City SC recaptured the magic of its debut game a year ago, sort of.
In Austin, Texas, for the first time since that game, the team couldn't match its win of a year ago, when it scored two goals in the final 12 minutes to pull out a historic victory. This time, it pulled out a tie on a goal by Celio Pompeu in the 93rd minute, getting a point from a 2-2 game with Austin at Q2 Stadium on Saturday night. City SC remains unbeaten after three games with a win and two ties.
City SC outshot Austin 18-3 and allowed Austin just two shots on goal, but Austin scored on both of them while City SC got a goal on a penalty kick by Eduard Lowen that tied the game in the 49th minute, but Austin scored less than two minutes later to retake the lead.Â
But three minutes into stoppage time, with City SC buzzing around the Austin net, Tomas Totland crossed a ball to Pompeu who volleyed it off the inside of the leg of Austin's Ethan Finley and out of the reach of goalkeeper Brad Stuver. It's the second goal in as many games for Pompeu.
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Austin took the lead in the 12th minute when Matt Hedges pushed his marker, Chris Durkin, to the ground and then rose up to head the ball across the goal mouth and in.
And then the chances began for City SC. In the 23rd minute, Indiana Vassilev broke into the box on the left but Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver cut down the angle and blocked the shot. In the 36th minute, City SC countered off an Austin corner. Vassilev brought the ball up the right side and passed to Celio Pompeu. Stuver came out to get the ball but Pompeu beat him to it, but in getting around Stuver, Austin’s Jon Gallagher was able to get the ball, but Pompeu immediately won it back. He passed to Eduard Lowen at the top of the box and with Stuver out but an Austin player taking his place. With not much time to react, Lowen shot the ball over the crossbar.
As if to make up for missing that easy chance, Lowen very nearly scored three minutes later. On a free kick, he hit the right post and the ball bounced back across the face of the goal. Stuver stuck out his hand and blocked the ball, which landed squarely on the goal line, and kept moving. It looked like the ball had gone over the line after the bounce – Tim Parker, standing feet away, leaped in the air in celebration – but Stuver reached back and swatted the ball clear.
The ball has to completely cross the line to be a goal, and MLS does not use goal-line technology that can determine if the ball fully crossed the line. With no replays that showed a conclusive angle, the video review was brief and play continued.
Vassilev made the most of a shot from outside in the 44th minute, with his shot from outside the box going just wide of the far post.
But City SC finally scored, three minutes into the second half. Aziel Jackson was tripped in the box by Austin’s Alex Ring for a clear-cut penalty kick that Eduard Lowen drove in from the spot for his first goal of the season.
The tie was very short-lived. City SC’s defense lost Austin defender Julio Cascante in the box and he headed in a pass from Ring in the 51st minute.
After the success of last week’s game with New York City FC, coach Bradley Carnell went with the same lineup, something he has rarely done in the team’s brief existence. That meant that Klauss, who didn’t start last week after starting the first three games of the season, began the game on the bench for the second game in a row and a rare time when he didn’t start for a reason other than coming back from an injury or needing rest in a crowded schedule.
Midfielder Rasmus Alm suited up for the first time this season after having sports hernia surgery and entered the game in the 86th minute. Defender Nikolas Dyhr’s first start will have to wait as Anthony Markanich got the nod again at left back. Defender Kyle Hiebert was back in uniform after missing the previous three games with a knee injury. Njabulo Blom and Josh Yaro were out with injuries.