51ºÚÁÏ

It’s been two years since Miguel Perez became one of the faces of 51ºÚÁÏ City SC, a local kid playing on the town’s brand new Major League Soccer team. Perez was 17 years old when he debuted with the team in 2023, earning an unlikely spot on the roster, working his way into the lineup, appearing in 15 games and scoring a goal that first season.

And then he dropped largely out of sight.

In 90 minutes of soccer on one rainy Saturday night, 51ºÚÁÏ City SC did a fine job of summarizing a 34-game season that played out over almost eight months.

There was incredible enthusiasm at the start, quickly followed by defensive gaffes that put the team in a big hole. Then there was a spirited comeback that was exciting at times but came a little too late to produce a victory. The offense certainly produced plenty of chances (City SC’s expected goals total was 3.7, its highest total of the season for a game that didn’t have a red card). It just couldn’t finish them.

A great deal of uncertainty hangs over 51ºÚÁÏ City SC as it heads into an offseason that promises plenty of change, at all levels of the organization. But the team has taken care of one of the bigger ones among its players, signing goalkeeper and captain Roman Burki to a new two-year contract running through 2027, with a club option for 2028, which may well mean Burki finishes his illustrious career in 51ºÚÁÏ.

Burki’s initial three-year contract with the club runs out after this season, and he was one of the few players with the team not to have a club option in his contract. He would have been free after the season to sign with a club anywhere in the world — and with City SC getting no transfer fee. Instead, he has opted to stay in Major League Soccer and 51ºÚÁÏ, even in the wake of two unsuccessful seasons for the club.

The evening began with a roar when goalkeeper Roman Burki’s contract extension was announced and ended with more cheering, only wetter, as 51ºÚÁÏ City SC closed out its season with a 2-2 tie with Real Salt Lake on a late goal by Klauss to reward those fans who stuck it out on a rain-soaked Saturday night at Energizer Park.

City SC fell behind by two goals in the first 32 minutes, got a goal back shortly before halftime and applied steady pressure and then tied the game in the 88th minute on a long throw in by Devin Padelford that was headed on by Fallou Fall and then headed in by Klauss, as Brendan McSorley made a lunge at the far post just in case.

The season has long been over for 51ºÚÁÏ City SC, with only the games continuing. With the club’s third season officially coming to an end Saturday, a point is becoming clear: It wouldn’t have taken much to avoid this mess.

City SC goes into its final game nine points behind the last playoff team in the Western Conference. If City SC can beat Real Salt Lake at Energizer Park on Decision Day, the final day of the MLS season, there’s a really good chance that it will have missed a playoff spot by seven points. Swing the results of any of eight games for City SC this season where it had a second-half lead but didn’t win from a loss or a tie to a win, and City SC is in a playoff spot, or at least playing for one. Even if it doesn’t beat RSL, City SC will miss a playoff spot by no more than 12 points and even that number was still achievable for a club that has lost 18 points from a winning position in the second half.