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“We need to go forward,� said center back Timo Baumgartl, “because you can see how we can play. That’s the thing which is optimistic for me to see how we can play, but it’s not 90 minutes, and that’s the thing.�

The search comes back to Energizer Park on Saturday when City SC faces Nashville, the third-place team in the Eastern Conference. City SC, meanwhile, sits in 14th place in the Western Conference, and while the team talks about holding out hopes for the playoffs until the math says they can’t, its biggest chase is to stay out of last place. City SC is two points up on the last-place Los Angeles Galaxy, meaning the team is just one bad weekend away from falling to the bottom.

For all the talk of the team’s improved play, the team has still lost five of its past six games.

“We’re getting closer every week,� said interim coach David Critchley. “These guys are getting fitter, they’re getting sharper. So, I think we’re hopefully very close to it. Hopefully it’s this Saturday. We know we’ve put together good spells in games, whether that’s a time spell, like a 45-minute, 60-minute (period), or we’ve been really good on one side of the ball. Maybe not both. And that’s a collective right? If I say we’re good on the offensive side, I don’t just mean Klauss and the forwards. I mean, Roman (Burki), Timo, the defenders, that collectively we’re good on one side of the ball. So, the balance right now is the most important thing for this group. We want to put an entertaining attacking style of soccer out there for the fans and to win games, but sometimes you have to have a mindset of, how do you respond defensively as well, quickly? So that balance, I think, is what we are trying to figure out right now. We’re getting closer every week to it.�

There are 10 games remaining in the season, and that’s almost definitely not enough time. If City SC were to win out, it would get to 48 points; the last playoff team in the West last season had 47 points. If the conference ends up looking more like the East last season, where the last playoff team had 40 points, City SC needs to win eight of its last 10. But a reminder: it has won four games so far all season.

“But we are, I think, on the right track,� Baumgartl said, “and Critch leads us to the right track. And that’s the most important thing, to make these steps. At the end, football is a result game, so we need results, and that’s for the next 10 games.�

Critchley has acknowledged that he now needs to do get the defense to catch up with the offense. The defense started the season with four shutouts. It has one since.

“We made a big step in creating chances. That’s important for us,� Baumgartl said. “Now it’s about to (giving) less goals, trying to defend more as a team together, because I have the feeling after 60 minutes, it’s like the room is getting bigger, the spaces for the other teams getting bigger. And that’s important for us. If we have that feeling, OK, we need to stick together. We need to build another momentum. We try to get that momentum flipped, because we can see we can challenge every team, but not over 90 minutes for the moment. That’s the problem.�

City SC is as healthy as it has been all season, with forward Cedric Teuchert out with what Critchley termed “muscle fatigue,� joining backup center back Michael Wentzel as the only players out due to injury. The team will still be lacking as Chris Durkin (red card) and Conrad Wallem (yellow cards) sit out the game with suspensions.

The last 10 games may be the ones that show either how good this team could have been without the injuries or where it needs to improve.

“I’m always an optimistic guy, so we have 10 games left,� Baumgartl said. “There’s still a potential chance to reach that ninth or eighth place. So that’s my goal for this season. Maybe it’s a little bit high this goal, but for me, it’s in my mind we want to have these 10 games. We want to have as many points as we can get, that’s the thing. It’s always good to have a healthy group, to get players back. It was a hell of a ride this season with a lot of injuries, so I think it’s always good to have these guys back in the team, back on the pitch, and we’re trying to build on something special, and we want to be a team who bounced back in the last 10 games.�

“To the best fans in MLS: Thank you for all the love and support, both for me personally and for the team. Your passion means more than you know. Please keep supporting the team as you’re always doing. Also to my teammates, coaches, physios, and everyone working in and around the club — thank you for all the memories.

“Now, I’m looking forward to the next chapter, motivated and excited.

“Thank you for everything.�

Nilsson, 31, was one of the first signings by the team and with his experience in both the Germany Bundesliga and internationally with Sweden was expected to be a guiding force for a young team. But he played in only 33 MLS games out of 88 in his 2 1/2 seasons with the club and had played in only six games in 2025, though teammates still singled him out for his leadership and counsel. As the team signed other center backs because of the ongoing uncertainty about Nilsson’s availability, it became increasingly apparent that even if he was healthy to play again in 2025 — City SC has 10 games remaining — it would be tough to fit him into the lineup. Nilsson’s contract ran through the end of the 2026 season.

