Match Report | St. Louis CITY SC Extends Unbeaten Streak with 1-1 Draw Against Real Salt Lake at Energizer Park

Read the detailed match report as St. Louis CITY SC extends their unbeaten streak with a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake at Energizer Park. Highlights, analysis, and more.

The communications department of St. Louis City SC usually provides me with the full post-game media for each match. While waiting for the first pitch at 26:43 in the game between St. Louis City SC and Real Salt Lake City SC, I found myself in the press room chatting with one of The Narrative Matters guest writers Mike Tree.

They had recently launched a campaign encouraging first-time fans to apply for free tickets, and they sent me a winning entry to my personal email. Since I was already registered with a press credential at Energizer Stadium, I was excited to transfer my SeatGeek tickets to him and his son.

This was especially meaningful because it marked his son’s first time attending a match, and he also had the opportunity to win a door prize—a Marvel Comics comic book—during Marvel Comic Night.

Mich enjoying his comic book, Image by Mike Tree

Now, let get to the post game summary

St. Louis CITY SC picked up a point against Real Salt Lake after a 1-1 draw at Energizer Park on Saturday night. After scoreless action in the first half, Salt Lake struck in the 60th minute from Sergi Solans before Marcel Hartel equalized for CITY SC in the 72nd minute. The goal was Hartel’s team-leading ninth goal across all competitions. With the tie, St. Louis remains unbeaten in nine matches across all competitions. 

St. Louis will have a bye week before traveling to face San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park on Saturday, August 15, with kickoff set for 9:30 p.m. CT. 

Postgame Notes  

• Marcel Hartel scored his sixth goal of the season and ninth across all competitions 
• In his last five games for CITY SC, Hartel has registered five goal contributions (three goals, two assists) 
• Alex Mățan made his first appearance for St. Louis CITY SC coming on as a substitute in the second half 
• St. Louis extends its unbeaten streak to nine games, the longest unbeaten streak in club history 

 August 1, 2026 – Energizer Park (St. Louis, MO) 

Goal-Scoring Plays  

RSL: Sergi Solans (Saba Lobjanidze), 60th minute – Sergi Solans scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box to the lower right zone. 

STL: Marcel Hartel, 72nd minute – Marcel Hartel scored with a right footed shot from the center of the box to the lower right zone. 

Scoring Summary  

RSL: Sergi Solans (Saba Lobjanidze), 60’ 

STL: Marcel Hartel, 72′ 

Misconduct Summary  

RSL: Zach Booth (caution), 5′ 

STL: Eduard Löwen (caution), 28′ 

RSL: Philip Quinton (caution), 29′ 

RSL: DeAndre Yedlin (caution), 40′ 

STL: Chris Durkin (caution), 43′  

STL: Sangbin Jeong (caution), 80′ 

Lineups   

STL: GK Roman Bürki ©; D Lukas MacNaughton, D Dante Polvara, D Timo Baumgartl; M Conrad Wallem, M Chris Durkin (Alex Mățan, 64’), M Tomas Totland, M Daniel Edelman; F Sangbin Jeong (Tomáš Ostrák, 84’), F Eduard Löwen (Marcel Hartel, 64’), F Simon Becher (Palmer Ault, 90’+1) 

Substitutes not used: GK Ben Lundt, D Fallou Fall, D Rafael Santos, M Rafael Santos, M Miguel Perez, F Mykhi Joyner 

TOTAL SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 2 

RSL: GK Rafael Cabral ©; D DeAndre Yedlin, D Juan Sanabria, D Zach Booth (Dominik Marczuk, 90’+1), D Philip Quinton, D Sam Junqua; M Diego Luna (Victor Olantunji, 78’), M Griffin Dillon, M Lineker Rodrigues Dos Santos (Saba Lobjanidze, 46’), M Noel Caliskan; F Sergi Solans (Aiden Hezarkhani, 90’+1) 

Substitutes not used: GK Mason Stajduhar, D Alexandros Katranis, D Juan Arias, M Lukas Engel, M Stijn Spiering

TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 4 

Referee: Chris Penso 

Head Coach Yoann Damet  

First time in a while you’ve had to play from behind. What did it look like out there?  

Yeah, it happens. It happens. I love the response. We had, like, five minutes where we lost momentum where we started to get disconnected a little bit and defend deeper. They made us pay by scoring a goal, and we know that we have to go. So we already knew that before. That’s what we’ve been trying to do foremost of the time, to try to create opportunities. But when you are behind, yeah, it creates a little bit more urgency. You have to react.  

I was very happy with the response, the energy. Special mention to the fans after that goal was unbelievable today, the energy in the stadium, like the feeling it gave the team was like quite impressive.  

And I think that pushed the team to finish the game to try to score that second goal that unfortunately we didn’t get but it’s part of the season, so yeah.  

