51黑料

Joyner got another present a day later. On Sunday, he was supposed to fly to Florida to take part in a U.S. Soccer under-20 domestic identity camp. But when an injury forced Nashville鈥檚 Taha Habroune out of the U-20 camp in Spain, with those who are the top candidates for a spot at the upcoming U-20 World Cup, Glover was promoted.

The Spain camp is the last chance for coach Marko Mitrovi膰 to look at players before the roster for the U-20 World Cup has to be turned in on Sept. 18. While in Spain, the U.S. team will play Morocco on Sept. 5 and 7. The U-20 World Cup begins on Sept. 27 in Chile. Joyner will miss City SC鈥檚 match with Dallas on Saturday and would miss more if chosen for the team.

A lot has happened for Joyner lately. His incidental contact with a Vancouver player in the closing minutes of that game led to Vancouver being awarded a penalty kick that won it the game. (On Saturday, PRO, the Professional Referees Organization, said that decision was a mistake.) The game came just days after, in the final personnel move of Lutz Pfannenstiel鈥檚 time as sporting director, Joyner was promoted back to the first-team roster, making him eligible for the rest of the season.

Being involved in a play that gave his team a loss could have been an issue for Joyner, but it turned out it wasn鈥檛.

鈥淭o be honest, a lot of credit goes to my teammates,鈥� Joyner said. 鈥淭hey uplifted me. They told me that it鈥檚 OK, mistakes happen.

鈥淚 happened to make a mistake that game, even if it wasn鈥檛 a PK, I鈥檓 not going to be the one to point fingers. So I just used that anger and put it into the game (Saturday), and I wanted to show the fans that I鈥檓 here and I want to play and I want to score and I want to win.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 actually not even surprised,鈥� said midfielder Eduard Lowen, a charter member of the Mykhi Joyner fan club, 鈥渢hat he鈥檚 going to score sooner or later, that he鈥檚 going to be a part of this team sooner or later because he has the quality. He鈥檚 just a great kid. I like him a lot on and off the pitch. I think we also need some of that, a young player who maybe doesn鈥檛 think about things so much as maybe, like a more experienced player who is taking on defenders and maybe doesn鈥檛 care so much and it鈥檚 just about playing free and having joy and having fun on the pitch. And I think you can see that with him, and that鈥檚 definitely something we need. I think he could have scored already a couple times earlier, a couple of games before. Credit to him to continue to not stick his head in the sand. I really like this kid a lot, really good player, and I鈥檓 really, really happy for him. I鈥檓 really excited to see what we鈥檙e going to get out of him.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 dynamic,鈥� said interim coach David Critchley. 鈥淗e鈥檚 pacey. He鈥檚 brave. He wants to take on defenders.

鈥淗e鈥檚 got a good end product with his finishing and crossing, and he鈥檚 very good in the air as well.鈥�

Joyner鈥檚 return to the first team will likely cost him his shot at winning MLS Next Pro鈥檚 Golden Boot as the top scorer. He has 14 Next Pro goals, second-most in the league behind Samuel Sarver of North Texas, but may not play for City2 again, at least until the playoffs.

Joyner played 31 minutes against Houston and had another shot that could have been a goal. His .44 expected goals total in the game was second only to Klauss on a stagnant night for City SC鈥檚 offense.

鈥淚 think I鈥檓 reading the game a little bit better,鈥� he said 鈥淚 think I can still improve. But yeah, I should have buried it, but I missed it.鈥�

Teeing it up

Swedish golfer Robert Karlsson, in town for the Stifel Charity Classic this weekend at Norwood Hills Country Club, took part in a chipping contest with City SC players Chris Durkin and Tomas Totland on Tuesday, hitting balls from the deck in front of the Ultra Club in Energizer Park down to the center circle.

Asked if hitting the ball from the second deck of the stadium down to the field reminded him of any hole he had played, Karlsson said, 鈥淵es, the seventh hole at Pebble Beach.鈥� It may be the first time anyone has connected City SC鈥檚 stadium with one of golf鈥檚 most storied courses.

The first hole at Energizer Park measured 82 yards, while the seventh at Pebble Beach is 106 yards, though in the 2010 U.S. Open, it played as short as 92 yards 鈥� and there鈥檚 a 40-foot elevation change from tee to green at Pebble Beach. (In the 2010 U.S. Open, Karlsson had a birdie, a bogey and two pars at No. 7.)

