51黑料

鈥淒ay 1 was yesterday,鈥� said club president and general manager Diego Gigliani, meeting with reporters Tuesday a few paces off the field while the team practiced. 鈥淚 would say we receive a lot of emails, WhatsApp messages and calls, LinkedIn notes. A lot of people reach out very quickly. But obviously this is like when you鈥檙e looking for a player: reactive suggestions of players are rarely the ones that one follows. One is more proactive about identifying the profile of what you鈥檙e looking for, going out and finding them. They鈥檙e usually employed, the better ones, and then you have to go out and try to convince those people to come.鈥�

There is certainly no time to waste for Gigliani and City SC. Between now and January, the club needs to find a sporting director to assemble the team, a coach to run the team and with some combination of new and current employees come up with an approach for the winter transfer window for a team that is in no position to stand pat.

All that essentially has to happen in four months.

Once that new sporting director is found, more work will begin. City SC missed a playoff spot by 10 points in 2024 and is currently 14 points out, with a gap that seems likely to grow over the final two months of the season. Fourteen players have expiring contracts with options for next season. That will create some room to change the look of the team, as will Klauss not needing to have designated player status after this season. The club could add two designated players if it wanted.

鈥淚 think we have the building blocks of a competitive team,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淟ike in every window, we need to look for places where we can improve that. We need to look at those big impact things like DPs and under-22s, which are the ones that will make a big difference. We also need to make sure that we鈥檝e got a squad of players that can be on the field and be available to play, so low-injury players are really important, and if we make a few good, impactful signings, we will have a better squad.鈥�

City SC got rid of one player who injuries kept off the field by buying out the contract of defender Joakim Nilsson. Meanwhile, Rasmus Alm, who has played just seven minutes this season because of injuries, is in the final season of his contract, with the club holding an option.

One player who will be out of contract this season who doesn鈥檛 have an option is goalkeeper and captain Roman Burki. Burki is the second-highest-paid player on the team after Marcel Hartel and the highest-paid goalkeeper in the league by far. He has said that wins and losses wouldn鈥檛 necessarily be a factor in his decision, but he was one of many players on the team with links to Pfannenstiel, a former goalkeeper. Gigliani said he didn鈥檛 think the change would adversely affect those talks.

鈥淣egotiations are going great,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淗e knows how important he is to the team. We value what he brings on the pitch and off the pitch. He knows that. We have started having those discussions with him and his agent and Lutz, for sure, but also myself and we are confident that we will get those to a good place.鈥�

That鈥檚 just one of the many steps that await someone in the months to come.

鈥淲e see that we need to be better,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淲e see the first year was incredibly special, and Year 2 and Year 3 have been disappointing, to be far away from playoff qualification. So we feel their pain, and we are in positions of trying to bring about change. That implies being prepared to make tough decisions on head coaches like we have, on sporting directors like we have now but also in terms of having the ambition to win and putting investment behind that, I would feel comforted on the long-term potential of this project for certain. We have amazing owners. We have amazing infrastructure in downtown St Louis. We have an incredible market and support from our fans, and we will find success. That鈥檚 what I would hope fans believe in.鈥�

South Korea calls Jeong

City SC forward Sangbin Jeong may miss the team鈥檚 game with Dallas on Sept. 9 after getting called up by the South Korean national team for its two games in the September international window. Conveniently, those two games are both in the United States, on Sept. 6 against the U.S. in Harrison, New Jersey, and then Sept. 9 against Mexico in Nashville. It鈥檚 his second call-up by South Korea, the other coming in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, when he scored a goal against Sri Lanka.

The U.S. roster for its two games in this window, against South Korea and against Japan on Sept. 9 in Columbus, Ohio, includes two players from 51黑料 (the city, not the club): defender Tim Ream of Charlotte and forward Josh Sargent of Norwich City in the English second division. For Sargent, it鈥檚 his first call-up since the CONCACAF Nations Cup final four in March, where the U.S. lost to Panama and Canada to set off a wave of self-reflection as the World Cup approached.