“He put everything into it,� said interim coach David Critchley, who never had a healthy Nilsson since taking over on May 27, “even though he had a difficult time with the injuries and what happened in his career, but he showed up every day and he was a professional and he tried to find ways to help these guys, even if he wasn’t involved. So we thank him first and foremost. These guys have been really supportive of him and had a little bit of sympathy with the situation as well. It’s always a tough one when you lose a player that’s so connected to the locker room. But unfortunately, that’s some of the brutalness of professional sports.�

Critchley said it was unlikely that Nilsson would have played again this season.

“It was a decision that I think that himself and the club made and for all parties,� Critchley said, “just for the health of him. I always think about it for these athletes as well, when they are going through so much pain as an injury, they need to be thinking about fatherhood and how they’re going to be in their 30s, 40s and 50s. So I think it was the right decision for both parties.�

The arrival of Jeong, who has been in the starting lineup in each of his first two games with the club, means someone is coming out, and that player has been Teuchert. Teuchert was tied for the team lead in goals last season with five, and he did it in 10 games while the players he was tied with, Klauss and Eduard Lowen did it in 27 and 23 games respectively.

Against Minnesota, Jeong’s first game, Teuchert came off the bench and played 12 minutes, the fewest he’s played when healthy since joining the team. Against Aston Villa, he came on with the second wave of players at halftime. It was then that he scored the team’s only goal, his first since May 14 after 10 games without one.

“I was not happy to start on the bench against Minnesota,� Teuchert said. “I was not happy playing not that many minutes, and I tried to show the coach that I’m here and so it goes and help the team.�

The problem for Teuchert will be that with the team’s heavy investment in Jeong, and need to assimilate him into the team, he’s going to get playing time. Now, the team has an attacking corps that includes Klauss, Marcel Hartel, Celio Pompeu, Simon Becher and Xande Silva. The crunch has already hit Silva, who hasn’t played in the past two games, though interim coach David Critchley said not to read too much into that.

“It’s always good if you have more numbers in the team so nobody can sleep,� Teuchert said. “I mean, it’s good for every team to have this. The games in training, I give my best to go back in the starting 11 with some good sessions, scoring some goals in the training sessions, in the game (Wednesday). I want to keep the decision hard for the coaches, and I want to start. It’s my place there.�

Teuchert admits this season has had its frustrations.

“I think every striker is the same,� he said. “If you go a couple weeks with no goal, and you score again, it’s like stones from the body and it feels really good. I think it was a good, good finish against a good team. So I’m very happy.�

In Teuchert’s case, it was more than a couple of weeks. He scored the team’s first goal of the season, but he didn’t do a lot to get it, jumping on a misplayed corner kick by the Los Angeles Galaxy and putting the ball into an open net from a few feet out. His most recent goal prior to Aston Villa was a shot by Tomas Ostrak that caromed off his foot as he was trying to get out of the way and bounced into the net. Only his goal against LAFC on April 27 showed the touch he showed last season.

“Every goal is good for me now,� he said, “but I hope I can keep going against Nashville.�

“It’ll do a lot,� Critchley said. “I’ve had a couple of individual meetings with Cedric. He’s been frustrated in himself that he’s not been scoring goals. He had a really good week. You go back to the Minnesota game, we start Sangbin, I think he feels that he has to have a good week to challenge Sangbin and challenge to get back on the starting 11. And (prior to Aston Villa) he had three or four good days on the training field. So to see him get rewarded with a goal was very good. So that’s the challenge I give him. That’s the challenge I give all the guys that aren’t in the starting 11, is make my job as hard as possible. And he’s gone and done that. So I’m happy that he’s doing that for me.�

Teuchert made his debut with City SC just over a year ago, on July 20, 2024. He scored his first goal a week later, in a Leagues Cup match against Dallas. It was the first of seven goals in 10 days for him.

He’s enjoyed his first year in America, as has his wife and his two children, one 4 1/2, the other 1 1/2.

“I think it’s a good year,� he said. “I’m happy that I’m here. Of course, the last season when I was here was for me, personally, good, for the team it was good. And I mean, everybody can see it this season, we struggle. We struggle that we don’t get the points that we want. So ups and downs, but I think it’s normal in football, but we have to look forward and get these points.

“It’s perfect for me. My family is perfect. My wife, the kids feel good. I feel good. It’s a great team, great facility, great stadium. So we have everything we need to have a good life.�

Nothing would make it better than scoring more goals.