What went into the decision not to start Marcel [Hartel] and looks like he gave you obviously — really big, when he did come in.  

I’ve been in touch with Cello this week. He wasn’t feeling the greatest.  

So we thought, speaking with each other, that it was best for him to sit on the bench to start the game, which again, like he’s a guy that has been outstanding in terms of putting the team first and being honest.  

I think that relationship that we’ve had since January has been incredible, as well, in the way he leads and the way he is professional and the way he cares about the group. So that was the reason that went into it, and of course, that gave us a big boost when he came in.  

If he was not feeling well, he looked pretty good out there on the field. Seemed like a jolt of electricity for you guys.  

Fair enough. Fair enough.  

Were you expecting that, the way Cello is?  

Yeah, it’s part of life. You’re going through ups and downs, there’s some moments where you feel certain ways and like it’s part of the communication with the players, like I mentioned Jazi [Orozco] as well. Jazi was not injured. It was just feeling uncomfortable. He felt something in the previous game, and tonight it was just a matter of communicating with Jazi.  

Could have pushed him and said, like, hey, you are in tonight and you are going to play or you’re going to come off the bench. I could have because like he’s got nothing. But at the same time, the player is feeling uncomfortable, so we need to also take care of him.  

Like this is something that has been very important to me is to put the human first, and we try to do that with every single guy.  

Just overall, can you describe how you’re feeling about your team? You didn’t win but you got another point. That’s eight games now in a row. How do you describe your excitement about the way the team is playing?  

Listen, I’m very pleased, very proud of what the guys are doing, and what I’m the most proud tonight is the feeling we’ve got of leaving the game and feeling unsatisfied. That’s also something very important.  

That was part of what I said to the guys, maybe like four month ago, we would have been very happy tonight because we had a good performance, we got a result. Like that wasn’t the best but we got a result against a good team that sits quite high in the table.  

But tonight, what I’m very pleased with is like the feeling of not being satisfied. You know, like we could have won the game. I thought we did everything can he could to try to win the game. I really like, enjoyed the way we’re defending forward. I really enjoyed the way we are playing. There is a ton of things that can be better. That’s also the thing that’s the feeling we’ve got within the group is, like, nobody is getting satisfied no matter what. Like we want to keep getting better.  

So, listen, for me, it’s everything I could ask for. We are in a good place, yes, but everybody wants more, and everybody is willing to sacrifice and keep working really hard to get there.  

So that’s very good for us, and we’ll be back here on Monday to get back to work.  

When Marcel and Alex [Mățan] come on in the 65th minute right after the goal is scored, and Mățan comes in with the double pivot, and he’s pushing forward to be a little bit more aggressive from that position. Was that always the plan when those two were coming in, or is that a response of being down a goal and being more desperate in this moment?  

No, to be fair, I think there was a couple element; the fact that Chris [Durkin] was on a yellow card and it was quite a transitional game that they could go on a counterattacks and you might have to make a foul at some point, like a tactical call to show them down. That’s part of game that could happen. I didn’t want to take a risk with that.  

Also being like 1-0 down, I think it was a moment to push. So having Matan and Cello at that time was a good opportunity to keep putting attacking players that combine together and keep us on the front foot.  

At the same time I believe you guys got a glimpse of what Matan is about when it comes to defending. Like don’t look at him for his height or like his size but look at him for the work he’s putting in, and tonight, like he gave a good sample of what I know he’s capable of.  

Would you describe him as taking in Chris Durkin’s role or a hybrid to play open more in the attack?  

No, offensively it was more like we put him wider to keep attacking and creating overload out wide. Like, defensively, he defended in double pivot. So he more or less took the role of Chris defensively but more so took the role of Danny [Edelman] offensively.  

That’s why we positioned Danny like more in the center, and I thought he did a great job. I think it’s only preseason for him. So like he’s only getting started, and I know he’s going to go back home tonight with a feeling of like what he can do but also like not being satisfied, which is great.  

Just to be clear, Marcel was it an illness this week?  

No, he’s dealing with some stuff. We had a conversation with him about it and probably not feel in the best place at the moment. That was the conversation with him.  

The shift to drop Edu [Löwen] back a little deeper, can you talk about what you wanted to accomplish with three midfielders, and did it have anything to do with Marcel is capable of in their central attacking spaces?  

Yeah, listen they play with a midfield two. They started with a midfield two and went to a midfield three to try to deal with the overload. At first they started to defend with the wingback a little bit more to make it a 3v3 in the middle which created some good picture for us of what we anticipated.  

The idea was to create an overload in the middle, which I think we did. I think we could have had more moments where maybe we receive like in between the lines rather than down the line.  

And yeah, that was the plan. I thought Edu did a great job tonight, like within that plan. Again it’s a different position than playing with two No. 10, and I think that support with the double pivot.  