A: He was a big part of getting the thing off the ground, right? A lot of people forget聽鈥� during COVID is when they started to interview and hire and put this thing together for starting play in 2023. People look at it and say it was, 鈥榡ust 23, 24 and a half of 25,鈥� but you鈥檝e got to remember, Lutz was a big part of getting the academy off the ground and all of that. In saying that, you can't sugarcoat the state of the team and where they are right now. And it is not in a great place聽鈥� it's got to be fixed. And so, part of sports is changing things.

I expected a decision at the end of the year, to be honest. Now, I didn't know what the decision would be, but I expected some kind of statement from the ownership group that things will change. But I think they just kind of feel like the time is right now. But I think people need to understand that Lutz, in those first couple years when the first team wasn't even playing, they were organizing the training fields and all of that. He had a huge say in that. St Louis City 1.0聽鈥� absolutely Lutz had a big part of that.聽

Q:聽When you look at the current roster of St Louis City, what stands out to you from a positive standpoint and a negative standpoint?

A:聽The roster鈥檚 a real conundrum. I think they've got, I'm going to guess, nine to 12 players on option years. I think the roster is very, very interesting in the sense that it needs a real different look. A makeover.

Listen, the numbers speak for themselves. They've given up more goals than anyone after the 60th minute, more goals than anyone after the 90th minute. That's more than LA Galaxy, that's more than DC United, that's more than Montreal. It's just it's not good enough 鈥� and St Louis City knows that. But the hiring of (coach) Olof Mellberg is where the thing gets interesting, because it almost didn't seem to fit the personnel.

The personnel was built on (coach) Bradley Carnell, high-pressing, get-after-it, that kind of thing. (Interim coach) John Hackworth then takes over, and they sign Cedric Teuchert, they sign Marcel Hartel, they sign non-pressing players and players that like the ball. So honestly, it's a long, convoluted way of answering your question, saying聽鈥� I don't know what the roster is going to look like, because you don't know where the sporting direction needs to go. But the roster needs real change.

Q: Regarding the pressing style that became famous locally, especially in the first year of 2023 鈥� what are your thoughts on that playing over the course of an MLS season for St Louis City going forward? How did they do with it聽鈥� and could they keep doing it?

A: Yeah, I (ticked) off St Louis fans a little bit going into the playoffs in 2023 because I thought it was a little bit fool's gold with the way they ended the season. And I predicted that Sporting Kansas City would win (the playoff matchup) just because of reading the tea leaves. Now, saying that, it doesn't mean the pressing style doesn't work. Look at (coach) Bradley Carnell and the Philadelphia Union right now, right? So it obviously can work, but the personnel has to fit the style.

On a personal level, and this is just me being the lover of soccer and everything, I don't love (the pressing style). I think you can be very, very possession-oriented and still press. This pressing style has this odd connotation that it's: you press, you're not good with the ball. Well, that makes no sense, because what did Barcelona do with the greatest player in the world? What did the Man City do? What did Liverpool do? You can press and be very good on the ball. But for some reason, when it was described in articulated, it was as if the ball wasn't that important.

Bradley Carnell is proving to you right now that it can work. But San Diego has completely debunked anything St Louis City did in their first year, because they're possession oriented, and yet, when you look at their numbers, they're as compact聽鈥� and they press and they defend.

Q: Last question聽鈥� do you personally have interest in trying to either be the coach or the sporting director of St Louis?

A: I appreciate you asking. I love St Louis. I love everything about it. But right now, my man, I'm pretty happy. Listen, I'd always listen to 51黑料 City SC, I'll always take their calls. But I'm a pretty happy right now.

It鈥檚 been a maddening cycle 鈥� one that sometimes felt like a tailspin, while other times feeling like there wasn鈥檛 any progression at all. And so, with its latest head coach already sacked this summer, club CEO Carolyn Kindle fired sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel on Monday.

Gosh, we just went through all of this, right? A spry sporting director came in and built and built and built 鈥� year after year after year 鈥� yet it proved, ultimately, to be an unstable and unsustainable construction. So now a new boss will take over and, yup, build and build and build.

