Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at St. Louis CITY SC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Everyone has stopped pretending: CF Montreal will make the call about Célio Pompeu this week. St. Louis CITY SC have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason St. Louis CITY SC will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 13 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at St. Louis CITY SC, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Marco Pašalić ended with $7.7M changing hands and Orlando City out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The fee is $1.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sporting Kansas City drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Add another name to the list: CF Montreal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Célio Pompeu. The answer from St. Louis CITY SC has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Louis CITY SC can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Roman Bürki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Simon Becher was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Víctor Milke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around St. Louis CITY SC the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Eduard Löwen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Timo Baumgartl was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The name of Sam Bradley has come up in conversations St. Louis CITY SC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at St. Louis CITY SC has been clear about where Víctor Milke stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Simon Becher
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. St. Louis CITY SC rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Los Angeles Football Club had no answer to any of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around St. Louis CITY SC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Albarracín has just signed for St. Louis CITY SC, and for once the answer mattered.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Víctor Milke has agreed terms with Portland Timbers for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Bürki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Simon Becher at his very best
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yacouba Meïté is living that version at St. Louis CITY SC, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Tomas Totland falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Louis CITY SC can pretend not to have heard.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Eduard Löwen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Eduard Löwen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 13 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Louis CITY SC can pretend not to have heard.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Louis CITY SC has to find a result from somewhere.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what St. Louis CITY SC can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A 1‑0 win over San Jose Earthquakes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I watch every St. Louis CITY SC game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vancouver Whitecaps runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at St. Louis CITY SC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Tomas Totland falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and LA Galaxy spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
A brace, and Simon Becher takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simon Becher provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Becher, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tomas Totland falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadChris Durkin has become a man the manager trusts
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Eduard Löwen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Eduard Löwen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Eduard Löwen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomas Totland is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Simon Becher for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. St. Louis CITY SC will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Marcel Hartel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadMamadou Mbacke falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduard Löwen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at St. Louis CITY SC has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at St. Louis CITY SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.59, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Vancouver Whitecaps tried to reorganise, St. Louis CITY SC did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tomas Totland falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.