But at the same time, this is also like one of the way we want to play; one of the animation we want to have. It’s going to take time for everybody to get acclimated to that. It’s also the case for Edu that has missed a big chunk of the first part of the season. So right now, we have should variation that I think are giving us a different look and different picture. Tonight playing a little bit more with two forward, as well. So it’s just going to keep taking time to make sure that the guys, whoever is next to them, have an understanding of what we could look like.  

But overall very happy with his performance.  

He created seven shots, you allowed none in the first half, and that continued a little bit into the second. But what did you make of what the team was able to connect with up until the final third and the performance of the two forwards in this game?  

It’s interesting because like in some ways, today looked a little bit like Colorado last week. Like we attacked quite high, like they were quite deep.  

The difference, we spoke after the game last week about the difference between the back four and the back five when you attack against a low block. Tonight we got that feeling a little more of what it was like in different kind of spaces. I think it took a bit of time to have our two nine that are close enough to each other in the final third to combine but also to have like someone maybe a little bit more holding up and some players coming underneath to then combine.  

Overall, I think it was interesting but again, like that’s definitely an area where we need to keep refining the concept a little bit and what we expect. There is also a part of creativity in those moments where it comes down to the players, like feeling it and connecting with each other and knowing who they are playing with.  

Overall, I thought that was good. That wasn’t great but I thought that was good, and I hope we can keep working on those areas where against deeper block we can create a little bit more — be a little bit more assertive in the way we play.  

What do you feel like you will take away from the test, like you talked about this being a good test for your team and coming at a good time, what do you feel like — obviously it’s the right in the aftermath but what you’ll take away of your assessment of the club after this one?  

Yeah, my takeaways, in terms of like performance, we are there. Again, we finished the game with more than 60 percent possession. We had like 20 shots tonight. Like we spent most of the game like in the opposition half.  

But again, those opponents you might have moments that if you are not perfect, you might get punished. And tonight that was a little bit the feeling in the second half; we had five minutes’ gap where we lost a little bit of control and we lost a little bit of momentum and we got punished.  

And that’s the difference when you play against those teams is, like, they will find ways to hurt you. So can we better in those moments? I think it’s a good reminder for us that we are not there yet and that we need to keep working. But overall. Quite pleased with the performance from the group.  

Goalkeeper Roman Bürki 

On how things looked out there tonight: 

Very proud of the team for how we played. Those five minutes, obviously, were very disappointing. We dropped too much. We didn’t press, and we immediately got punished for that. Yeah, the way we play is once again like very happy with that. We just need to reward ourselves, and I think it’s kind of the main problem is still, we don’t finish the game early. I think in the first half we had 65% ball possession and maybe one shot on goal. That’s not enough, you know. We need to show early in the game, what way this game is going to go, because we can always have one action, the goal we concede, that we are not defending well, that we didn’t do pressing well, or a set piece. You can always concede one goal. You know, it’s just how football is. But we need to focus on finishing and scoring goals, and that wasn’t good enough today. 

On when Marcel Hartel came into the game: 

I mean, Cello is that player, the heart of our offense. I mean, without him, we saw what we saw today. There’s not a lot going on. We have the ball in their half, around their box. But the creativity, the quality that he brings is just like no other player than him on the team. 

On his diving save: 

Yeah, I just followed the ball in the air, and I saw he had the perfect touch for a bicycle kick, and it was just a matter of time. I knew he couldn’t hit it that hard, so I kind of tried to just react to it, and luckily it was not that precise. 

Midfielder Alex Mățan 

On his debut: 

First of all, it was a lot of fun. I’m happy that I can play my first game after roughly two and a half months. The fans were amazing. They pushed us so hard, and I can’t wait to get back out there.  

On his relationship with Coach Damet: 

I spoke already with Yoann before I came here, and he showed me what he wants me to play, and for me it was already, let’s say, familiar. And I came here, I met a nice group of players, and I just felt at home. I have been here for maybe two weeks, I don’t know, and I just felt at home, so I’m happy.

ABOUT ST. LOUIS CITY SC

St. Louis CITY SC, one of the few majority female-led ownership groups in all of professional sports, is Major League Soccer’s 28th expansion team and plays at Energizer Park, an STLMade 22,500-seat world-class soccer-specific stadium. Energizer Park is part of a new world-class stadium district, which includes a practice facility, team store and team headquarters all within the same 30+ acre urban campus in downtown St. Louis to help further the region’s continued growth and revitalization. St. Louis CITY SC’s vision is to be an exceptional club and neighbor that brings people together through the power of sports.

In closing, I am so excited about this season for our team, let’s keep pushing and support their drive to the top. I have been with the team as an Independent Media Contractor since 2023; the inauguration of their MLS season.