Meanwhile, the passionate fans in their City Red gear will cheer and hope and, along the way, pay a bunch of money for tickets and concessions and everything else it takes to properly invest in modern sports fandom.

Pfannenstiel is a smart soccer mind and a fun fellow to chat with. He worked crazy hours and yearned for 51黑料 success. But even as City SC leapfrogged to No. 13 in Major League Soccer spending, the team still stunk.

Yes, Lutz鈥檚 inaugural team took MLS by storm in with its storm-like pressing style that, for much of the season, was relentless and rewarding. The boys finished first in the Western Conference 鈥� what a ride that was 鈥� but lost in the first round of the playoffs.

That second season was a rough reality check 鈥� City finished third-to-last in the West. And this third year, 51黑料 is second-to-last at 14th, just two points ahead of cellar-dweller LA Galaxy.

And while you can point out optimism with to the exceptional play of City2, the team equivalent to Triple-A in baseball, City SC was struggling in seemingly every other soccer department (OK, maybe not in goal but everywhere else). We can play what-if with injuries, but so can half of the teams. And City allowed a mind-blowing amount of goals late in matches this season. This wasn鈥檛 a mentally tough team. And so, here we are.

It鈥檚 fair to point out that 51黑料 isn鈥檛 the only expansion club that got rid of a sporting director in the first few seasons. Cincinnati and Austin are examples of clubs that did the same thing 鈥� Cincinnati is second in the Eastern Conference at this point.

But right now, 51黑料 City SC is at a crossroads. They don鈥檛 need me to tell them that the next hire is critical (the new sporting director will then hire the new coach). There is a lot of goodwill toward this club, but a little bit slips with each blown win or tie.

And the team鈥檚 new identity must be, well, identified.

And what鈥檚 frustrating is: It could take some time.

Lutz was hired in 2020 and fired in 2025. And now, over at City SC headquarters, they鈥檙e talking about 2030.

Club president and general manager Diego Gigliani told Tom Timmermann of the Post-Dispatch that 鈥渁 five-year cycle is a very reasonable amount of time to give a sporting director to come in, set a strategy and execute toward that strategy to be able to assess results. ... As we set our sights on the next five-year cycle for this club, we need to think about do we have the right people in the right roles. ...

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a short-term decision-making process with a sporting director; we did not assess on the basis of the last two or three weeks of wins and losses. That鈥檚 not how these sporting director decisions get taken. It is looked at over the medium term, and we look at results, we look at performances and we look at overall organizational maturity and way of working. We look at all those things, we project it to 2030, and we feel it鈥檚 the right moment to start a new chapter.鈥�

In the final pages of the previous chapter, we learned a little more about what the City SC ownership is thinking. During the final summer transfer window, City SC nabbed center back Fallou Fall and forward Sangbin Jeong 鈥� and Pfannenstiel had to pay transfer fees for the footballers. For a while there, City SC didn鈥檛 acquire players who had transfer fees, but in these two recent instances, City wrote a couple big checks. Fall cost 51黑料 $3.8 million, while Jeong cost $1.6 million.

So this is a light of optimism going forward.

But the journey, which feels like it鈥檚 been going for a while, is just beginning (again).

As I write this column, I鈥檓 in the press box at Busch Stadium before the Cardinals-Pirates game. Makes me wonder which club will return to the postseason first, the transitioning Cards or City SC?

Playing in October, for both clubs, seems bleak 鈥� and I鈥檓 not just talking about 2025.

