What almost became the biggest victory in St. Louis City SC’s young history instead became one of its most painful defeats.

There was City SC, leading 2-1 with 11 minutes left against Club America, the Mexican soccer powerhouse considered by many to be the best team in North America, fending off attack after attack. But eventually City SC could not contain the Aguilas’ sustained onslaught, conceding two goals in the final 11 minutes of regulation time and another in stoppage time, leading to a 4-2 loss at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, in the Leagues Cup Round of 16.

“It’s an emotional rollercoaster,” said City SC interim coach John Hackworth. “I mean, I’m literally as… upset as I can be, and at the same time I’m really proud of our performance. Congratulations to Club America. Fantastic opponents. Still, I felt like we played a really good game ourselves, and until the last 20 minutes I thought we had the game well under control.”

The loss ended City SC’s participation in the tournament. The team will now be on hiatus until August 24, when it will play in Portland as Major League Soccer resumes play.

City SC has nine games left and realistically needs to win seven of them if it wants to make the playoffs. The good news is that it won’t face a team as good as Club America for the rest of the game. The bad news is that City SC still haven’t managed to win. They have been ahead in all four Leagues Cup games and have only won two of them.

“We are so close to becoming a team capable of beating a team of the quality of Club America,” Hackworth said, “but at the same time we still have to learn our lesson and when you just think about a game like this, you have to finish it and that’s where we let ourselves down tonight.”

“We had to put pressure on the ball. We had to defend the ball. We had to catch up in the box. And we missed those little details. We gave the guy too much time to serve the ball (for the equaliser). We didn’t catch up in the box. We didn’t recover properly. Those are things that teams can learn from. The harder part, of course, was what we showed tonight with beautiful football. Our build-up play was fantastic. We created some really good scoring opportunities. We didn’t take as many of them as we should have. But this is a game that you can take so many positives from and yet I’m sitting here as a coach after a loss like this and it’s going to take a long time to get over it.”

Further bad news was that striker Cedric Teuchert had to leave the game in the 35th minute with what was hopefully not a serious leg injury.

“He definitely couldn’t sprint,” Hackworth said, “and the game required a lot of sprinting, and he couldn’t do that there. It was smart of him to step away.”

Teuchert is one of three new attacking players who joined the team during the summer transfer window and is vital to City SC’s hopes of reaching the playoffs.

Just the fact that the team had a lead this time that they tried to capitalize on was something special. A year ago, City SC was wiped out 4-0 by Club America in this tournament in St. Louis. This time, although the team lost 4-2, it was a world closer. Even when they fell behind, City SC kept attacking but were let down by their finishing in front of Club America’s goal. The team’s 2.8 expected goals was the second-highest total of the season and also significantly higher than the 0.3 xG they had against Club America last season.

In the second half, City SC went all out offensively and equalized in the 49th minute with a quick strike from Indiana Vassilev, who came on for Teuchert. In the 55th minute, Eduard Lowen converted a penalty after Marcel Hartel was brought down in the penalty area.

City SC were 1-0 down at halftime and could easily have taken the lead. Nokkvi Thorisson missed a free kick in the box and shot over the bar from 5.5 metres and Chris Durkin shot from close range but the Club America goalkeeper was quick to save. The missed chances were frustrating but the fact they happened was encouraging.

“If you just look at the expected goals at halftime,” Hackworth said, “we should have scored a few more in the first half. Another really good moment is coming out of a halftime talk, implementing what you talked about and putting yourself in a position where you can get back in the game. We did that. Not only did we do that, but we then scored the second goal. So you know that against a team like Club America you have to defend and withstand the pressure. So you can be proud of that performance again, but it’s all for nothing when we’re in the knockout stages of a tournament and we go home without the success we wanted.”

Vassilev’s goal began with City SC clearing what looked like a dangerous Club America chance at the other end. Hartel brought the ball forward and then passed it to Lowen, who provided his fourth assist of the tournament. Lowen passed to Vassilev in the box and he fired the ball left-footed into the far post for his fourth goal of the season in all competitions. Vassilev is one of the players paying the price for the team’s attacking reinforcements. He started 21 of City SC’s first 24 MLS games, but just one of their last five, and unless everyone is healthy, it will be tough for him to get back into the starting 11.

“I just told Indy, ‘This is a huge opportunity for you. Show them how good you are.’ And he definitely did that,” Hackworth said. “Fantastic. We’ve got some depth in the attacking positions right now and Indy is one of those guys that, even though he hasn’t started the last couple of games, he’s got a fantastic attitude. And he always tells me, ‘Whatever you need, whatever you need, I’ll do whatever you need, coach.’ Not only did he do that tonight, but he made a really good impression.”

Lowen’s penalty put City SC ahead with 35 minutes left and it was then a case of holding on to it. Three minutes later, the lead looked to be gone when referee Marco Ortiz awarded a penalty to Club America for a ball that struck Tomas Totland’s arm. However, VAR saw that the ball struck Tomas Totland’s shirt sleeve and was high enough on his arm to not be counted as a handball. In one period, Kyle Hiebert, one of the few players to start both Club America games, blocked three shots in the box in a short space of time. But in the 79th minute, Diego Valdes headed in a Richard Sanchez cross to make it 2-2.

A draw would have seen a penalty shootout decide who would advance. However, in the 86th minute, Josh Yaro thwarted a goal-scoring opportunity for Club America with his head – but the ball first hit Totland’s leg, then bounced up and hit his arm.

This time the penalty was wasted and Brian Rodriguez, who had scored the first goal of the match in the 15th minute, converted to give Club America a 3-2 lead. Lowen’s diving header deflected off the Club America goalkeeper and City SC’s Roman Burki attempted to convert the resulting corner kick. When City SC failed to score, Club America’s Rodrigo Aguirre scored before Burki could get back in the net.