Match Recap: CITY SC gives up two-goal advantage in second half to share points with SKC

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Matrix Midwest) - St. Louis CITY SC shared points with rivals Sporting Kansas City Wednesday night at Energizer Park.

After taking a 2-0 lead into the half, St. Louis conceded twice in the final 20 minutes of the match to end on a 2-2 draw with Sporting KC.

It was a warm summer night at Energizer Park that saw plenty of action.

Célio Pompeu kicked off the scoring in the 15th minute.

The play started with a St. Louis corner kick that was deflected by the SKC defense. The ball found the feet of Pompeu just outside the corner of the box.

In a similar manner to his last goal against Kansas in 2024, the Brazilian winger sent a curling shot into the top-right corner of the goal to give CITY an advantage.

Energizer Park erupted, as it was a meaningful first goal of the season for Pompeu, who had been working to get back in form after suffering an injury last year.

As the first half was expiring, St. Louis was able to add to its advantage. Pompeu, isolated on the wing, drew in two KC defenders before playing a ball to a cutting Tomáš Ostrák.

Ostrák took the ball forward until he saw an opportunity to strike a few feet outside of the box. The ball was sent towards the bottom left corner of the goal, but was redirected by a deflection off the feet of Cedric Teuchert and ended up taking a high bounce into the goal.

The goal was given to Teuchert, his team-leading third of the year. And Tomáš Ostrák picked up his first goal contribution of the season with the assist.

It was a dominant first-half performance by CITY, which carried over into the second half...at first.

Pompeu nearly added a third score with a barely-wide-right dribbling shot after about 30 seconds. Five minutes later, he sent another shot towards goal that was saved. For the next 15 minutes, Conrad Wallem, Marcel Hartel, and João Klauss each found their own opportunities to put the game fully out of reach, but came up short. Sporting’s John Pulskamp was able to recover from his sub-par first half and deliver what ended up being some match-saving saves.

At 70 minutes, SKC was able to play the ball around the St. Louis defense and left-back Tim Leibold scored his first goal of the season to make the score 2-1.

And it only took seven more minutes for the air to be completely sucked out of Energizer Park.

St. Louis conceded a free kick in its own half. The ball was sent back post, where forward Dejan Joveljic was able to rise up and head it past Roman Bürki to level the score.

Bürki had been having a phenomenal return to action, but was let down once again by his defense.

“When we conceded 2-2, I don’t think we were even close to winning that header, the first goal was an easy one,” Bürki said in the post-game presser.”It was just too easy for them to score a goal.”

CITY SC rattled off several more chances, but couldn’t retake the lead before the final whistle, and the second leg of the 2025 I-70 Derby ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first time St. Louis scored more than one goal since March 9. But, in its last four matches, this club has given up nine goals in the final 30 minutes of action.

“I can’t explain this,” said Pompeu after the match. “We have chances to kill the game, but we don’t. We don’t take our chances, and then we let them come back to one, and then a header. I mean, in my opinion, you just have to be able to learn how to kill games, how to finish 30-40 minutes.”

St. Louis ended with 17 total shots, seven on target, and a 45 percent possession. Jake Girdwood-Reich made his first appearance for CITY SC this season, and Joey Zalinsky made his MLS debut after subbing on in the 78th minute.

St. Louis CITY SC (2-6-5) and Sporting KC (3-8-2) are still tied for No. 13 in the Western Conference with 11 points each.

Next up, CITY SC will go on the road to face Minnesota United.

For more on St. Louis CITY SC, click here.

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