What鈥檚 going to happen going forward? Part of the reason we鈥檙e making the decision now is to be able to make the upcoming important decisions in the right sequence. The first piece we really want to get right now is the sporting director role. That will be our priority in the immediate term. That will give the team, Critch and the players, the ability to finish the season in the next two or so months and to focus on being competitive every weekend. While the team is focusing on that, we can start the process of planning for 2026. There are some important decisions we are going to have to take around head coach, player renewals, player options, winter transfer window planning, all those things are important decisions. We want to make as few of them as possible without the input of a new sporting director. So that will be our short-term focus, trying to find that new sporting director soon, while, of course, we prepare for a scenario where that can take us longer. I鈥檝e been working with Lutz, John Hackworth, Carolyn (Kindle) on all of these decisions so it鈥檚 not like any of these decisions we would have to make now we鈥檙e new to, but we also know how important alignment is on those positions and the sporting director is the leader of the sporting area. The more involved that individual is in these key decisions, the more accountable they can be, the higher the chances for sporting success.

Can you get all this done by the start of next season? Yes. It鈥檚 not a matter of the time it takes, but the time one gives oneself. In this case, we have time pressure to make these decisions, because we have other decisions that will follow and that we want this person to be involved in. In the head coach searches, we also had a commitment to interim head coaches that had been playing that role and that had spent a material number of years developing within our organization. We also felt it was the right thing to take our time on that search, to be able to give those people in those interim roles time to show what they can do as well. I鈥檝e taken head coaching decisions, I鈥檓 sure Lutz has taken head coaching decisions, in one week, in the past. It鈥檚 more that we have the ability to use that time to give our interim coaches time and that鈥檚 why those things took the time they took.

Is John Hackworth a candidate for either of these jobs? He can be, in the same way he was a candidate for the head coach job after last year and he will be helping me in the interim with sporting director-like functions. He鈥檚 the technical director, that鈥檚 usually a strong No. 2 in that sporting department. He obviously knows the MLS, he knows the U.S. landscape really well, he鈥檚 working with our club on all those key windows. If he鈥檚 interested in that role, we will consider him. He鈥檚 earned it based on the behavior he鈥檚 shown and his ability to add value as a coach but also as a technical director. We will for sure consider him if he鈥檚 interested. The other thing I would say is we will also take the search seriously. The head coach and the sporting director roles are the two most important roles in the sporting area. We can鈥檛 also just look the other way and do what we would like to do. We need to make the right decisions on what we think will bring success to the team.

Does this change mean you鈥檙e back to square one on the coaching search? Not square one. We have been starting that process and looking at for sure the right criteria, lessons learned from the Mellberg appointment, starting to identify candidates but we have also purposely not been actively in conversations due to respect for Critch and wanting to give that process the right time. So we are not in any way behind on that, and we will continue making progress on it in parallel, but the goal is to have a head coach appointed and ready to go before the start of the season, before Jan. 1.

The high press and the 4-2-3-1 formation was a hallmark of Pfannenstiel. Do you envision a change in that? We hope not. I think there are things that remain linked to the club, and the style of play is a fundamental building block and identity factor for the team. The same way that head coaches can come and go, sporting directors can come and go, we hope that that stays. Of course, every sporting director or head coach will find a way of interpreting that and adapting that to their beliefs and that鈥檚 the right way to do it. There needs to be some continuity in that because we鈥檝e been building around that playing style for the four years that we鈥檝e been competing between first team and Next Pro.

How will you be involved in decision making? I have been in all key roster decisions and discussions, obviously not from a technical perspective, that鈥檚 what we have Hack, who can provide a technical aspect to that. But we have been in involved in all the transfer window decisions very closely, we have already been discussing things we need to do in second half of the season, whether that鈥檚 renewals, or options, to exercise them or not, what positions to reinforce for next year. These are not things that we decide at the very end of the season. We鈥檝e been having discussions that will just continue with Hack until the moment we鈥檙e able to appoint a sporting director.

Is MLS experience important for the sporting director? Within sporting leadership, that would include sporting director, head coach, technical director, probably chief scout or person in charge of scouting, we need to have some form or combination of international experience and MLS experience, that鈥檚 for certain. We have built coaching staffs in that way and the sporting leadership also with Lutz and Hack as an example. It also means we鈥檙e not married to the head coach needs to have one or the other or the sporting director needs to have one or the other. What we do need to have is a combination of both among those sporting leadership positions. When I think about what we want in a new sporting director, there鈥檚 really two big areas of focus, one is the ability to build squads and that is the ability to think midterm about how create a winning team, think about recruitment and get the recruitment decisions right and also have an eye on youth player development to bring players through the funnel up to the first team and be able to execute strategically on a window by window squad building process. That鈥檚 key skill set No. 1. The other skill set is much more internal facing, and that鈥檚 about creating a high performance culture and operation in sporting. That includes long term strategic thinking and planning, it includes having the right values, and culture, building on the playing identity, using data, implementing processes and tools. We need to have a combination of those two skill sets in the sporting director role.