Nilsson bought out

City SC has bought out the contract of defender Joakim Nilsson, who was viewed as a foundational player for the club but who because of injuries seldom got on the field.

The move opened a senior roster spot for City SC, and his salary will not count against the club’s salary cap for 2025.

Nilsson appeared in only 33 of 88 MLS games for City SC over 2 1/2 seasons, mostly because of knee and hamstring issues. This season, he played in just six games, starting two. His last appearance was on April 5, when he started and came out after 26 minutes with an injury against Sporting Kansas City.

“Joakim has been a true professional throughout his time in St. Louis,� said sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel in a statement released by the club. “Unfortunately, injuries prevented him from contributing as much as he and the club would have liked. We thank him for his commitment both on and off the field and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.�

Nilsson was the fifth player signed by City SC, on June 1, 2022, a veteran player who had been with the Swedish national team who was coming off three seasons in Germany and would be a defensive anchor for the team and make up part of the team’s spine. But he injured his knee shortly after signing while playing for the Swedish national team. The team hoped rest would get him back in shape for the inaugural season in 2023, but it didn’t. Instead, he had surgery, which kept him out until Aug. 20 of that first season. He appeared in only eight regular-season games, plus one playoff game, that season.

He had surgery again after the 2023 season to clean up his knee but was able to play in 14 of the team’s first 17 games of 2024, though a rib injury suffered in practice in a collision with Nokkvi Thorisson kept him out of three and sharply limited his time in three others. He then missed 16 of 17 games with a hamstring injury and returned to play in the final four games of the season. He even got his wisdom teeth removed in hopes it would help his hamstrings.

“I just want the joy back,� he said late in the season.

He did have his one shining moment with the team that season, scoring on a spectacular bicycle kick against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“My first and my last,� he said that night. “One hundred percent joy.�

He was looking forward to this season — “I’m healthy, I’m back and I’m ready to go,� he told the Post-Dispatch during training camp, after his first offseason without surgery since he joined the club — but he was on the receiving end of a hard tackle in the final preseason game and hurt his knee again, which led to the end of his time in St. Louis.

Teams are allowed to buy out two players’ contracts per season but have to do it before the close of the secondary buyout window, which comes on Aug. 21 this year. Nilsson’s contract had one more year on it after this one, with the club holding an option for the 2027 season.

Nilsson appeared in only 33 of 88 MLS games for City SC over 2 1/2 seasons, mostly because of knee and hamstring issues. This season, he played in just six games, starting two. His last appearance was on April 5, when he started and came out after 26 minutes with an injury against Sporting Kansas City.

“Joakim has been a true professional throughout his time in St. Louis,� said sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel in a statement released by the club. “Unfortunately, injuries prevented him from contributing as much as he and the club would have liked. We thank him for his commitment both on and off the field and wish him and his family all the best moving forward.�

Nilsson was the fifth player signed by City SC, on June 1, 2022, a veteran player who had been with the Swedish national team who was coming off three seasons in Germany and would be a defensive anchor for the team and make up part of the team's spine. But he injured his knee shortly after signing while playing for the Swedish national team. The team hoped rest would get him back in shape for the inaugural season in 2023, but it didn’t. Instead, he had surgery, which kept him out until Aug. 20 of that first season. He appeared in only eight regular-season games, plus one playoff game, that season.

He had surgery again after the 2023 season to clean up his knee but was able to play in 14 of the team’s first 17 games of 2024, though a rib injury suffered in practice in a collision with Nokkvi Thorisson kept him out of three and sharply limited his time in three others. He then missed 16 of 17 games with a hamstring injury and returned to play in the final four games of the season. He even got his wisdom teeth removed in hopes it would help his hamstrings.

“I just want the joy back,� he said late in the season.

He did have his one shining moment with the team that season, scoring on a spectacular bicycle kick against the Los Angeles Galaxy.

"My first and my last," he said that night. "One hundred percent joy."

He was looking forward to this season — “I’m healthy, I’m back and I’m ready to go,� he told the Post-Dispatch during training camp, after his first offseason without surgery since he joined the club — but he was on the receiving end of a hard tackle in the final preseason game and hurt his knee again, which led to the end of his time in St. Louis.

Teams are allowed to buy out two players’ contracts per season but have to do it before the close of the secondary buyout window, which comes on Aug. 21 this year. Nilsson's contract had one more year on it after this one, with the club holding an option for the 2027 season.