CITY SC takes 1st loss of 2025 season in match against Philadelphia Union

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis CITY SC took their first loss of the 2025 season Saturday in their match against a Bradley Carnell-led Philadelphia Union.

The match-up was the first time St. Louis and Philly had faced off and the first time CITY had played against a team coached by St. Louis’ first and former head coach, Carnell.

The loss also broke CITY’s four-game streak of keeping the opposing offense shut down. In minute eight of the match, the Philly offense made themselves the first team to score against CITY this season.

The CITY defense, especially goalkeeper Ben Lundt, kept the Philly offense at bay for the rest of the match. The Union took 18 shots, with nine of them on goal. In stopping eight of the nine shots on goal, Lundt earned an MLS career-high of eight saves.

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“I think for a goalkeeper, every minute gets me more confident every game,” Lundt said to the press after the match. “So, I personally feel good. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a result here, that’s what we came here for. And again, we need to learn from this quickly. We don’t have much time, the next game is coming fast, so we need to learn, need to analyze, and we go again. And the next game, we have the home crowd. Being at home helps every MLS team, I think that also played a little bit today as well.”

CITY kept Philly to one goal despite, in minute 67, Eduard Löwen earning a red card, forcing CITY to play the rest of the match one man down. CITY will be without Löwen, one of their main playmakers, during their next match due to the automatic one-game suspension that comes with red cards.

Philly kept CITY shut down with CITY only managing six shots, with only one of those shots on goal.

“We need more quality on the ball and to combine better,” CITY head coach Olof Mellberg said of the team’s scoring chances. “We had our chances today. We had a few incredible chances, even though they were not always shots on target.”

CITY’s next match is against Austin at Energizer Park on Sunday, March 30, starting at 1:15 p.m.

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