MIAMI, Florida – Hosei Kijima scored in the final minutes to lift St. Louis City SC to a 2-1 victory against the Houston Dynamo in the first leg of their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Round One series on Tuesday night at CityPark in St. Louis, Missouri.
Things looked destined to end in a draw, only for Hosei Kijima to find a goal in second half stoppage time to earn St. Louis City their first ever Champions Cup victory.
St. Louis regains the lead as Hosei Kijima finds the back of the net with a stunning strike! 😱 pic.twitter.com/59XHLConC3
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 21, 2024
There were chances early for both teams, including one golden opportunity for Joao Klauss of St. Louis City, who swung a shot wide after a Dynamo defensive mistake in the 19’.
Houston did make some forays forward, but the first 45 minutes largely saw St. Louis City on the front foot, even though Dynamo GK Steve Clark was not forced into any big saves.
Clark found himself much busier in the second stanza and had to make back-to-back saves just shy of the hour mark on Indiana Vassilev and Klauss. But a minute later in the 61’ there was nothing Clark could do to prevent Tim Parker from smacking home a header to hand St. Louis City a 1-0 lead.
St. Louis City kept coming at Houston and a Samuel Adeniran shot that rang off the post in the 68’ served as notice that the hosts wanted more.
The Dynamo did not waver and got back on level terms in the 72’ when a breakaway led by Aliyu Ibrahim ended with a cross to Kowalczyk, who calmly fired home for a 1-1 scoreline.
St. Louis City were keen to try to find a winner to swing the series back in their favor and Kijima duly delivered in the 90’+1 by hustling to a deflected ball in the area and sweeping home a right-footed shot for the 2-1 winner.
