St. Louis City SC at a loss without Klauss, falls 2-1 to Timbers

ST. LOUIS — Without their leading goal scorer, St. Louis City SC made like Portland’s team name and went down 2-1 against the Timbers on Saturday in St. Louis.

After starting their inaugural season with a perfect march, City SC stumbled to a 1-3-1 April. Klauss, who is tied for fourth in MLS in goals scored with five, injured his quad in the previous match at Colorado a week ago and was out for this game and potentially on Saturday, May 6, at FC Dallas.

The two teams fought through a scoreless match until the 63rd minute when Evander da Silva Ferreira scored the first goal of the game on a penalty kick to give the Timbers a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis City responded in the 79th minute with a goal from Célio Pompeu, who was assisted by Tomás Ostrák and Rasmus Alm.

The hope of leaving the pitch with at least a point evaporated quickly in the 82nd minute. Yimmi Chara took a pass from Santiago Moreno and scored the go-ahead goal.

“You have the energy and the hype; you’re excited, and oftentimes, the very next few plays after a goal whether you concede or whether you score are going to be vitally important,” said St. Louis City coach Bradley Carnell. “And you could just see maybe a little sense of relief from us, which meant now a little lack of concentration.”

Portland (3-5-2) avenge a 2-1 home loss to St. Louis (6-3-1) earlier in the season. The Timbers outshot City SC 15-7 with a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal, marking the first time they had the advantage in a match this season.

City SC goalie Roman Bürki totaled five saves in the match.

“When there’s space underneath, where there’s space behind, space everywhere; I just felt everywhere I looked there was space,” Carnell said. “Unfortunately I would say this is a tough day at the office for us. It’s a good learning moment.”

With the loss, St. Louis falls a point behind front-running Seattle in the Western Conference standings. City SC travels to play FC Dallas on Saturday.