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Joyner came off the bench to play the final 25 minutes against LAFC, then did the same on Sunday, playing the final 32 minutes, which included drawing a foul in the box in stoppage time and then converting the penalty kick to tie the game. City2 then won the ensuing shootout, and the two points it got were enough for it to clinch the best record in MLS Next Pro.

鈥淭hank God we had Mykhi back today for at least 30 minutes,鈥� Hackworth said.

While several players have suited up for City SC and City2 on consecutive days, most have played in only one of the two games. Only Joyner and Joey Zalinsky have played in both of the games. Joyner is the undisputed champ: He鈥檚 done it three times this season.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 really think about that, to be honest,鈥� Joyner said. 鈥淚 just go out there and have fun. I鈥檓 still a kid, I鈥檓 young, so I can still run a lot.鈥�

鈥淲e have to look at the age of the player,鈥� said City SC coach David Critchley, 鈥渢he position that they play. Some guys, if they鈥檙e 24, 25, might not be able to put in 120 minutes on a weekend, where Mykhi, being a lot younger (19), can do it. Mykhi is also one that has been a key figure to the success of City2. I would like to see him go a playoff run with them as well. ... I know he鈥檚 chasing the Golden Boot as well, which he wants. He鈥檚 let me know that.鈥�

Joyner is likely to come up short for the second season in a row. He missed the scoring title by two goals last season and is down three with one game to go this season.

Still, it takes the right situation for it to happen. It works best when City SC plays on a Saturday and then City2 plays on Sunday. It also helps if both games are at the same venue, though Orozco started for City2 on Sept. 19 and played the full 90 minutes at Austin, then flew to San Jose and sat on the bench and wasn鈥檛 needed the next day.

There are only two more chances this season for someone to pull double duty. City SC is at Austin on Saturday, with City2 at Portland on Sunday, though with City2 having clinched everything there is to clinch, there鈥檚 no reason to have anyone go to unnecessary lengths. And then on Oct. 18, City SC closes its season at home against Real Salt Lake, with City2 opening the MLS Next Pro playoffs at home, most likely on Sunday. And for that one, City2 is likely to bring the players who started the season with City2 back for the playoffs.

鈥淓ven if they don鈥檛 want me to, I will,鈥� McSorley said.

Hackworth multitasking

On Saturday night, when City SC was playing, Hackworth was in interim sporting director mode, so he wore a sport coat. On Sunday, as interim coach of City2, he was wearing a T-shirt.

鈥淚 tried to look the part (Saturday) night,鈥� he said.

Hackworth has not been shorting either job. Since Lutz Pfannenstiel was fired and Hackworth moved into the sporting director role on an interim basis, Hackworth has been at both teams鈥� games each weekend.

鈥淚 have to,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nobody else to do it. So when you go through all the changes we鈥檝e gone through, we still have a lot of good people in that building, staff, and it would be negligent on my part not to try to be a good leader and give them everything that I can to help them be successful. So I鈥檒l take it. I don鈥檛 want to do (both jobs) forever. I haven鈥檛 slept enough.鈥�

Teuchert鈥檚 season over

Critchley confirmed Tuesday what has seemed obvious over the past month, that forward Cedric Teuchert is done for the season.

鈥淲e鈥檝e shut Cedric down,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 just had the continuous groin injury that every time we seem to push up a gear, there is pain that comes around. So we think it鈥檚 the best decision for his health for the long term.鈥�

Teuchert, the fourth-highest-paid player on the team, hasn鈥檛 played since July 26. It鈥檚 been a disappointing season for the German, who had seven goals in 14 games over all competitions last season but had only three in 22 MLS games this season.

Notes

Sangbin Jeong has been called in for South Korea鈥檚 two upcoming friendly matches, on Oct. 10 vs. Brazil and on Oct. 14 vs. Paraguay. Both matches are in Seoul, so while Jeong won鈥檛 miss any games (City SC, like most of MLS, is off on Oct. 11), he may just be getting over jet lag for City SC鈥檚 season finale on Oct. 18.

This is consecutive call-ins for Jeong after getting his previous call-up four years ago and the first time a City SC player has been called up by his country in consecutive international windows.

