Aston Villa Comes To Town In "Thrilla With The Villa"

4103.22 miles, 21,664,998 feet, 259,979,976 Inches, and one 12-hour flight for 31 Aston Villa Players to arrive at Energizer Park in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Greeted by the Smothering Heat and Humidity of the St. Louis Metro Area, English Premier League Superstars, and, as PA Announcer Dan Sweeny says, “Your St. Louis City!” took the field in the first Aston Villa v St. Louis City Friendly.

In the 4th minute, Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia snuck through into the 6 yard box, unbeknownst of the City Backline, put a volley shot on net, which pelted German Goal Keeper Romain Burki in the chest as the crowd roared, but this wound’t be the last chance the Villians from the Villa would get in the first half.

Aston’s attacks were seamless, like a hot knife through butter, while St. Louis took multiple cycles around the backline and resets to penetrate Aston Villa’s Elite Midfield 4-4-1-1 structure. Villa had no trouble dispatching players one by one in a matter of seconds.

Aston Villa continued to hack away at the fragile defensive midfield of St. Louis City as they easily entered, and stayed in and around the 18-yard box for the majority of the first 10 minutes.

In the 14th minute, a turnover from St. Louis, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers quickly pounced on the opportunity, and made Roman Burki look like a U15 Keeper facing Lionel Messi. 1-0 Aston Villa. 

It’s no surprise that City was outmatched by the 6th best British Club in the world according to 2024-2025 EPL Standings, considering St. Louis is 14th in the west, and 28th in all of Major League Soccer.

Like Clockwork, City made mistake after mistake, turnover after turnover; however, newly acquired Defender Devin Padelford tried to change that with a run down the left wing. Aston Villa Captain John McGinn took him down, earning a yellow card and ruining Padelford’s left cleat in the process. 

The foul led to a free kick for St. Louis #10 Eduard Lowen, who seldom misses on set plays; he then proceeded to send the ball soaring over all of the City Red Kits pitch.

In the 20th minute, Conrad Wallem sent a curling cross in to the Brazilian Baller Celio Pompeu, who whiffted on a shot, slipping in the process. Eventually, Celio put the ball in the general vicinity of the Aston Villa keeper and World Cup Winner, Emiliano Martinez, who, of course, made the save, leading to a corner kick. 

Frankly, some St. Louis players, who make millions to play this game, looked like they couldn't care less, rather than taking in the moment and learning from one of the best teams on the planet. 

In the 31st minute, the players had to cool down, and a cooling break was issued.

Around the 40th minute, Joao Klauss and company played hacky sack for a bit, which was rudely interrupted by an Aston Villa defender. During the ensuing Corner Kick, Klauss went down with an injury, holding his head and neck. Just a minute later, he magically recovered and jogged back on the pitch.

Tomas Ostrak made a valiant effort by putting a shot on goal from outside the box in the 45th minute, but it was, of course, saved. 

At around 8:05 pm, fans were spared from viewing the mismatch on the pitch as Halftime

began.

As expected, St. Louis presented a brand new barrage of players for the second half:

Players off: 

Roman Burki

Conrad Wallem

Timo Baumgartl

Jaziel Orozco

Devin Padelford

Eduard Lowen

Tomas Ostrak

SangBin Jeong

Marcel Hartel

Celio Pompeu

Joao Klauss

Players on:

Ben Lundt

Jake Girdwood-Reich

Tomas Totland

Kyle Hiebert

Fallou Fall

Alfredo Morales

Chris Durkin

Cedric Teuchert

MyKhi Joyner

Brendan McSorley

Simon Becher

The youngest player on the pitch, 18-year-old MyKhi Joyner, gave an Aston Villa player a small push and was given a Yellow Card in the 51st minute. 

In the 53rd minute, Simon Becher did his best Axl Rose impression towards the referee after he was wrestled to the ground, and the guilty party was not given a foul. As you may expect, the crowd did not take a liking to the no-call.

In the 56th minute, Tomas Totland overcommits on a challenge and abandons his post. Aston Villa’s first shot is off the backside of Alfredo Morales, but their second shot, a header off the cranium of Ollie Watkins, would find its way to the back of the net for Aston Villa’s second goal of the match. 2-0. After the goal, City started an Attack down the left side. The ball raced downfield, guided by the feet of MyKhi Joyner, who then put Lamare Bogarde into a spin cycle. He was then fouled but given no call. In the 58th minute, a crucial mistake is made by multiple Aston Villa defensive midfielders, who turn over possession. Cedric Teuchert gobbled up possession and lightly netted a shot past Marco Bizot. 2-1.

Around the 67th minute, Cedric Teuchert nearly scored again as he put a shot on net, Marco Bizot made a great effort to keep it out, but the ball popped directly in the air, Brendan McSorley gets a head on it but the shot isn’t nearly firm enough to fool Bizot as he makes a second save in a matter of seconds.

The second, and last cooling break started as the clock struck 9:07 pm in St. Louis, during the 76th minute.

Some more subs for St. Louis occurred in the 86th minute.

Players off:

Fallou Fall 

Tomas Totland

Brendan McSorley

Alfredo Morales

Players on:

Joey ZalinskyJosh Yaro

Miguel Perez

Tyson Pearce

Right after the subs for St. Louis came on, Aston Villa put a shot off the woodwork near Ben Lundt’s left hand, just inches away from being the dagger; it remained 2-1.

In the 90+1 minutes, MyKhi Joyner sparked a rush that nearly blew the roof off the roofless Energizer Park, as he centered the ball into the 6-yard box, but the shot was blocked. MyKhi didn’t give up, as he made a last-ditch effort turnaround shot in the 90+2 minutes. 

But that's exactly what the effort was, last-ditch, as the time ran out, Aston Villa kept the lead and won 2-1. 

2 goals were all the English Premier League club needed as the final whistle sounded after 3 minutes of Extra Time. The final, 2-1 in favor of Aston Villa.

No official Stat is tallying for Friendly's; therefore, my judgment will lead the Noteable Players section.

Notable Players:

Cedric Teuchert - Scored for the first time since mid-May

Fallou Fall - The new acquisition showed promise, and his patented progressive passing from the backline.

Brendan McSorley - No goals or assists to show for his effort, but the effort was 100% there.

Event Timeline

• '1 | Match Start

• '14 | Aston Villa #27 Morgan Rogers Scores | 1-0 |

• '45 | Halftime

• '46 | Aston Villa Subs: Rowe, Bailey, Rogers, Onana, Maasten, Mallen, Torres, McGinn, Konsa, Martinez OFF. Jimoh, Kamara, Bogarde, Iling Jr, Tielemans, Digne, Watkins, Mings, Cash, Bizot ON.

• '46 | St. Louis City Subs: Klauss, Hartel, Pompeu, Jeong, Ostrak, Lowen, Padelford, Orozco, Baumgartl, Wallem, Burki OFF. Becher, Joyner, Teuchert, McSorley, Durkin, Morales, Hiebert, Fall, Girdwood-Reich, Totland, Lundt ON.

• '56 | Villa's Superstar Ollie Watkins makes it 2-0.

• '59 | St. Louis City SC's Cedric Teuchert gets his first goal since May 14th, making it 2-1.

• '86 | St. Louis Subs: Fall, Totland, McSorley, Morales OFF. Joey Zalinsky, Josh Yaro, Miggy Perez, Tyson Pearce ON.

• '90+3 | Final Whistle | Aston Villa 2 : 1 St. Louis City