The team spent more money in the transfer window; is this a shift in philosophy? I don鈥檛 know that I would call it a shift per se, but I do think that it communicates the intent around continuing to invest. When I arrived, we were the 28th largest salaried roster out of 29 teams. Now we鈥檙e 13th. We have freed up DP spots to put them to work on new players to bring in. We have made investments around the under-22 slots that the MLS gives clubs the right to spend more on. I think that鈥檚 an example of ownership鈥檚 long-term intent and we will hopefully continue to show that window after window.

Were you waiting for the transfer window to end before making this move or were their thoughts of doing it sooner? I think this was the right time to do it. Doing it at the end of the transfer window but with enough time to start preparing for the next season is almost the ideal time to do it. Even if Lutz had finished his contract, these contracts run to the end of December, making a decision in December is worse than making it now. I think in many respects this is about the best timing for this decision as we can have.

With the summer transfer window closed, no major decisions need to be made on the sporting side until the season ends in mid-October, though there are some ongoing issues, such as re-signing goalkeeper Roman Burki, that will need to be addressed. When City SC鈥檚 season ends, the club will have to decide what to do with 14 players whose contracts are up but have options for next season.

Pfannenstiel鈥檚 contract ran through the end of the 2026 season, after he was given a one-year extension just before the start of the club鈥檚 second season. At the time, he had been getting job offers from clubs in Europe and Saudi Arabia.

鈥淭his is the natural end of a five-year cycle,鈥� Gigliani told the Post-Dispatch. 鈥淎 five-year cycle is a very reasonable amount of time to give a sporting director to come in, set a strategy and execute toward that strategy to be able to assess results. And then when we do look at results over the last three seasons, we of course had an incredible fairy tale start in Year 1, but Years 2 and 3 have been really difficult both in terms or results and also in terms of instability.

鈥淚 think as we look around and set our sights on the next five-year cycle for this club, we need to think about do we have the right people in the right roles to be able to get us there. We felt this was the right moment to close the chapter on Lutz鈥檚 time and start a chapter with a new sporting director for the next five-year period.鈥�

CEO Carolyn Kindle said in a statement from the team that 鈥淟utz was one of our most important hires in the early days of the club ... and deserves so much of the credit for our early success. But more than that, he believed in the ownership group鈥檚 vision of being about more than just soccer and embraced the 51黑料 community. This club and this city can鈥檛 thank Lutz and Amalia enough for all they have done for City SC.鈥�

The move comes five years and eight days after Pfannenstiel鈥檚 hiring in 2020. The first two years were spent building the club and its academy system. When the team began play in 2023, it finished with 56 points, the second-most ever for an expansion team, and won the Western Conference regular-season title, City SC dropped to 37 points in Year 2, the largest drop for a second-year club, and is on pace for 27 points in Year 3. The team鈥檚 win total fell from 17 to 8 to 5 this season, with seven games to play.

Years 2 and 3 were marked with injuries and inconsistency, and the club鈥檚 original head coach, Bradley Carnell, was fired in the middle of Year 2. Over the past two seasons, City has just 58 points, more than just three teams in the league, one of which is in its first season.

Pfannenstiel鈥檚 dismissal means that the top two jobs on the sporting side of the team, sporting director and first-team coach, are both vacant, with David Critchley serving as interim coach of City SC after the firing of Olof Mellberg in May. Hackworth, who is serving as interim head coach of City2, along with being the club鈥檚 technical director, now adds more responsibilities.