• Fallou Fall, who was hurt in a collision with LAFC鈥檚 Denis Bouanga, didn鈥檛 practice on Tuesday, but Critchley said he hopes he鈥檚 back on Wednesday. Henry Kessler, who has missed the past two games, did some work with the team and some on his own Tuesday. Critchley put it at about 75-25 he plays Saturday.
• City SC plays Austin on Saturday in its final road game of the season, but Austin has a game before that when it plays in the U.S. Open Cup final against Nashville on Wednesday.

Joyner, who played 25 minutes for City SC on Saturday night, came back and played the final 32 minutes for City2 on Sunday. He was fouled in the box by LAFC鈥檚 Ryan Raposo as he went to goal in the 95th minute, the last minute of second-half stoppage time, and then converted the kick to even the score. The game was whistled over before the ensuing kickoff.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done that a couple times so far where we鈥檙e down late and we still find a way to get back,鈥� said interim City2 coach John Hackworth. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a team that believes and a team that keeps fighting, and nothing says that more than today.

鈥淎nd it meant something. It鈥檚 for (first overall), and most importantly, we secured the final here. We have to make it there, but if we do what we鈥檙e supposed to 鈥� we could have four really good days in this building, like the crowd that we had today.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 huge,鈥� said Joyner, who has 15 goals in Next Pro, the fourth-most in the league even though he鈥檚 played with the first team for the last month. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot for this club. A lot of thanks goes to Coach Hack and all the coaching staff as well. They work us super hard every day, even if some players aren鈥檛 there.鈥�

The result moved City2鈥檚 unbeaten streak to 18 games, going back to May 11.

In the shootout, Gabriel Mikina, Caden Glover, Joyner and Emil Jaaskelainen scored for City2. LAFC 2鈥檚 third shooter hit the crossbar and goalkeeper Christian Olivares made a save in the fourth round to end it.

Joyner had also figured in LAFC鈥檚 goal. He was chasing after a long pass and was side by side with LAFC鈥檚 Christian Diaz and went down, but the referee called a foul on Joyner. LAFC quickly restarted the play, went the length of the field and scored in the 63rd minute, creating the need for another City2 comeback.

鈥淲e have to be honest to ourselves and have to say that LAFC was the better team with the ball, against the ball,鈥� said midfielder Marcel Hartel, 鈥渟o they deserve the win for sure, but we were preparing very well before the game. We want to come out and play forward, play with courage, out from the back, not just kicking the ball away. But we have to be honest with ourselves: It was not enough today.鈥�

鈥淲e wanted to put LAFC in a tough game,鈥� said midfielder Eduard Lowen, 鈥渁nd I think we didn鈥檛 do that at all. LAFC was the better team.鈥�

The loss makes official what everyone has known for months now: That City SC won鈥檛 be going to the playoffs in 2025. City SC came into the game hanging on by the barest of threads, with five different results potentially eliminating them 鈥� and all but one of them happened, so there was nothing subtle about this.

City SC managed to stay ahead of Sporting Kansas City, which lost to the Los Angeles Galaxy 4-1. City SC needs a win in either of its last two games to assure itself of not finishing with the worst record in the league.

The elimination also means that City SC has clinched a spot in next season鈥檚 U.S. Open Cup. But a playoff spot, the one thing everyone with the club talked about going into the season? Not this year.

鈥淲hen we started the season, we wanted to be much more successful,鈥� said Hartel. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 make the playoff last season, and we started the season to go for the playoffs, and we missed it again. It鈥檚 very disappointing for the club, for us as a team, and now we have to go in the last two games to do our best. We have to prepare well, and in the best way, we get six points for this club and especially for coaching staff.鈥�

鈥淚t was inevitable it was going to happen,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淣ow it鈥檚 just about coming back and seeing how we as a club and the players respond this week in training. For us, it鈥檚 one game that I felt we were dominated in in a lot of moments of the game, but when I look now at how we prepare for Austin at this point next week, it鈥檚 a team that we can go out and beat.

