For St. Louis City SC, the Leagues Cup has gone from midseason diversion to something much bigger: Training camp.
The tournament, which for City SC starts with a game on Saturday against Dallas at CityPark (8 p.m., free on Apple TV Season Pass), comes at a pivotal time for a club teetering on the brink of being knocked out of playoff contention. City SC has four new players who it hopes will make significant contributions, plus a couple more coming back from injuries who may get a chance to play if the team advances in the competition. For City SC to be at its best when MLS play resumes in late August, it needs to get as much done in this competition as it can.
“I think it becomes really important for our club to integrate these new guys into our team,” interim coach John Hackworth said Friday, “give them the opportunity to learn exactly how we want them to play so that they know their roles and responsibilities and at the same time with the quality that they’re bringing, it’s a huge boost to our team right now. And that comes at a much-needed time.”
“It’s massive,” said midfielder Chris Durkin. “It’s tough coming into a summer window in the MLS with no preseason. You’re thrust right into games right away. … It’s a great opportunity for us to learn them quicker on the pitch because that’s where you learn guys the best, how they are in certain moments within the game.”
The game should mark the home debut for the team’s four summer acquisitions: forward Cedric Teuchert, defender Jake Girdwood-Reich (both of whom made their City SC debuts Saturday at Kansas City), midfielder Marcel Hartel and forward Simon Becher. Hartel last played a game May 19 for St. Pauli in Germany; Becher went through training camp with his Danish club before coming here so he’s got a good foundation.
Hartel, one of the team’s designated players, is one who will be closely watched.
“This guy’s been in the offseason,” Hackworth said, “but he comes in and he puts himself in a position to be available right away in a week because he is so fit. ... Does he need time on the ball, does he need to understand the different tactical ideas that we’re trying to implement? Of course. But we’re not worried about his fitness right now. I think it’s hard for a guy to come off an offseason and play 90-plus minutes in a game but it’s really nice to have him available. And I’m looking forward to putting him on the field.”
The Leagues Cup, in its second year, is a tournament that includes every team in MLS and Liga MX, the Mexican league. MLS has shut down its regular season for a month for the tournament, which starts with play in three-team groups and then becomes a single-elimination tournament. City SC is in a group with Dallas (which it has a loss and a tie against this season) and Mexican club Juarez. The top two teams in each group advance. Dallas plays Juarez on Wednesday in Texas, and then Juarez plays at City SC the following Sunday. Teams get three points for a win and if a match is tied after 90 minutes, it will go straight to penalty kicks, with the winning team there getting two points and the loser one.
For a tournament that’s only a year old, it comes with a bit of baggage. By making the teams take a one-month break in the middle of the season, it has led to more congested schedules, which were one of the factors cited in MLS pulling out of the U.S. Open Cup. U.S. Soccer turned down that idea, and eventually a compromise was reached where some MLS teams took part in the Open Cup with their first team, some with their MLS Next Pro team and others, like City SC, not at all.
That didn’t sit well with many of the league’s most ardent supporters, and fan boycotts of Leagues Cup are taking place around the league. In St. Louis, that means no organized cheering or drumming in the supporters section at CityPark, and many of the supporters won’t attend the game. City SC is one of the teams that has professed a desire to play in the Open Cup and team officials have met with the supporters groups to make that clear.
“Look, this is St. Louis,” Hackworth said, “and if there’s a place in this country where the Open Cup is more important I certainly don’t know about it. And I think there has to be a reference to the historical importance of what the Open Cup has meant to our fan base and our club. ... This is something that we are trying to address, very directly, very upfront, hold nothing back. Our supporters have been fantastic from Day One. We appreciate everything they do for us. I don’t know some of the decisions that are being made in that regard off the field. ... We understand how important that Open Cup is, but this isn’t the Open Cup. This is the Leagues Cup. So now we have an opportunity to play in a different competition and hopefully advance and do well. And that’s going to be our main focus.”
So much has changed for City SC since the first edition of the Leagues Cup. Last year, it was a welcome break in the schedule for a team that was sitting atop the West. City SC lost both of its games and was done. But because of City SC’s MLS finish last season, it got a good seed this year, including both first-round games at home.
Now, City SC sits in 13th place in the Western Conference. A year ago, coach Bradley Carnell rested goalkeeper Roman Burki and defender Tim Parker for the opening game of the tournament. That won’t happen this time.
“I’m not even thinking about that,” Hackworth said. “I’m 100 percent focused on going full throttle, and using all our resources and maximizing every moment we can. I don’t think we’re in a position from our season that we can take our foot off the gas. This is a really good chance for us as a club to chase our first trophy and to bring all these new pieces in, so why would we do anything less than put our best foot forward?”