Gigliani said the plan is to hire the sporing director first and then have that person take part in the coaching search, and he was confident both could be in place by the start of camp for 2026 in January. He said the team had not done any interviews for the vacant coaching job yet after telling Critchley he would be running the team for the rest of the season.

Though City SC is not officially eliminated from playoff contention yet, it is for all practical purposes. Even if the team were to win its remaining seven games, that might not be enough points to get the team into a playoff spot. It currently sits two points ahead of the team with the worst record.

The firing comes four days after the league鈥檚 summer transfer window, a period in which Pfannenstiel added three players 鈥� South Korean forward Sangbin Jeong, Senegalese center back Fallou Fall and, on a loan, left back Devin Padelford 鈥� while buying out the contract of oft-injured center back Joakim Nilsson and getting rid of forward Xande Silva on a transfer after acquiring him in the spring transfer window.

The acquisitions of Jeong and Fall represented a big change in how City SC was doing business. Before that, Pfannenstiel generally acquired players who were out of contract and for whom the club didn鈥檛 have to pay a transfer fee. The only one of the club鈥檚 early signings it had to pay a transfer fee for was forward Klauss, but the club paid a transfer fee of about $3.8 million to acquire Fall from a Norwegian club and then paid $1.6 million in real money to Minnesota for Jeong. Those were the second- and third-largest transfer fees paid in club history, behind Klauss.

The team was looking to be back in the playoffs after a strong finish to the 2024 season following a busy summer transfer window. But the Mellberg hiring didn鈥檛 work on multiple levels, and combined with a string of injuries to key players, the team fell into a hole too deep to get out of. Mellberg was fired on May 27 after just 15 games, only two of which City SC won, and with the team on an 11-game winless streak.

鈥淐learly that decision didn鈥檛 go well for us,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淲e had poor results, poor performances, it was clearly a poor fit having to take that decision with such few games. It clearly was a difficult one, and I feel accountable for it too and I know Lutz feels accountable for it as well. (But) I wouldn鈥檛 chalk the decision up to the Mellberg decision only.鈥�

An enduring question about the club will be how the team would have done if it hadn鈥檛 so many injuries.

鈥淥f course injuries have played a role in the team鈥檚 performance, this season and last year,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淏ut there are other things that influence quality of the roster and how we built it, the quality of play and the alignment, the performance of the players we have 鈥� maybe one year they鈥檙e performing better than another year 鈥� the coaching, the training quality, all of those things influence a team鈥檚 performance. It鈥檚 not like injury gives anyone a pass, the same way that head coaches have been held accountable. Lutz in this case is also accountable for the three-year overall results.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a short-term decision-making process with a sporting director; we did not assess on the basis of the last two or three weeks of wins and losses. That鈥檚 not how these sporting director decisions get taken. It is looked at over the medium term, and we look at results, we look at performances and we look at overall organizational maturity and way of working. We look at all those things, we project it to 2030, and we feel it鈥檚 the right moment to start a new chapter.鈥�

But in Year 1, Pfannenstiel was the talk of the town, having put together a roster of castoffs with something to prove with a strong preference for players who were either from Germany or played in the German Bundesliga, a league he was very familiar with from his time running clubs there. (Even while running City SC, Pfannenstiel did color commentary on ESPN broadcasts of Bundesliga games on Saturday mornings, either from on scene or from a studio in the basement of his house.)

City SC won its first five games, an unprecedented start for an expansion team. But despite having the top seed in the West, the club was swept in its first-round playoff series by rival Sporting Kansas City. After the season, the club gave Pfannenstiel a contract extension.

Pfannenstiel may be gone, but his impact will be felt on the club for years to come, from the high-pressing style of play he implemented 鈥� which Gigliani said will remain the team鈥檚 identity 鈥� to the organization he built to the training center he helped design. In the club鈥檚 early days, as one of its few employees, he was a larger-than-life personality who was also an effective salesman for the club and who seemed to know everyone in the world of soccer.

