A showdown between the two teams at the bottom of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference standings produced some thrilling moments, including the first hat trick in St. Louis City SC history, by Klauss, but it didn’t produce a winner, as City SC and the Los Angeles Galaxy played to a 3-3 tie before a sellout crowd at Energizer Park on Saturday afternoon.

The lack of a winner meant that both teams lost in their last-ditch efforts to get into a playoff spot as the teams opened the second half of their seasons. The Galaxy are pretty much a lost cause after going winless in their first 16 games, but with a strong finish, City SC could climb back into contention.

But ties won’t do it, and City SC couldn’t hold on to leads of 1-0 and 2-1, though did rally from down 3-2 as it moved to 1-1-1 under coach David Critchley since he took over from Olof Mellberg.

Klauss turned a potentially miserable afternoon into a passable one with a couple of impressive goals, including a volley in the 95th minute into the far side of the netting off a pass from Timo Baumgartl that salvaged the tie and the point.

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Only minutes before, an ill-advised pass by Joey Zalinsky and a slip by Jayden Reid gave the Galaxy a breakaway in the 87th minute and Gabriel Pec finished that looked to have doomed City SC. It was the fifth goal City SC had allowed after the 80th minute in the past five games.

Klauss ran his season total to five in MLS play and seven overall, including four in the three games since Critchley took over. It was yet another game where City SC showed some good things, but another where it couldn’t put together the full game needed to get a badly needed win. Though the 11-game winless streak that got Mellberg fired has ended, City SC has just one win its past 14 MLS games.

For the third time in three games under Critchley, City SC scored first, and for the second time, that goal came from Klauss. Marcel Hartel slid a pass through to spring Klauss in the box and he put the ball between the legs of Galaxy goalkeeper Novak Micovic from about 5 yards out. It was the third MLS goal for Klauss, who also had two in Open Cup matches.

City SC midfielder Celio Pompeu, right, leaps to avoid a slide tackle by Galaxy midfielder Lucas Sanabria on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at Energizer Park.

But it was another game where City SC’s lead could have been bigger. Simon Becher had two very good chances early in the half, one in the third and one in the seven, both in the box, that he couldn’t finish. Becher hasn’t scored since Week 3 of the season, against the Galaxy in Los Angeles, and while he continues to find himself in dangerous scoring positions, he remains unable to put it in the net. (Though he did draw the foul for the game-winning penalty kick against San Jose.)

City SC had some company in the missed chances department. In the 17th minute, Galaxy forward Joseph Paintsil had 20 yards on the nearest City SC defender on a breakaway that looked like a sure goal. Roman Burki came out to challenge and Paintsil crossed to Matheus Nascimanto, making a run down the right, but Nascimento couldn’t catch up with the ball and the chance was wasted, leaving a frustrated Paintsil standing in the City SC box with his hands on hips, looking across the field in dismay.

The Galaxy got even in the 41st minute on a nice combination that ended with Gabriel Pec putting in a pass from Marco Reus, a former teammate of Burki’s at Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

It took only two minutes of the second half for Klauss to score again. Celio Pompeu won a race for a ball near midfield and sent it upfield to a running Klauss, who touched the ball just once but ran along side it for about 25 yards and on his second touch he drove the ball from about 10 yards out into the roof of the net for one of the best goalies by a City SC player this season.

That lead lasted about five minutes, when Reus made a nice spin move at the top of the box to get the ball to Nascimento, who put it past Burki, who was displeased with his team’s defending on the play.

With the FIFA Club World Cup starting in the eastern United States on Saturday and the CONCACAF Gold Cup starting on the west coast, Major League Soccer is taking next week off and City SC’s next game isn’t until Wednesday, June 25, when it hosts Orlando. The team won’t practice again until Friday.

With Henry Kessler missing the game with a hamstring injury, Kyle Hiebert came back into the starting lineup after not playing in the previous two games. Hiebert had played in the first 17 games of the season, all of the MLS games plus the two Open Cup games, but the return of Kessler to the lineup two games ago, a minor injury and the birth of his first child, kept Hiebert out.

Cedric Teuchert and Jannes Horn both returned to the roster after missing last week because of injuries. Critchley said that Horn was fit enough to play but they were being cautious in holding him out of the lineup. Also back on the roster was Conrad Wallem, who missed the Portland game because of a red card. None of the three were in the starting lineup. But with their return, there were no callups from City2 needed for the match.

Photos: St. Louis City SC hosts LA Galaxy

City SC forward Joao Klauss shoots and scores late in the first half against the LA Galaxy on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at Energizer Park in St. Louis.

City SC midfielder Celio Pompeu, right, leaps to avoid a slide tackle by Galaxy midfielder Lucas Sanabria on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at Energizer Park.

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