أغر؟´«أ½

Two of City SC’s most often injured players, midfielder Rasmus Alm and defender Joakim Nilsson, weren’t in the lineup for Saturday’s game because of, once again, injuries. The two didn’t practice on Tuesday, but the news on at least one is promising.

City SC coach Olof Mellberg said Tuesday that Alm has a hip injury and will be out three to four weeks and will be evaluated after that. Alm missed 19 games last season, some after having sports hernia surgery and some after a knee sprain.

Nilsson, who missed 18 games last season with a rib injury and then two hamstring injuries, suffered an unspecified knock in City SC’s closed-door scrimmage with San Jose that he played through and finished the game with, but a scan showed he had bone bruising. Mellberg said he had another scan on Monday “which looked really good.â€‌

“I think he will be back very soon,â€‌ Mellberg said.

Everyone else, other than the rehabbing Jake Girdwood-Reich, practiced on Tuesday, though Mellberg said some players, including Chris Durkin, Celio Pompeu and Tomas Ostrak, are still not ready for 90 minutes.

“We need to be smart, but I think they are definitely ready for some minutes,â€‌ he said.

Teuchert’s return

It was a busy weekend for Cedric Teuchert as he got back into أغر؟´«أ½ on Friday afternoon after nine days in Germany getting his green card and then came on as a sub in the 81st minute in Saturday’s game.

“Hard, stressful, but I’m happy to be back,â€‌ he said Tuesday.

Teuchert had gone to Southern California with the team for that part of camp and sat out a game as a precaution with a sore groin but then had to head to Germany for the final stage of processing for the green card, which requires him to appear in person at a U.S. consulate in Germany.

Once it was done, he came back to أغر؟´«أ½ about 1 p.m. on Friday, too late to join the team for practice, and then came into the game at what for him was about 2:30 a.m. body time.

“Of course it was tough because I had a stressful week in Germany,â€‌ he said. “It was a long flight. Of course I was tired, but when I was in the stadium with the boys, saw the light show, the emotions, I was there and it was good to be back.â€‌

While the team gave Teuchert a workout plan for while he was gone, he acknowledged that that can only do so much and that he missed two weeks of on-field training.

“I think I have to do something more to be ready at 100%,â€‌ he said. “I think I have to wait the week and talk with the fitness coaches and then we will make a decision.

“I think it was a really good game for us. Colorado had really no chances, and the defense, we are compact. I think everything was good, but we didn’t score a goal. To hold them to zero and get the point is also good, but I think we deserved the three points.â€‌

The green card allows Teuchert and his family to live and work permanently in the United States and also means he doesn’t count as an international player for MLS roster purposes.

“We’re happy to get this change,â€‌ he said.

Becher the pest

Seventeen minutes into the game Saturday, City SC got a free kick just outside the box for Jannes Horn, but there was a delay in taking it. After Colorado keeper Zack Steffen had set his wall, Simon Becher went behind the wall and tried to block Steffen’s line of sight. Colorado’s Oliver Larraz didn’t like that and tried to get Becher to leave, which brought in referee Jon Freemon to intervene.

Eventually, Becher was allowed to stay, though plainly in an offside position, but just before Eduard Lowen took the kick, Becher ran up to the wall to get onside. Lowen finally took the kick, hit the post, and it looked like City SC scored when Becher poked in a cross from Henry Kessler, but it turned out Kessler was offside when Lowen took the shot, negating everything.

“I was just trying to get in his head a little bit,â€‌ Becher said. “He’s trying to set the wall and make sure that it was set properly so we couldn’t curve it around it. So as far as I know, I can stand wherever I want. If that’s in front of him, that’s in front of him. So yeah, just a little bit of gamesmanship and trying to get in his head. And unfortunately, the goal right after was called off, but I think, yeah, it would have worked.â€‌

“He did that on his own,â€‌ Mellberg said. “We have a plan for everything, but I like players to use their imagination.â€‌

Hiebert on early list for Canada

Kyle Hiebert was named to the 60-player preliminary roster for Canada’s team for the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals and final in March. The 23 players for the final roster will come from that list. Recently departed Indiana Vassilev made the U.S. team’s preliminary roster, though with the match coming in a FIFA international window and with every player available, his selection seems unlikely.

