St. Louis CITY win streak ends with narrow loss against Minnesota United

After a historic start to MLS life, St, Louis City dropped their first game of the season with a 1-0 loss at home to Minnesota United.

A penalty kick via Minnesota winger Luis Amarilla in the 78th minute saw St Louis’ win streak come to an end. St Louis head coach Bradley Carnell suspected that the high of constantly winning wouldn’t continue for much longer.

"We’re not superhuman after all. The burning fire was missing early on in the game. Maybe it starts weighing on the boys," Carnell said after the match.

“That's the nature of the beast right, you’re successful, the boys know at some point this thing has to change, right? It's just the human nature and these boys are not robots and yeah, we're just human beings after all,” he continued.

Though St. Louis fought hard, Minnesota deployed a two-striker formation that saw them match up numerically. This numerical balance made it difficult for St. Louis to build through. The majority of the game saw St Louis on the back foot, backtracking in transition moments which saw them drop off offensively. 

Joao Klauss, usually a threat in the attacking end for St. Louis, was largely stymied, reduced to just two shots on target. His fellow Designated Player Eduard Lowen, also struggled, despite having a decent game with two chances created and four shots. 

Eventually, Minnesota's formational discipline paid off in the 78th minute with a penalty kick to seal all three points.

"It just creates a bit of a defensive transition, a lot of running for us in the wrong direction," Carnell said of Minnesota's 4-4-2 formation.

"We like to defend forward and on the front foot and too many times tonight, we were backtracking off the pace, stepping back off the opponent. Not decisive enough in certain moments."

Carnell hoped that the substitution of ex-Minnesota, current St. Louis midfielder Aziel Jackson would change the game's complexion, but nothing much came of it.

"Obviously as the picture-perfect storybook would go, you bring on Aziel Jackson, it’s his previous club and unfortunately the storyboard did not pan out that way."

Despite the loss, Carnell and his squad will look past the loss, build upon their winning foundation and focus on the tough upcoming match against a red-hot Seattle Sounders side.

"Nothing changed [in] our desire to get better as a team every single day. We lose a game, but yeah, that's what it is, we lost the game," Carnell exclaimed.

"So next week, we go, the scoreline’s back at zero and we go to Seattle with energy, renewed energy. And now we're in the league, right? So now I think everyone knows something a bit about us. And now it's up to us to respond."

In the end, St. Louis knows the result shouldn't dishearten them. They know they belong in the league, and now it's up to the squad to keep improving.

"That was the message to the boys out there. I said we've arrived in the league. People know about us in the league. We've been competitive. We are competitive. And we're not done yet.”

St. Louis will look to get back to winning ways this weekend against the Seattle Sounders.