CITY draws in match against Western Conference leading Vancouver

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis CITY SC held off a dominant Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday in a 0-0 draw, forcing the Western Conference leaders to share a point at Energizer Park.

The tie gave CITY goalkeeper Ben Lundt his second clean sheet since CITY’s starting keeper, Roman Bürki, suffered a hand fracture on March 14. The nil-nil draw was the second time this season the Whitecaps have been shut out.

“Clean sheet is always nice,” Lundt said. “I feel good out there. I feel comfortable. It’s nice that we kept a clean sheet today.”

Along with missing their star goalie, CITY managed to hold back the strong attacking Vancouver while also missing one of their best defensive players, Henry Kessler. Kessler suffered a hamstring injury during practice on Friday. According to Olof Mellberg, Kessler will be out for possibly more than a month.

Kessler s a long list of injured players with Rasmus Alm, Bürki, Chris Durkin, Jay Reid and Joakim Nilsson all being out for injury before the match. Eduard Löwen has also missed several matches for non-injury reasons.

Despite missing several big players, CITY nearly pulled out a win against Vancouver with a goal in minute 25 by Marcel Hartel, but for a second time in two matches, a CITY goal was disallowed. This time, a VAR ruling had Conrad Wallem offside before the goal.

“We were a little bit sloppy in the first half, allowed them a few transition moments, we got lucky with that disallowed goal in the first half,” Vancouver’s captain, Ranko Veselinović, said to the press after the match.

By the end of the match, St. Louis and Vancouver split possession of the ball 50-50. Vancouver took 16 shots, with only two on target. CITY took nine shots and had three on target.

“I think it was a positive game,” Conrad Wallem said to the press after the match. “We looked more solid defensively, like we were building on in the start of the season, and we were getting up the pitch, pressing high, getting out of their pressure a lot, and creating some big chances as well. And against one of the best teams in the league. It’s, overall, a positive experience. And of course, at the end of the day, it’s really frustrating to sit there and not have the win today for sure.”

CITY’s next match will be on Sunday, April 27, against LAFC at BMO Stadium. That match will start at 6 p.m.

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