There were 363 days between St. Louis CITY SC road wins.
The club won its penultimate road game of the 2023 season before waiting nearly an entire calendar year for its next win away from home—Saturday’s 2-1 victory at San Jose. After such a futile stretch, there seemed to be more relief than celebration among CITY players upon finally succeeding on the road. Understandably so.
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The victory over the Earthquakes wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing win, especially after CITY secured its second and final goal early in the first half. But for a team that desperately needed the result, it could be something to build from—particularly with 2025 in mind.
From a defensive perspective, it was a noteworthy performance for St. Louis. The squad effectively limited San Jose’s danger, holding the hosts to 0.15 expected goals in the second half. CITY did so even without midfielder Chris Durkin, who left the match midway through the first half with a knee injury. It was a staunch effort, and one that Hackworth would prefer to focus on—rather than his club’s struggles to continue the blazing momentum it enjoyed early in the match.
“We haven’t done it very well all season,” Hackworth said. “We’ve lost points from this [leading] position previously.”
CITY stacked the box and defended the wide positions as well as it has all season. It was an especially important game for Jayden Reid, Jannes Horn, and Tomas Totland out wide. For Totland, it may have been doubly important after Jake Nerwinski featured at right back in recent weeks. Totland finished with nine clearances, two interceptions, four recoveries, and seven passes into the final third.
“I really like what I saw [from] Totland,” Hackworth said. “It’s been, for him, a struggle. He’s always good going forward; such a quality player on the ball. Really good engine. But he was really good defensively the whole night, from start to finish. Really proud of his performance.”
St. Louis will look to follow-up on this defensive performance when it hosts Sporting Kansas City this weekend. Was it perfect? No. Something to build from? Without a doubt.
“I don’t think we played particularly well,” Hackworth said. “What we did do is we defended the box very bravely, brilliantly, and, at times, made some key ball-winning moments.”
The potential returns of Joakim Nilsson and Henry Kessler this weekend could also boost the club’s defensive ranks. Regardless of personnel, Hackworth’s side knows it can put forth a more stingy team effort.
Saturday was proof.
“I think this is one of those hurdles that we just got over,” Hackworth said. “Now, we’ve got to go try to do it again.”