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City SC has the power to determine whether a disappointing outcome in the season opener lingers or if it merely serves as a springboard. After all, the team didn’t lose its home opener on Saturday night.

Of course, it also didn’t win. So that leaves it on a precarious perch for the time being.

At the moment, with a sample size of just one game, the club has shown reason for frustration as well as optimism. The latter would flow much more readily with a win — or, more to the point, a goal.

One goal isn’t so much to ask — except for some unearthly reason it was too tall a task in a 0-0 draw against the Colorado Rapids (a Stan Kroenke outfit) on Saturday night at Energizer Park.

New coach Olof Mellberg rightly described his team as having “dominatedâ€‌ play. The eye test and the statistics bear that out.

City SC outshot the Rapids 18-2. The club put five shots on goal compared to none for the Rapids. That doesn’t include a City SC goal that got wiped off the board for an offside penalty in the first half. City SC controlled possession for 53% of the game, held a 6-1 advantage on corner kicks and also won the aerial duels and expected-goals battle.

All that went in their favor, but the ball did not find its way into the net.

“I was happy with the end, with the last 15-20 (minutes) when we showed even more confidence in our buildup,â€‌ Mellberg said. “A little bit more movement. The center backs being a little bit more confident taking the ball forward. We just need to continue to build on our confidence.â€‌

It only took the opening minutes of the match to see that the Rapids attack seemed choppy and without much bite, their players more likely to kick it out of bounds than to threaten City SC goalkeeper Roman Burki. Their best tactic to maintain possession early on seemed to move the ball backward. Credit City SC for setting that tone early.

The Rapids briefly seemed content to allow City SC to maintain possession in the early stages. While that strategy might have been a golden ticket for opponents against City last season, the home club turned into a recipe for scoring chances. That certainly provided an encouraging early sign of progress.

Another sign of progress came in the form of forward Simon Becher. Five minutes in, he pounced on a mistake with the ball by the Rapids in their own end and created an opportunity. Becher, who scored four goals in nine games (six starts) last season, played 81 minutes and registered five shots, three on-target scoring attempts in the opener.

“We talk a lot about tempo and control,â€‌ Becher said. “Possession is not necessarily a goal of ours. We want to be dangerous and take what teams give us. Colorado was backing off a little bit, so I think that’s where you see a little bit more of the possession, but also we created a lot of chances — so continuing to probe and try to be dangerous and put balls in dangerous places. I think that’s kind of what they gave us.â€‌

Becher expressed disappointment with the inability to score despite the wealth of chances generated, but he looked at the performance as a starting point with more growth to come.

“The relationship, I think you saw at the end of last season, it was forming really well,â€‌ Becher said. “So just continuing to work on that. I think if we continue this way, a lot of goals will come.â€‌

Defensively, City SC played a near textbook game in front of its captain Burki.

The three-man back line of Joshua Yaro, Henry Kessler and Kyle Hiebert thoroughly bottled up the Rapids’ attack. Their striker and designated player, Rafael Navarro, scored 15 goals and logged five assists in 34 matches with 90 shots last season.

The combination of Yaro and Kessler bracketed Navarro most of the night and kept him from having an impact. Navarro did not even attempt a shot.

“I think it I were to attribute it to one thing, it would be back line shifting,â€‌ Kessler said of the stellar defensive outing.

The revolving door at center back because of injury last season might now be a positive in that it has allowed individuals to gain experience and also helped chemistry and communication develop among the group.

