New faces Antoni Markanic and Nokvi Thoresson came to City’s rescue in a 2-1 win

And on Wednesday, these two players saved City SC from what could have been a very shameful result.

Anthony Markanić, sitting on the bench for Colorado, and Nukvi Turesun, the pride of Dalvik, Iceland of about 1,400, scored twice three minutes apart in the final 10 minutes of the match as City SC converted what could have been a agonizing draw. to a painful equalizer. Joyful victory. City SC played with a man advantage for most of the match after FC Dallas goalkeeper Martin Paes was shown a red card in the 12th minute. It took 70 minutes of playing time before City SC could capitalize on playing an extra player and turning it into goals in the 2 win -1 over FC Dallas.

Midfielder Njabulo Bloom said: “I think it would have been a disaster, because I think they were one man down in the first half, and I think we should have played more urgently, but we were a bit slow in building our attack. I think if we had drawn The match would have been a disaster.

Instead, it was another win for City, their 15th overall, which puts them one win away from equaling the league record for expansion team wins after the penalty shootout era. With 47 points, City SC is the fourth most points scored by an expansion team. It is seven points ahead of second-placed Los Angeles, which has played one less game, and Seattle, which has played one more game, and is nine points ahead of fourth-placed Houston. And while City SC won’t clinch a spot in the playoffs anytime soon given there are so many games left in the season, 47 points is the number that almost every year will put a team in a spot in the playoffs.

And a reflection of the depth and scope of this team, where anyone can be a champion on any night, the team’s newest players achieved that because for 82 minutes, 70 of them played with one more player than FC Dallas and City SC. He was unable to score and looked to be heading towards a 0-0 draw.

“You have to believe,” City coach Bradley Carnell said. “You have to believe. And sometimes you have to win and you want to win yourself. You have to create a little bit of chaos. You have to create a little bit of chaos. You have to be brave to play balls in the penalty area and you have to do some things that … usually, you think, you have The extra man you have to play it safer and be really strategic and methodical about how you divide it up.Sometimes you just have to throw the kitchen sink at them and bend the opponent, foul them up and force them into dangerous crosses and force them to do those kinds of things.We’ve done By changing systems, we put every attacking player we had on the field.

The first changes in the first half were to Markanic, who came on for Kyle Hibbert, and Torresson, who came on for Samuel Adeniran. This was Torresson’s third match with the team, and Markanić’s second.

“It’s good for team integration,” Carnell said. “We had an approach at the beginning of the season to recruit really humble, professional people. So obviously the humans and footballers we have recruited have a certain set of skills. So we see certain skill sets very early on with Nokvi and Anthony, it’s a credit to everyone at the club.” “It makes these players feel welcome, because they have a certain skill set that we need and it’s not always easy to hit the ground running.”

After Paes was shown a red card for handball outside the penalty area in the 12th minute after City player Rasmus Alm took advantage of a misunderstanding between Paes and defender Nkasi Tafari, resulting in Paes sliding the ball away from Pain but it hit it. With a left hand in the process, Dallas rallied its defense, hoping for a point with a 0-0 tie, and City SC couldn’t find a way. Not until the 82nd minute, when Alm, the most dangerous player on the field in the match, played a ball inside the penalty area that went over the head of Klaus, who entered the game to a standing ovation in the 72nd minute and found it. Markanić’s knee bounced into the net at the near post. It was Markanić’s first MLS goal in 15 MLS games, and after some prolonged yelling, he finally fell to his knees near the corner flag and dropped his forehead to the turf.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know what to do after I scored the goal,” he said. “I was full of happiness. So, for me, it was just for my family. I know they’re happy now.”

But they were not at hand. While his parents came from Bourbonnais, Illinois, to watch his first game with the team, he did not play in that game. This time, in the middle of the work week, they couldn’t get down to St. Louis.

Three minutes later, Edouard Lewin played a ball into the penalty area that Klaus let bounce over his leg and went to Thorisson at the far post who slotted in with ease. Unlike Markanić, Thorisson has scored goals before, and there was clearly an overjoyed celebration of his jump as he also scored his first MLS goal.

“It was a great feeling,” said Turesson, who said he told Klaus he was standing behind him and praised the Brazilian forward for letting the ball pass him. “The fans are amazing and energetic, as always. So it was a really good feeling to score and contribute to the win.”

The goal was important because Roman Bürki had a shot on goal in the 95th minute and Dallas’ Eugene Ansah picked up the loose ball, costing Bürki the net. The referee blew his whistle immediately after the start of the match.

“These three points mean a lot to us tonight in terms of the bigger picture,” Carnell said. “We have three more home games ahead of us and we know that every home game is vital for us in terms of our pursuit of glory, our pursuit of the playoffs or our pursuit of a place in the playoffs. So we will continue to do what we are doing.”