The announcement of the MLS Team of the Matchday for Week 6 has been released, and a couple of our boys have been honored for their efforts in handing Western Conference-leaders St Louis CITY SC their first loss of the season — and their first loss in MLS history. After registering another clean sheet performance and showing off the aerial acrobatics to make it so, goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair has been chosen as the starting keeper for this week’s squad. DSC has proven himself to be the “big players show up in big games” type, and with the raucous St. Louis fans that let their presence be known, this atmosphere definitely had all of the ingredients of that big game feel. And, in his own words, St. Clair was well aware of the gravity of such a big win.
“The storyline when teams are winning is always going to be about them, especially at home. They had a great atmosphere tonight, but we always had the confidence that we could come in here and get three points. There was never a doubt in our mind that we could come in here and do that job. We had a bunch of guys away on international duty, but talking to them, we were devastated for the last-minute, last-second result last week, and we wanted to come in and make that right.”
Such a performance from the 2022 MLS All-Star MVP is an incredibly-welcome sight to see for Loons fans, especially in the early aughts of the new-ish season. The inclusion of one Michael Boxall to this lineup is something that Loons fans have been accustomed to for some time now. His experience and leadership in the defensive backline was on display in spades this past Saturday. And, on the heels of his return from international duty with the New Zealand national team — and feeling under the weather upon his return — makes the honor even more impressive.
Boxall’s play was one of the main reasons that the Loons defense was able to hold St. Louis forward and scoring threat João Klauss at bay. Coach Adrian Heath would go on to acknowledge the defensive efforts in his postgame comments.
“When the ball went wide, I always looked in the box: people are tight, people are marking, making it difficult for people to make good runs. We’ve done a lot of good things today. There’s nobody here who didn’t think we deserved the win because we were, far and away, the better team in the second half.”
Congratulations DSC and Boxy! Well fought for, and well-deserved recognition.
See the full MLS Team of the Matchday for Week 6 below:
F: Léo Chú (SEA), Simon Becher (VAN), Cristian Espinoza (SJ)
M: Lucas Zelarayán (CLB), Aidan Morris (CLB), Hany Mukhtar (NSH), Kamil Jozwiak (CLT)
D: Yerson Mosquera (CIN), Jakob Glesnes (PHI), Walker Zimmerman (NSH)
GK: Dayne St. Clair (MIN)
Coach: Wilfried Nancy (CLB)
Bench: Stefan Frei (SEA), Michael Boxall (MIN), Álvaro Barreal (CIN), Ali Ahmed (VAN), Carles Gil (NE), Federico Bernardeschi (TOR), Jordan Morris (SEA), Franck Boli (POR), Giorgos Giakoumakis (ATL)