“That’s just a result of really good team defending,â€‌ Kessler said of not allowing the Rapids a shot on goal. “I’m not sure that I’ve been part of a game where we’ve given up zero shots on goal. That’s a great thing that that happened. I think there was a lot of good communication, a lot of good shifting on the back line.â€‌

City SC’s opener left a bit of a sour taste in that it didn’t get a win but played well enough to create belief that it’s at a good starting point.

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If أغر؟´«أ½ City SC looks different than it did last season, a different formation, a team more confident building out of the back than just waiting to counterattack, the results looked awfully familiar.

The combination of effective defense and chance-creating offense was only enough to get City SC a 0-0 tie against the Colorado Rapids before a sellout opening night crowd at the re-named Energizer Park on Saturday. City SC had 13 ties last season in 34 games, and it’s 1 for 1 this season.

There was a lot to like about the start of Olof Mellberg’s time as coach of City SC. The team did a lockdown job on defense, limiting the Colorado Rapids to just two shots, neither of which were on goal and required a save. On offense, it took 18 shots, put five of them on target and had an expected goals total of 1.8.

City SC had significant edges in just about every offensive category, but with one exception: goals.

“This normally is a game we win.â€‌ Mellberg said. “I think we dominated most of the game. We have the stats here, it was 18-2 in shots, and we limited them to zero chances. Basically, there were a couple of dangerous situations in the box, where we defended well, but apart from that, they didn’t have any chances, and we created enough to score at least two or three goals. Little bit unlucky with the offside there on (Henry Kessler), and we had three, four great chances to score. So obviously, again, we should have won, but the performance was good.â€‌

“I think it’s something to build on,â€‌ said Kessler, who anchored the back line, “but not a result that we’re satisfied with.â€‌

Getting a tie in a game it could have won was a problem for City SC last season, costing it valuable points that cost it a playoff spot. City SC came away encouraged by every part of this game except its finishing.

“We created a lot of chances going forward,â€‌ said forward Simon Becher, who had five shots, three on goal, and a 1.05 expected goals total, “just have to put some of them away and take them as they come. And mentality in the game is next chance, next chance, try to put the last one behind you. We stuck to the game plan. I think maybe on another day, one or two of those go in. So just keep working.â€‌

Becher started up front with Klauss, and it was Becher who had the better of the chances, starting in the 17th minute when he shot a ball straight to Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen. It looked like Becher had a goal in the 20th minute after a free kick by Eduard Lowen had hit the post and Kessler got the rebound to Becher for a short goal. But Kessler was offside on the original shot by Lowen, and the goal didn’t count.

Klauss played the full 90 minutes and almost scored as regulation time ended on a header that was stopped by a diving Steffen for Colorado.

City SC controlled the game while having 54.3% of possession, something in the past that did not usually lead to wins. Over its first two seasons, City SC had four wins, 10 losses and five ties when it had 54% of more of possession.

“I was pleased with the attack as well,â€‌ Mellberg said. “We had some great combinations from buildup, varied our game with the longer ball, the ball in behind, with some really good periods in possession as well, where we managed to create chances. It wasn’t an amazing performance from our point of view, but it was the first game, and we dominated. We probably should have won.â€‌

While City SC had seven shutouts last season, none looked like this. It was just the second game in the club’s brief history in which it didn’t allow a shot on goal (the other came last season in a 1-0 win over Austin) and the 0.3 expected goals allowed total matches that Austin game as the lowest in club history.

The most easily recognizable change in how City SC plays is going from the four-man back line that had been the default formation under Bradley Carnell and John Hackworth, with two center backs and a left back and right back, to a three-man backfield with three center backs, while the left and right backs are pushed up the field.

With Joakim Nilsson out with what Mellberg thinks is a minor injury (same for midfielder Rasmus Alm, who also didn’t dress for the game), the job fell to Kessler, Josh Yaro and Kyle Hiebert. All three made significant contributions throughout the game, with Kessler, playing in the middle, ranging all around the field to track down balls and break up plays.

