香港三级片

For St. 香港三级片 City SC and its coach, Olof Mellberg, the stakes keep rising as the team keeps dropping in the Major League Soccer standings. City SC sits 14th in the 15-team Western Conference, 27th in the 30-team league. With the team winless in 10 MLS games, its next loss could mean the end for Mellberg.

He hasn鈥檛 cornered the market on pressure.

鈥淚 think he鈥檚 not the only one right now,鈥� striker Klauss said. 鈥淚 think everybody鈥檚 in the hot seat now. I think players are fighting for contracts. Of course, Olof is fighting for his job and trying to make the right decisions to make the team better. I think nobody鈥檚 safe right now.鈥�

Klauss is certainly one of those guys, a designated player whose contract runs out after this season (the team holds on an option for next season), and who has scored three goals this season, just one in league play and two in the U.S. Open Cup. Fifteen other players have contracts that end after this season, with the club holding an option on all of them except Roman Burki.

The next chance to stop the team鈥檚 slide toward the bottom of the Western Conference comes on Saturday when City SC faces the Colorado Rapids in Commerce City, Colorado, on Saturday. Colorado sits in seventh in the West, and was in a bit of bad form of its own before snapping a five-game winless streak on Saturday with a win over Real Salt Lake.

Mellberg has already said that every game for this team now is must-win, and he feels the pressure rise with every bad result.

鈥淚 do for sure,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if the players feel pressure, but you can really sense the desperation for points. I think you can see that in us playing in many ways as well. You could see that in the second half (of the Open Cup game), how much that meant to get those couple of goals and to get that energy in the team.鈥�

鈥淥f course, we鈥檙e disappointed,鈥� Klauss said. 鈥淚 think now it鈥檚 time for everybody to take accountability, see what we can do better. It鈥檚 not just players, staff or the club. We have to be together in these situations. There is no other way to go out of the situation if it鈥檚 not together. Of course, we feel for our fans because they support us so much. They always give us the best support possible, and we feel for them. I think everybody has to do more now, coach, players, everybody. If we have to stay on the field and work more on the field, we have to, but it鈥檚 too early in the season to just give up and wait for the next season. That鈥檚 not how it works. That鈥檚 not what we want. That鈥檚 not what the fans want. The only thing that I can promise is that we鈥檙e gonna work hard. We鈥檙e gonna try to change the situation. We鈥檙e gonna do our best until the last day.鈥�

Desperation and disappointment have replaced defense as the D words used in conjunction with this team. Its late-game defending troubles have become legendary 鈥� 11 goals in the 70th minute or after in the past six games against MLS opponents. It is difficult to find a game this season that has been a good 90 minutes for the team.

鈥淚 think we have to concentrate during 90 minutes,鈥� Klauss said. 鈥淚 think we already had this experience enough times to figure out that we have to go 100 percent into the last minute. And the games can change very quick. We have been talking a lot. We have been working a lot on these things, and (Wednesday), I thought it could be a step in the right direction. But yeah, unfortunately, these two goals put us out of the U.S. Open Cup. That was a tournament that we want to go through, it was a chance to have a title, also, a spot for CONCACAF next year.鈥�

Minutes are exceptionally hard to find right now, with City SC at the end of a stretch of seven games in 22 days, it鈥檚 busiest period of the season. Between injuries, absences and heavy workloads, this has been a rough stretch for the team, and the fact that this run coincided with limited roster availabilities has made matters only worse. In a lighter time of year, City SC might have gotten away with no worse than three losses in this span. Instead, they have three losses and a tie in MLS play, plus a win and a loss in Open Cup play.

Three players have started all six of those games, Josh Yaro, Kyle Hiebert and Timo Baumgartl, the team鈥檚 centerback trio, and they have played 97 percent of the minutes in that span. If the defense is getting tired late in games, that could be a reason, but with the team鈥檚 other centerbacks, Henry Kessler, Joakim Nilsson and Michael Wentzel all dealing with injuries, the options are limited.

鈥淚 think all of those guys have done really well at the back,鈥� Mellberg said, 鈥減laying all those games and all those minutes as well. And we will need them for Saturday as well.鈥�

City SC started the season facing Colorado at Energizer Park, playing to a 0-0 tie back at a time when that was an acceptable result for the team. City SC created chances that it couldn鈥檛 finish in that game and limited Colorado to just .3 expected goals. For a team that has allowed 10 goals in its past four games over all competitions, that defense would be a welcome return.