City SC Posse Matchday 4 Reaction - Plenty of Chances. Zero Goals. And Now We're Bottom of the Table.

St. Louis City SC fans are running out of patience, and honestly, it’s hard to blame them. We’re writing this in the dying minutes of the match and the story has already been written. City is about to drop another one, and unless something miraculous happens in stoppage time, the club is officially sitting dead last in the table four matches into the 2026 season. What makes it worse is that tonight didn’t even feel like a game we deserved to lose. In fact, for long stretches, City looked like the better team. The possession looked better. The movement was better. The chances were absolutely there. But none of that matters when the ball refuses to go into the back of the net.

And that has become the defining problem of this team. City cannot score a goal. Not from open play, not from rebounds, not from corners, not even from inside the six-yard box. Just moments ago we had two opportunities sitting right on the doorstep and somehow neither one ended with the ball in the net. Then in the 92nd minute a corner kick pinballed through a crowd of players inside the six-yard area and still nobody could get a clean touch. The opportunities are there. The attacking moments are there. But the finishing simply is not.

The statistic that tells the entire story is painfully simple. City has scored one goal in four games. That lone goal came in the season opener. Since then, the team has gone three straight matches without scoring, and unless something happens in the last moments of stoppage time tonight, that drought continues. In MLS, you can survive a bad defensive night. You can survive an unlucky bounce. What you cannot survive is a complete inability to score.

At some point we have to talk about the lineup decisions that keep putting the team in this position, starting with Wallem. We’ve said it on the podcast, we’ve said it in previous blogs, and tonight only reinforced it. Wallem cannot be starting. Every time the ball comes through him the attack dies. Instead of pushing forward, instead of driving into space, the ball immediately goes backwards. The tempo disappears, the pressure disappears, and City is forced to start the entire buildup again. Fans see it. Social media sees it. Everyone watching the match can see it. This team needs players willing to attack the goal, not recycle possession backward.

Which brings us to another frustrating moment tonight: the long-awaited appearance of Pompeu. Fans have been calling for him to get a chance, and when he finally came on the field it was in the 82nd minute. By that point City was already down 2-0. That’s not a meaningful opportunity to impact a match. And yet almost immediately he looked dangerous. In the 94th minute he delivered a strong shot on goal that forced a legitimate save from the LAFC keeper. That’s exactly the type of attacking energy this team has been missing. It also raises the obvious question that fans have been asking for weeks now: why is he not getting minutes earlier in the match?

The forward rotation throughout the night didn’t make much more sense either. Cordova came on at halftime replacing Teuchert, who had actually looked like the more threatening offensive option up to that point. Becher remained on the field until the 75th minute despite looking completely gassed. There’s even a fair argument that he lost his mark on the sequence that led to LAFC’s first goal. Meanwhile the younger players like McSorley and Joyner are showing flashes of what this attack could look like with more urgency. McSorley had a great shot on goal late in the game after a beautifully delivered ball from Joyner. Are they the long-term solution? Probably not. But right now, City desperately needs players willing to push forward and take chances, and those two at least look like they’re trying to do exactly that.

Lost in the frustration of the scoreline is the fact that the midfield & defense actually played a fairly solid match for most of the night. Hartel looked good. Durkin had another strong performance. Edelman continues to be reliable. For long stretches the back line stepped up, closed down space, and blocked shots effectively. The trouble came on the two moments where City allowed LAFC to dictate the play. Instead of stepping forward to pressure the ball, the defense started backing up. That hesitation is exactly what good teams look for. LAFC sensed it immediately and took advantage of the space. And when they got their chances, they buried them. That’s the difference right now between these two teams.

To give LAFC their credit, they came into this match undefeated and hadn’t conceded a goal yet in MLS play this season. They’re organized, disciplined, and when they get a scoring opportunity, they finish it. But tonight City absolutely had the opportunities to break that defensive streak. We created the chances. We moved the ball well enough to get into dangerous spaces. We just couldn’t finish.

And that’s where the mood around this team is starting to shift. It’s still early in the season, but the frustration among City fans is becoming impossible to ignore. Social media is filled with criticism of the substitutions, the starting lineup decisions, and the lack of urgency in the attacking third. Coach Demet is starting to feel the pressure. Four matches into the season and St. Louis City SC are sitting at the bottom of the table while rivals like Kansas City have already picked up wins and moved ahead.

Even the betting angle we talked about on the podcast didn’t go our way tonight. I had money on the draw because for a long time it looked like that was exactly where this match was heading. Instead LAFC converted their chances and City didn’t. That’s really the simplest explanation for the result.

If there’s one small positive to take away from tonight, it’s the attitude City showed late in the match. Down 2-0, the team kept pushing forward. They kept attacking and trying to create something in the final minutes. That’s a big difference from what we saw against San Diego, where the attack seemed to completely disappear. Tonight there was urgency. There was pressure. But urgency only matters if it turns into goals.

And right now, City simply cannot score.

Four games into the 2026 season. One goal. Three straight matches without scoring. Bottom of the table.

The effort is there. The chances are there. The possession is there. But until this team finds players who can actually finish those chances, none of it matters.

City needs goals. And they need them fast.

For the full breakdown and post-match reactions, check out upcoming episodes of City SC Posse and get caught up on everything happening around St. Louis City SC.

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