“Just individually great performances,â€‌ Kessler said. “I think the shifting in the back line was really good, covering for each other at all moments. All those things were really good.â€‌

Chris Durkin suited up for the game but didn’t play while Akil Watts, who got a lot of time at the position in camp, went the full 90 minutes. Cedric Teuchert, who just arrived in أغر؟´«أ½ on Friday after going back to Germany to get his green card, came on in the 81st minute. Newly signed defensive midfielder Alfredo Morales subbed on for Lowen in the 69th minute. Morales, a trialist who had been in camp in California with City SC, signed with the team Friday.

Before the game, City SC signed second-round draft pick Joey Zalinsky to a first-team contract, which brings the roster to the limit of 30. Zalinksy is a defender out of Rutgers who came up through the New York Red Bulls academy system. The club’s other two picks, forward Emil Jaaskelainen and goalkeeper Colin Welsh, are likely headed to City2 if they sign. Zalinsky signed a one-year contract with three option years for the club. Zalinsky was on the roster Saturday night but didn’t play.

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City SC hosts Colorado Rapids in Energizer Park home opener

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

On a subfreezing night at Energizer Park, the Olof Mellberg Era as أغر؟´«أ½ City SC’s coach began with a 0-0 tie with the Colorado Rapids before a sellout crowd on Saturday.

City SC had the better of the scoring chances and threatened on several occasions but could not get the ball in the net. Colorado, meanwhile, did not have many chances as City SC’s three-man backline of Josh Yaro, Henry Kessler and Kyle Hiebert, kept the Rapids’ chances at a minimum. Colorado had just two shots in the game and neither of them required a save from City SC goalkeeper Roman Burki. City SC, meanwhile, had 18 shots and five on goal.

Mellberg is the first City SC coach not to win his first game.

City SC almost pulled out the win in the final minutes as Klauss headed a corner kick from Marcel Hartel but it was stopped by a diving Colorado keeper Zack Steffen.

City SC looked to have scored in the first half, but an offsides call negated it. Eduard Lowen put a free kick off the left post, and Kessler got the rebound and passed to Simon Becher for a tap-in, but Kessler was offside on the original shot.

Newly signed defensive midfielder Alfredo Morales came on for Lowen in the 69th minute. Cedric Teuchert, just back from Germany where he picked up his green card, and new acquisition Conrad Wallem came on in the 81st minute.

City SC signed second-round draft pick Joey Zalinsky to a first-team contract on Saturday, which brings the roster to the limit of 30. Zalinksy is a defender out of Rutgers who came up through the New York Red Bulls academy system. The club’s other two picks, forward Emil Jaaskelainen and goalkeeper Colin Welsh, are likely headed to City2 if they sign. Zalinsky signed a one-year contract with three option years for the club. Zalinsky was on the roster on Saturday night.

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City SC hosts Colorado Rapids in Energizer Park home opener

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

City SC hosts Colorado Rapids

أغر؟´«أ½ City SC’s first season exceeded everyone’s expectations. The second season disappointed everyone.

Consider Season Three the tiebreaker.

With a roster that got rebuilt on the fly in the middle of last season and got some slight touchups in the offseason, City SC can show which season was the reality and which was the anomaly. With a new coach and a bunch of not-so new players, can City SC reach the playoffs for the second time in its three seasons and, once there, win a postseason game? The way last season ended makes that a definite possibility.

“One hundred percent, we want to reach the playoffs,â€‌ said left back Jannes Horn. “That’s 100% sure, and we have the team to qualify for the playoffs.â€‌

In its final nine games of last season, when the players acquired in the summer transfer window became eligible, City SC averaged 1.55 points per game. Had the team been able to do over a full season, it would have finished in sixth in the West and made the playoffs with likely some room to spare.