Durkin and Totland may not be the best golfers on City SC, but Durkin acknowledged they probably talk about it the most. Each golfer took 10 shots, with City SC donating $500 for each ball that landed in the center circle, which had a 10-foot radius, to the tournament鈥檚 charities. Totland went first and landed three. Durkin was next and got four. Karlsson went last and put all 10 in the circle. Totland led in the unofficial closest-to-the-pin competition, but Karlsson beat him on his last shot.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a good thing there鈥檚 no water or sand,鈥� Totland said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 only one big green to hit, so it was a lot of fun.鈥�

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.

Five days after firing Lutz Pfannenstiel, City SC seemed headed for its 11th shutout of the season, before Eduard Lowen scored in the 86th minute and Mykhi Joyner scored in the 89th to excite what was left of the crowd. For an instant, it looked like City SC might pull out a miracle tie when Klauss had a header in the 93rd minute that Houston goalkeeper Jonathan Bond made a lunging save on to protect the win.

Interim sporting director John Hackworth, whose City2 team plays in Houston on Sunday, stayed behind to watch the game and will join the club's developmental team on Sunday morning.

Two of Houston鈥檚 three goals got some help from City SC. The second was knocked into the net by City SC鈥檚 Henry Kessler after the player he was defending couldn鈥檛 get to a cross but Kessler could. The third goal came after Fallou Fall whiffed on an attempted back pass to goalkeeper Roman Burki which turned into a quick two-on-one.

Houston needed a win to keep pace in a race for a playoff spot. City SC, meanwhile, has lost three in a row, five of six and eight of 10 and has allowed three goals in three straight games and four of its past six.

While most of the league is off next week during the international window, City SC will play Dallas at Energizer Park.

After scoring first in three of its past four games, and winning only one of them, City SC gave up the first goal, as Ezequiel Ponce headed in a free kick by Jack McGlynn in the 21st minute.

City SC鈥檚 best chance to tie came in the 40th minute, when a nice run by Sangbin Jeong, who leaves Sunday to join South Korea in the international window, put a pass into the box to Klauss, who had beaten the defense but his one-touch shot from close range went wide.

City SC improved over the course of the half, but its scoring chances didn鈥檛 match up to its possession and its five first-half corner kicks didn鈥檛 produce much.

In the 50th minute, the situation took a turn for the worse when Ponce couldn鈥檛 get to a cross but Kessler right behind had the ball hit his foot and go in. Then in the 72nd minute, Fall, who started the game on the bench as coach David Critchley went with Kessler and Timo Baumgartl as his center backs, caught up with a ball in his own end near the sideline. He turned to play the ball to Burki, but it barely moved and instead was seized by the Dynamo, which quickly put it in. City SC teammates headed over to Fall to offer encouragement.

Lowen scored his fifth goal of the season after a shot by Simon Becher was blocked, came right back to Becher, who passed to Lowen who rocketed in a one-timer from the top of the box. Lowen has scored in three of the team鈥檚 past five games. Joyner got his first MLS goal three minutes later.

You can watch and listen to the V, starting at the 7:39 mark.

On the play in question, the knee of City SC鈥檚 Mykhi Joyner makes contact with the trailing leg of Vancouver鈥檚 Mathias Laborda as Laborda chases after a ball in City SC鈥檚 end of the field. That throws off the stride of Laborda, and trips him, inside the penalty area. Referee Fotis Bazakos can be heard on the replay explaining to the Vancouver players why he didn鈥檛 make the call, but VAR official Kevin Terry Jr. is leaning right from the start that it鈥檚 a penalty kick and eventually convinces Bazakos to make the call, though we can鈥檛 hear the part of the audio where Bazakos changes his mind and allows the PK.

But PRO鈥檚 review says what many people watching the play thought: That was not a clear and obvious error that should have sent the play down for review. This is from The Definitive Angle, in which PRO summarizes all the VAR rulings:

鈥淚n real-time, the referee saw that there was no secondary action from the defender, and the two players were running normally; however, the VAR determined that Laborda was going to gain control of the ball, and the contact from behind had an impact. The referee awarded penalty kick after video review.