鈥淪o for us now, nothing changes. The objective is to pick up six points in the last two games and try to push ourselves into a position of finishing the season strong and trying to build momentum as we go into 2026.鈥�

It took just 15 minutes for this one to get away from City SC. Right back Conrad Wallem, one of the team鈥檚 best players over the past month, had the ball near midfield and tried to pass back to center back Timo Baumgartl. Wallem did not get enough on the ball, and LAFC鈥檚 Denis Bouanga, who is second in the league in goals behind Lionel Messi, easily grabbed it.

Bamugartl and Fallou Fall dropped back, giving Bouanga more room to gain ground, and by the time they stopped just outside the top of the box, Bouanga picked out the short side of the goal and beat Roman Burki. LAFC scores plenty of hard goals 鈥� the last thing a team like City SC needed to do was give them an easy one.

It looked like City SC might get to the half giving up only that goal, but four minutes into first-half stoppage time City SC turned over the ball at midfield and LAFC got it to Son Heung-Min, whose arrival from England has made the team unbeatable. Again, City SC鈥檚 defense gave ground, allowing him to advance on goal, and he scored from about 8 yards to make it 2-0.

鈥淲e give two goals away in the first half that are too sloppy, too easy,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淥n teams that quality, with the roster they have, will punish you and that鈥檚 why they are where they are in the standings. ... We see Son and Bouanga running at us, we do need to eliminate space behind. But at some point, you have to step in and not let him dribble inside 8, 9, 10 yards and tuck one in the corner.鈥�

Especially in the first half, the game was played at City SC鈥檚 end of the field. When City SC did win the ball back, it had trouble getting it upfield and out of danger.

鈥淟AFC put us in a tough game from the very start,鈥� Lowen said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like I was really in the game. They had a lot of ball possession. They moved the ball very well. They were in good spaces, and we just weren鈥檛 there. I think in the crucial moments, we weren鈥檛 there. We made big mistakes that they punished us for it. Sometimes, I think I really felt that in the game, how the momentum was also on LAFC side in terms of, like, 50-50, balls that always came back to them. I remember Durkin, three or four times intercepted and actually won the ball, and somehow it got back to them. And it鈥檚 obviously frustrating.鈥�

It was the 11th time City SC has been shut out this season and the 10th time it has allowed three or more goals in a game. City SC hadn鈥檛 been shut out in the previous eight games, its longest streak of the season.

City SC had gone eight games without being shut out, its longest run of the season, and allowed three or more goals for the 10th time this season. But LAFC is also that good. City SC did do better than some other teams however; LAFC had scored four goals in each of its past three games, and either Son or Bouanga had a hat trick in each of them. This time, Son had two goals and Bouanga had one. When it looked like LAFC might have a penalty kick late in the game, Bouanga looked ready to take it, but VAR went against it.

The elimination also guarantees City SC a spot in next year's U.S. Open Cup.听

City SC came out fast, maybe too fast. Klauss played a ball forward to Sangbin Jeong, but LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris came out and beat him to it, but Jeong crashed into him and both went down. Lloris was down for a while, Jeong got a yellow card, and plenty of ill will from LAFC for colliding with their keeper. Lloris got up and finished the half and didn鈥檛 have a whole lot to do, making only one save. He was subbed out at halftime for Thomas Hasal.

One of the things City SC didn鈥檛 want to do was give LAFC easy chances it didn鈥檛 have to work to earn, but that鈥檚 what happened in the 15th minute. Conrad Wallem did not get enough on a back pass and put it right in the path of Bouanga, who was able to come in alone and, by the time he ran into City SC defenders, about 20 yards from the goal, he had the space to shoot where he wanted and beat Burki to make it 1-0.

It was the 23rd goal of the season for Bouanga, putting him one behind Leonel Messi for the league lead and his eighth goal in the past four games.

City SC weathered some heavy pressure from LAFC and looked like it would be able to get into the half down only 1-0, but in stoppage time, LAFC showed how quickly it can turn things. City SC had the ball around midfield, but couldn鈥檛 control it and in a flash, the ball got to Son, who dribbled it into the box and scored from about 8 yards out, his sixth goal in four games.

Son got his second in the 60th minute, starting the play with a long run and finishing it after some passing in the box by LAFC.