But those games were played under interim coach John Hackworth, and other teams have added players, too. This season will be played under new coach Olof Mellberg, a legend in his playing days in Sweden who had been coaching a small club in Stockholm better known for its extensive youth program than for any success on the field. There will be a lot of learning and adapting to a new coach and a slightly different style, and with only five weeks and six exhibition games for those lessons to take hold.

“I think every trainer, every coach, (would like to) have his personality, ideas to play with the ball,â€‌ said midfielder Marcel Hartel, who joined the team last summer. “I think it’s a mix between playing out from the back and have also a bit sometimes longer balls behind the lines. And I think we have a good balance between these two options. I think in the defensive way, when you see our preseason games, we stand better than the whole last season. We defend quite better. So, yeah, we are very excited for the startâ€‌ Saturday.

“It’s not rocket science,â€‌ said Mellberg. “It’s a lot of hard work, which we have done physically, especially in the beginning, and then more and more tactically. I think they have a clear idea of what we need to win matches.â€‌

Mellberg’s biggest challenge was to shore up a defense that allowed 63 goals, the sixth-most in the league and 18 more than it allowed in its first season. Injuries forced Hackworth and his predecessor, Bradley Carnell, to have little or no continuity at the center back position, and Mellberg regularly used in training camp a three-man backline, rather than the four-man backline that had been the team’s signature formation before.

Most of the rebuilding City SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel did came during the summer transfer window, adding attackers Hartel, Cedric Teuchert and Simon Becher, left back Horn, center back Henry Kessler and midfielder Jake Girdwood-Reich, while moving out center back Tim Parker, whose contract negotiations had gone nowhere.

But there still were some key additions in the winter break, starting with the hiring of Mellberg. Pfannenstiel added another center back, Timo Baumgartl, as added protection for the oft-injured Joakim Nilsson, and midfielder Conrad Wallem, who can play a variety of positions and showed very well in training camp.

Injuries set the tone for last season, and the team starts the season with uncertainties about some players. Teuchert isn’t hurt, but he left the team while it was in California to finalize the paperwork on his green card, which means he won’t count as an international player any more. While this is good for the team when it comes to roster building, he didn’t play in any of the team’s four preseason games in California and didn’t get back to أغر؟´«أ½ until Friday, though Mellberg said he could still be available Saturday. Defensive midfielder Chris Durkin didn’t begin full practices with the team until this week and was on the field Friday.

On Friday morning, City SC announced what had been reported on Thursday, that the team had traded midfielder Indiana Vassilev, one of the most popular players on the team over its first two seasons but someone whose playing time dropped sharply after the acquisitions last season, to Philadelphia for $1 million in general allocation money ($400,000 this year, $600,000 next year), plus another $250,000 if various incentives are hit and a percentage of any transfer fee if Vassilev goes elsewhere.

Pfannenstiel said he planned to reinvest that money as soon “as possible to bolster the team.â€‌

In a separate move, the team signed free-agent midfielder Alfredo Morales, who, though he’s played for the U.S. national team, has also played in Germany, including for Pfannenstiel. Morales played three seasons with New York City FC, including on their MLS Cup winning team, and played last season with the San Jose Earthquakes. Morales is a defensive midfielder and his signing shores up what could be a soft spot for City SC at the start of the season, with Durkin’s availability in doubt. Morales was with the team for its California camp and got in a preseason game, though Mellberg said it will be a while before he’s ready to play in a real game.

The opener will be a frigid affair, with the temperature at kickoff being around freezing. It probably won’t be the team’s coldest game at kickoff — its second MLS game, against San Jose, started at 25 degrees — but it will rival the club’s first game at what was then CityPark, City2 vs. Bayer Leverkusen, which was 31 at kickoff in 2022.

City SC stayed over in California after its training camp there was supposed to have ended to avoid the brutal cold here. The team returned to أغر؟´«أ½ on Thursday afternoon and had a short practice session on Friday. Mellberg admitted it was weird buildup to a home game, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the new start.

“I’m really looking forward to it,â€‌ Mellberg said.

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