鈥淲hile there was contact between the two players, Laborda crossed in front of Joyner while the defender was running to his position. Joyner did not change his stride or reach out to trip his opponent. The contact was incidental. This did not rise to the level of a clear and obvious error, and an on-field review should not have been recommended.鈥�

Of course, nothing changes. It still goes into the books as a 3-2 loss for City SC.

The fallout of that game would have been on everybody鈥檚 minds this week, but that was moved to the back burner after sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel, who had a hand in the acquisition of every player on the team, got fired. Just as the team is running out of ways to lose games, it鈥檚 also running out of things that can happen to it. But if there鈥檚 a reason to have confidence in this team, that would certainly be an area.

In the here and now, interim coach David Critchley, who like everyone else on the club is facing uncertainty about his future, has to get his team focused on the game at hand.

鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 thrown in an element of guys probably looking at their futures, their near futures,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淲hat does their career look like moving forward? But so far a lot of the conversations I鈥檝e had with the guys is just what I expect of them for this weekend, what I expect to see on the field. It鈥檚 been a decision that I think, overall has probably made the players think and maybe distracted them, but they鈥檝e seemed to come in and try to remain focused for this weekend.鈥�

While a coaching change is done with the hope of improving on-field results fairly quickly, changing the sporting director is a different matter. Critchley has the same players he had for the Vancouver game and the same people are putting together the game plan. The production impact of whoever the new sporting director is won鈥檛 be felt until training camp in January.

But change is going to happen.

鈥淲e need to make some hard decisions and some hard changes,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淭he ownership has a very high ambition. They鈥檙e very progressive in how they think, and they鈥檝e set high expectations, they鈥檝e set high goals. So there鈥檚 going to have to be changes, because, based on the standings, we haven鈥檛 met the goals of the sporting department. So I think we will see changes. And again, all I can say is, it shows an ambitious ownership that are willing to invest in this team and move this team in the right direction. And we鈥檝e set clear goals. We鈥檝e set clear goals for next year. We鈥檝e set clear goals for five years, going into the year 2030, so I鈥檓 just excited for what the near future is for this organization. Making this hard decision with Lutz is another example of the ownership and the leadership鈥檚 ambition to continue to try to move this club forward.鈥�

City SC sits perilously close to having the worst record in the league, just two points ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Official elimination can鈥檛 come this week, but it could come as soon as the next game with the proper combination of results. City SC is likely at the point where winning out won鈥檛 be enough to salvage a playoff spot.

So until then, other than emotionally, nothing has changed for a team that has lost four of its past five games and blown second-half leads in the three most recent losses. And while you can look at the Vancouver game in a lot of ways 鈥� the team seems to be looking at it as a game it would have won if not for the officiating 鈥� the team continues to be not quite where it needs to be to turn losses into wins.

鈥淭he team is great,鈥� Burki said, 鈥渏ust sometimes we feel like, I think everybody feels the same, that something a little bit is missing, we need the last detail to be right to win the games. And so I think we鈥檙e on the right track. We changed our play style since Critch is here, and I think we improved a lot. So I鈥檓 very positive.鈥�

Everyone except Cedric Teuchert is available for the game. Michael Wentzel trained with City2 this week and could see action there on Sunday, along with Joey Zalinsky, Jay Reid and Josh Yaro, who have seen any realistic chance for playing time vanish now that the team is healthy. Fallou Fall is available after last weekend鈥檚 paperwork snafu, where the visa he needed to get into Canada didn鈥檛 show up in time. Critchley said that Fall would have started in Vancouver and the team had to make a quick adjustment and put Timo Baumgartl in the lineup.

鈥淭hankfully Timo stepped up into that position,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淪hows good professionalism by him. I had spoken to him about maybe potentially not starting in this game, and then it flipped around six hours later and I told him he was starting this game, and he came out and had a pretty good performance.鈥�

Mykhi Joyner has been called into a U.S. under-20 identity camp that will be held in West Palm Beach, Florida, from Sept. 1 to 9. That would make Joyner unavailable for City SC鈥檚 game with Dallas on Sept. 6. City SC will also be missing another forward, Sangbin Jeong, for that game after he was called in by South Korea.