SC had 4.3 expected goals in the game, the biggest number in the franchise鈥檚 history, which may make this one of the toughest results in the franchise鈥檚 history. A golden opportunity slips away thanks to strong goalkeeper and weak finishing.

鈥淚 sound frustrated up here,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淚鈥檓 frustrated at the result. There was a lot of good stuff that happened, but we just weren鈥檛 clinical enough. ... We just have to be more clinical. I鈥檒l probably just stay with that.鈥�

Xavi O鈥橬eil, a transfer from Boston College, started the scoring in the 58th minute, and Theo Franca, a freshman from Brazil, scored in the 66th minute for SLU. SIUE鈥檚 Evan Howard, a senior from England, made it 2-1 in the 87th minute, and SLU goalie Jeremi Abonnel swallowed up a ball in the box in the 89th minute to preserve the win. SLU is 3-1-1; SIUE is 1-3.

鈥淲e just had to find the rhythm,鈥� said Franca, who celebrated his first collegiate goal with a cartwheel and a back flip. 鈥淎nd this was, I think, the first game that we found it. And when we find our rhythm, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 going to be a team that can stop us because I think we鈥檙e very, very physical, very forward and we have many players like me, if not even better.鈥�

Franca knew firsthand about SLU鈥檚 scoring troubles. In the second half against Indiana on Wednesday, with SLU trailing 1-0, a ball came to him just 2 yards out from an open net, but he couldn鈥檛 make good contact on the ball to knock it in before an Indiana defender cleared it off the line.

鈥淯nlucky results in Indiana,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t got to my head after the game, after missing that chance, which as a striker I should have put away. But I鈥檓 grateful and thankful for my teammates, my coaches. My head was down after the game; they told me put my head up because I was going to get a chance this game. And thankfully I got a chance I could score. And just thankful for the team, for the coaching staff, for believing in me.鈥�

This time, he got a long ball and took a shot that SIUE goalkeeper Noah Scheidweiler blocked from point-blank range, but the ball came right back to Franca. It was easy to then step around Scheidweiler and roll the ball into an open net.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a prideful goal scorer,鈥� SLU coach Kevin Kalish said. 鈥淚 think he knows that normally those chances he puts away, and we told him that鈥檚 part of the game. You鈥檙e going to get some tonight, and whenever you get them, put them away.鈥�

The hope for Kalish is that this game gets his team鈥檚 offense going.

鈥淲e can talk about chance creation and all this stuff all we want,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut at the end of the day, there鈥檚 nothing like hitting the back of the net, and goal scorers are sometimes streaky. They need a bit of confidence and swagger, and I think Xavi and Theo鈥檚 first goals will be good for us.鈥�

O鈥橬eil鈥檚 goal was the result of a lot of hard work from forward Andrew Heckenlaible, who raced to catch up to a long ball before it could go out of bounds and then brought it into the box, where he crossed to O鈥橬eil at the far post for an easy tap-in to put the Billikens ahead.

鈥淢e and Andrew, we actually spoke about it in the locker room before the game,鈥� O鈥橬eil said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 given a few of those passes in previous games, and I told him if we鈥檙e playing together, look for me on that back post. And he did that pass, and it was perfect.鈥�

With the close calls SLU had against Indiana, O鈥橬eil is convinced this team will score.

鈥淚 think as the season continues to go on,鈥� he said, 鈥渢he goals will start to come. We鈥檙e getting to the good spaces, and the coaching staff has been encouraging our wide players to keep going, even if we鈥檙e not having our greatest games, just keep going at the end line and your chances will come. And as you see today, they鈥檙e starting to fall.

鈥淎s a transfer myself, and there鈥檚 so many new guys on this team, it鈥檚 always going to take a while, but I think we just saw a lot of unity and we just trusted a lot in each other.鈥�

SLU leads the Bronze Boot series 24-7-3 and takes a slight edge at 3-2-2 since the series was revived. And while O鈥橬eil and Franca are newcomers to SLU, they appreciate the importance of the Bronze Boot.

鈥淚 just transferred here last spring,鈥� O鈥橬eil said, 鈥渁nd I heard about this game, and it was nothing but the truth. We were hyped from the very beginning of the week, we knew we had a huge game and it was amazing.鈥�

City SC did stay out of last place in the league with the result and the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-1 tie with Houston, which leaves City SC two points ahead of last, though the Galaxy have one more game to play than City SC does.

Celio Pompeu scored to give City SC a lead, but Dallas tied it three minutes later and then the game got almost comical as backup keeper Jacob Jackson made acrobatic save after acrobatic save on just about player on City SC. City SC had an expected goals total of 4.8. Of those 39 shots, 12 were off target and 13 were blocked by defenders.

The game swung in City SC鈥檚 favor in the 16th minute, when Klauss, who was pressing all night, took the ball from Dallas defender Lalas Abubakar, which left him alone on goalkeeper Michael Collodi. The keeper slid to get the ball and Klauss tried to jump over him and went down, with referee Allen Chapman giving Collodi a red card for DOGSO, soccer shorthand for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity since there was no defender behind him.

