Expansion side St. Louis City put an end to their first-ever losing streak last week. To fully return to their winning ways, they’ll need to produce a similar performance on the road when they face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night in Commerce City, Colo.
St. Louis (6-2-0, 18 points) enters the week atop the league table thanks to a blazing start to its first season in Major League Soccer. After five straight wins, the club finally hit a stumbling block when it lost 1-0 to Minnesota United and 3-0 to the Seattle Sounders.
But a home game April 15 against FC Cincinnati allowed St. Louis City to reset. Jared Stroud scored in the third minute and St. Louis never looked back in a 5-1 rout.
Coach Bradley Carnell’s pregame message to his players was to remember who they were, and not to worry about who they were up against or any outside factors.
“Obviously, we have to respect the opponent and take into account what they’re trying to do and pick up some tactical nuances,” Carnell said Thursday. “But for the most part, we had a little gut check, a little return to reality of what makes us special, what makes us unique.”
St. Louis leads MLS with 20 goals scored. Joao Klauss paces the team with five, and Stroud and Nicholas Gioacchini have three apiece.
The Rapids (1-3-4, 7 points) are unbeaten in their past four matches, with just one win and three ties. Most recently, they drew 2-2 with Charlotte FC on April 15 when Michael Barrios scored the equalizer in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.
Coach Robin Fraser credited his players’ character for shining through in challenging moments.
“The thing I love the most is that they’re good, honest, hard-working guys, and when they play hard and play hard for each other, then we see that resiliency,” Fraser said.
Earlier in the game, Rapids midfielder Max Alves da Silva scored his first MLS goal.
Fellow midfielder Cole Bassett had missed the previous two games with a left hamstring injury. He returned against Charlotte but had to sub out 30 minutes into the game with the same hamstring bothering him. He was not seen at Colorado’s practice Thursday.
Unlike their opponents this week, the Rapids have mustered just five goals in eight matches this season.
–Field Level Media
