Y’all, that was not a pretty soccer game. It was intense, physical, foul-y, edgy stuff. There are plenty of good reasons for that, all of which we knew going in: St. Louis HAD to win to make the playoffs. LouCity didn’t HAVE to win to clinch first place in Group E. It was the first chance all season to close the door, however, and John Hackworth and his charges haven’t been the types to needlessly leave figurative doors open if they can avoid it. A bird or an Indy XI might fly in! No thanks! They’re disease-ridden and poop everywhere! And then there’s the bird to deal with!
On top of the normal reasons, there was the fact that this was probably the last Kings’ Cup game ever, a trophy that St. Louis has never won. There’s the whole “no more team after 2020” vibe that sharpens anxiety and heightens intensity. Oh, and there’s also the overarching wave of stuff that comes with it being 2020 and mostly awful in general in these United States all year long (so far).
So John Hackworth rolled out with his best lineup, Steve Trittschuh more or less did the same as best he could, and guys got kicked a lot for 90 or so minutes on Saturday night. A game like this was likely to hinge on a set play, as St. Louis was hell bent on not allowing an open play goal and City was too good and had too much of the ball to give STL many chances the other way. Oscar’s fabulous cross in the waning moments of the first half to the head of Speedy Williams was the only good window either team really saw on the night, and that was all she wrote.
Speedy won MOTM, and even taking the “he’s the goalscorer” bias out of the equation, he deserved it: 90 minutes played, 2 shots, completed 89% of his passes, created a scoring chance, had 77 touches on a night that STL wasn’t giving up anything, won five duels, never dispossessed, won his lone attempted dribble (as per usual), and eight ball recoveries. I’m still not totally convinced Speedy is really a No. 6 but at this point my conviction is probably completely adverse to reality.
St. Louis tried hard, though. They had a couple first half goals disallowed for offside, and I’m sure there’s quite a bit of disagreement among the blue and green contingent about that. They took a ton of shots in the first half, something the Louisville City defense shut off pretty effectively in the second 45′. City only had one “big chance” all game, while St. Louis produced two. STL had 14 total chances created to City’s eight. They had more shots, more shots on target. They gave it all they had, but it just wasn’t enough.
This isn’t a game I’m eager to go back and watch again, but it was definitely a test for Louisville City. They’ll have some things the staff will want to examine and shore up as the playoffs get closer.
Meanwhile, however, Morados get to celebrate their Group E win a week ahead of schedule and figure out how best to use the upcoming SKCII game. St. Louis still has a very minimal opportunity to get past Indy and into the playoffs if the dominoes fall the right way. Best of luck to them.
VAMOS MORADOS.