Since the foul happened just outside the box, there was no penalty kick, but Dallas had to sub in its backup keeper, Jacob Jackson, and would be playing a man down for the remainder of the game. Eduard Lowen鈥檚 ensuing free kick went into the wall, and when he got the rebound, he put that into the wall as well.

Collodi had made a couple solid saves for Dallas before his ejection, and Jackson got started with a good one too. But City SC finally broke through in the 32nd minute, with Pompeu getting his second goal of the season on a shot from about 25 yards out than Jackson couldn鈥檛 get to.

The lead was short-lived. In the 35th minute, City SC was trying to play the ball out from deep in its own end, but Chris Durkin鈥檚 pass was picked off and it took two passes before Dallas鈥� Petar Musa scored from a tight angle to tie the game.

Elsewhere, City SC forward Sangbin Jeong came off the bench and played the final seven minutes of South Korea鈥檚 2-0 win over the United States on Saturday in Harrison, New Jersey. It鈥檚 the second cap for Jeong,

Sargent knows both sets of numbers very well, and he also knows the importance that falls on the U.S. national team鈥檚 two friendly matches in the September window. The United States plays South Korea on Saturday in Harrison, New Jersey, and then plays Japan on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio. The opportunities to impress U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino as he enters the final phase of assembling his roster for next year鈥檚 World Cup are growing smaller. The goals Sargent scores in England will get him in the door and get him a look, but it will be the goals with the national team that will earn his spot.

鈥淚鈥檇 probably be lying if I said I didn鈥檛 think about it,鈥� Sargent said of his national team struggles on a U.S. Soccer conference call this week. 鈥淥f course, I know it鈥檚 been a while. I鈥檓 doing so well at the club level at the moment, I just keep reminding myself how well I鈥檓 doing there. I know I can score goals, and I know it鈥檚 a matter of time that I鈥檓 going to score for the national team, so just going to put my head down and keep working hard, and I know the goals will come.鈥�

This is the first time Sargent has played for U.S. since March, when he started the semifinal game of the CONCACAF Nations League and the United States lost to Panama 1-0. He wasn鈥檛 called in for either the team鈥檚 summer friendlies or for the Gold Cup, as a run of four losses in a row forced Pochettino into reconsidering his roster options. For the first matches for the United States since the Gold Cup ended with the U.S. losing to Mexico 2-1 in July, Sargent was called in.

鈥淚 understand,鈥� Sargent said, 鈥渁nd kind of just took it as rest up during the offseason, and kind of hit the ground running with Norwich to make sure that I鈥檓 back into the next camp. And I think I鈥檝e done a very good job of that at the club level, and I think that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 here. And again, hopefully I can keep performing and do that here as well.鈥�

鈥淲e really need to understand when we call, when we don鈥檛 call, the reaction,鈥� U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said when he announced the roster. 鈥淗ow they show their character and their capacity to fight for a position on the national team and this competition I think can be only positive for the final roster for the World Cup. That is why I think we add new faces in this roster and it seems fair that all the players that we are going to call or were calling in the past have the chance to show their quality and convince us they deserve to be in a place on the national team.鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anybody really worries about (the goal-scoring drought), to be completely honest with you,鈥� said U.S. defender Tim Ream, who like Sargent went to St. Dominic High in O鈥橣allon. 鈥淚鈥檝e known that the guy can score goals since he was 15, 16 years old, and following his path and his career so far. And, yeah, it鈥檚 not something that we鈥檙e worried about. You look at what he鈥檚 doing at Norwich and the types of goals that he scored, they鈥檙e all different. So full confidence in him. It鈥檚 just like he said, it鈥檚 a matter of putting his head down and continuing to work and doing the things that he鈥檚 good at. And the goals will definitely come.鈥�

But time is running short. There are only three more windows for camps and friendlies before the World Cup and at some point, Pochettino has to stop auditioning and start playing who he鈥檚 going to play next summer.

Sargent was linked in the transfer window with two clubs, Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga and Sunderland in the Premier League. Norwich reportedly had a deal in place with Wolfsburg, but Sargent turned it down to stay in Norwich, where he has played since 2021.

鈥淎 lot of decisions had to be made, not just for myself, but for my family,鈥� he said. 鈥淥verall, I think I鈥檓 in a good spot at Norwich. I鈥檓 at a place where I know I can score goals, which, of course, is important going into the World Cup. I鈥檝e had a good start to the season, so hopefully I can continue that form all throughout the season and keep scoring goals.鈥�

Besides the two 51黑料ans playing for the U.S. national team, there鈥檚 one other local angle to the game: newly acquired City SC forward Sangbin Jeong was called in by South Korea for the match. Jeong has made one appearance with the South Korean national team. He鈥檚 one of two MLS players called in for the game, though there is way more attention on the other one, Son Heung-Min, who recently joined Los Angeles FC after a long career in Europe, including at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League, where Pochettino was his coach.