Written by David Garcia
Revised by Rosendo Castillo

St. Louis City have defeated the Houston Dynamo in the first leg of Round One of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

The game began and the Dynamo appeared to have not lost the principles. The team maintained possession, forced fouls, and took shots. Steve Clark would be issued a Yellow Card in the 21st minute and a couple of minutes later, Designated Player Sebastian Ferreira would have to be stretched off the field. Brad Smith replaced the Paraguayan and shortly after Ibrahim Aliyu’s shot hit the back of the net but it was overturned by VAR. After the goal, the match became even and eventually went into the half tied at zero. 

The Second Half revitalized St. Louis City as they brought danger into the Dynamo third. They were able to score off a Tim Parker header in the 61st minute to give them the lead. The goal gave St. Louis the momentum until in the 72nd minute when Aliyu fought off defenders and placed a great cross to Sebastian Kowalczyk who was able to get his first goal as a Dynamo player to even the scoreline.

Both teams then modified, Ted Segal made his debut in the 73rd minute and Jan Gregus entered in the 84th minute. The game was in its final minutes but the home team kept pressuring until Hosei Kijima recovered a ball in the box and beat Clark to give his team the win in the 90th minute. 

The Men in Orange will now begin the 2024 MLS season against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, February 24 at Shell Energy Stadium before hosting the Second Leg at home against St. Louis.