鈥淗e鈥檚 super-committed to the team,鈥� Gigliani said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got his heart in the right place of wanting the team to be successful; he鈥檚 been super-integrated into the community, with the fan base, all of us, staff, owners, myself, fans. We鈥檙e really grateful to him for his time here.鈥�

What was different about this one how it brutally ended. As the game entered the 100th minute, which should have been the last of 10 minutes of stoppage time, Vancouver鈥檚 Mathias Laborda was running just inside the penalty area chasing a ball that was rolling toward the end line outside the box, when his leg may have clipped the knee of City SC鈥檚 Mykhi Joyner, who was running behind him. Laborda went down, and referee Fotis Bazakos said there was no foul and waved play on.

But just after Roman Burki took the ensuing goal kick that looked to many like the last play of the game, Bazakos instead was holding up play at the request of video assistant referee Kevin Terry Jr., who saw something. Bazakos was called to the monitor, and while the replays seemed inconclusive at best, they convinced him:

He decided Joyner鈥檚 essentially invisible contact had tripped Laborda and signaled for a penalty kick.

In the 104th minute, Vancouver鈥檚 big summer acquisition Thomas Muller stepped up to the penalty spot to face his old Bundesliga rival Burki and scored to give Vancouver the win and pile more anguish on City SC.

鈥淚n my opinion, the PK was a joke,鈥� said Burki. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not on us. ... It鈥檚 very unfortunate for the team. I鈥檓 sorry for the guys who put their bodies on the line to defend a lot. With such decisions, it鈥檚 hard to win against one of the top teams in the MLS.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 pretty upset with, as you guys can imagine, a lot of situations on the field out of our control,鈥� said City SC interim coach David Critchley, treading lightly for fear of a fine. 鈥淚 think we have to get better as a league. ... If you鈥檙e going to go to the monitor in the second half and have to check it that many times, is it a clear and obvious error? I鈥檓 not quite sure it is. But that鈥檚 the season that this team鈥檚 been in, especially since I鈥檝e been in charge, as we鈥檝e not had luck go our way. We鈥檝e got to keep fighting through.

鈥淲hat we will see at the light at the end of the tunnels, we鈥檒l see a group of very high resilience moving forward because they鈥檙e going to go through a lot of these moments right now, in the next several weeks and as we continue to fight, as we continue to develop and perform. For me, there鈥檚 going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. It鈥檚 going to come very soon. Things will go our way, and we鈥檒l be going in a real good direction. I do believe in that.鈥�

Right now, it seems to be more like a mine shaft than a tunnel that City SC continues to tumble down. City SC is at a point now that even if it were to win all its remaining games, it wouldn鈥檛 be enough to make the playoffs, and the bigger challenge now is to avoid finishing in last place in the league. With seven games to play, City SC is tied for next-to-last, two points ahead of the last-place Los Angeles Galaxy.

Like many of City SC鈥檚 recent games, there were promising signs but no tangible results. City SC has blown leads in the second half of three of its past four games and has now allowed a goal in the 85th minute or after in five straight games.

The game wasn鈥檛 a masterpiece, but City SC took the lead twice on the road against one of the better teams in the league. It鈥檚 the continuation of a theme for this team: Things are getting better, just not good enough to translate into wins.

鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 gone our way this year,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淎nd look, we still have to improve. We鈥檝e got a couple of breakdowns in the game that we definitely need to address and continue to sharpen as we grow and as we develop. We鈥檙e not pointing the finger here tonight. We鈥檙e not saying, 鈥極h, we鈥檙e not to blame whatsoever.鈥� We have moments where we can improve Absolutely.

鈥淏ut what we鈥檝e got in the foundation right now in this team is guys that are showing up every day in the training environment, very committed to their growth and their development, a team that was fighting tooth and nail tonight for a win and then a draw.鈥�

One of those breakdowns was on a free kick in the 79th minute by Sebastian Berhalter that Daniel Rios headed in to tie the game. That came six minutes after a speedy recovery by Sangbin Jeong and a nice hold-up and finish by Klauss for his ninth goal of the season put City SC up 2-1. City SC鈥檚 first goal came on a header by Eduard Lowen off a pinpoint cross by Conrad Wallem.

鈥淭he free kick, we need to defend that better,鈥� Burki said. 鈥淲e have two guys at the first post, and it鈥檚 their responsibility to make sure that either the guy is not touching the ball or they are heading the ball out. That was poor defending on our side. But other than that, I would say we defended really good. We helped each other. We were there for each other. That鈥檚 a good thing to happen, definitely something positive.鈥�

Vancouver鈥檚 first goal was also on a penalty kick 鈥� six of the past 12 goals City SC has allowed has been on a PK 鈥� that came in first-half stoppage time. Devin Padelford appeared to have a light hold, if that, on the arm of Tristan Blackmon on a corner kick that Bazakos called for a PK on his own, then was confirmed by replay. Critchley didn鈥檛 think that one was a penalty either.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want the focus to take the attention away from the players on this club and the direction that these guys are going,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淲e came into this game today 14th in the conference, and to watch these guys perform like they did, massive amounts of being proud, being happy. ... The calls don鈥檛 go our way tonight. I have some confusion on why and how it happened. But that鈥檚 the situation we鈥檙e in.

鈥淏ut to focus back on the players, we鈥檙e looking at some of the data right now, just the physical data is one of top three, is what I鈥檝e heard very quickly, of our highest ever recorded data in a game physically. So that just shows the commitments, the passion, the efforts, everything that these guys have put into it. They deserve so much more tonight than a loss, and I鈥檓 super-proud of them.鈥�

A week after giving up two goals after the 67th minute to lose to Chicago, City SC added to its league lead in goals allowed after the 75th minute. This time it was a header by Daneil Rios off a close-in free kick by Sebastian Berhalter that tied it and then a penalty kick by German legend Thomas Muller, making his first MLS start and going the distance that won it in the 104th minute.

City SC missed out on a chance for a rare road win, and kept itself in contention for dropping to last place in the league. It was the ninth straight loss away from Energizer Park for City SC.

Joyner made the slightest of contact with Vancouver鈥檚 Mathias Laborda on the edge of the box with Laborda not running toward the goal. It wasn鈥檛 called on the field, but VAR Kevin Terry summoned referee Fotis Bazakos to the monitor and the PK was awarded.

Klauss had put City SC up 2-1 in the 73rd minute. Sangbin Jeong used his speed to get to an outlet pass from Henry Kessler. He got the ball to a streaking Klauss in the box, though he had to pull up to control it, but even with two defenders and the goalie between him and the net, he was able to spin and shoot back to his right and inside the post to give City SC a second-half lead. It was the ninth goal in MLS play for Klauss, one off his total in his first season. City SC has had leads in the second half in three of its past four games, and gotten just four points.

After Vancouver tied the game, it was the Whitecaps who had more of the chances for the game-winning goal, and City SC had to hang on. It couldn't.

City SC scored first for the third time in its past four games on Lowen鈥檚 fourth goal of the season. A pass into the Vancouver end caught a bunch of City SC players offside, but Marcel Hartel, one of the few who wasn鈥檛, caught up with the ball and passed it to Conrad Wallem, coming forward from his right back position. He lobbed the ball into the box and Lowen leaned forward and drove it home to put City SC up 1-0 in the 14th minute.

It looked like City SC may be able to take a lead into the half again, but while Vancouver wasn鈥檛 getting many shots, it was getting a lot of corner kicks, which meant chances were never too far away. On its seventh corner kick of the first half, Devin Padelford grabbed the arm of Vancouver鈥檚 Tristan Blackmon in the box, he went down, and referee Fotis Bazakos signaled for a penalty kick. The play got a long look from the VAR, but was eventually confirmed, and Brian White stepped up and shot to his right while Roman Burki dove to his left and the game was tied four minutes into first half stoppage time.

City SC was without newly acquired center back Fallou Fall, who did not get his Canadian visa sent to him in time to get on the flight for Vancouver and so had to be left behind. City SC had only eight players on its bench for the game.