After two consecutive losses, St. Louis CITY SC regained the edge of surprise and beat San Jose Earthquakes. They remain atop MLS Western Conference.
Forward Sam Adeniran barely got to the match in time to start for St. Louis CITY SC against the San Jose Earthquakes. He had been getting in minutes at USL side San Antonio FC.
By the end of the match, Adeniran had turned in the greatest game of his career. With excellent performance by the entire side, CITY got a 2-1 win over San Jose Earthquakes.
San Jose could answer the St. Louis CITY SC scores only once. That was with a right-footed shot by midfielder Jamiro Monteiro with an assist by Jackson Yueill.
CITY remains atop the MLS Western Conference despite losing the two previous games. They edge Los Angeles FC and Seattle Sounders FC for the conference lead.
During their losing streak, it was clear that St. Louis CITY had lost the element of surprise. Throughout this season, teams kept ignoring scouting reports and spent time preparing for the usual poorly organized expansion team.
But this St. Louis expansion squad loaded up for an outstanding season before even signing their first player.
Even in their recent losses, the team looked no worse than average in league performance terms.
But MLS front offices stopped believing St. Louis couldn’t compete. So something had to be done by St. Louis to get a winning edge.
Responding to injuries suffered by key players, CITY got back their element of surprise by calling in new players and reworking their lineup.
This was their 18th different lineup in 19 games. Besides Adeniran, Aziel Jackson made his first St. Louis start at midfield and Josh Yaro did so as a defender.
Head coach Bradley Carnell acknowledged that Adeniran had to travel in a rush to make his start. He had been loaned to San Antonio after featuring in four CITY matches. With this start, he scored his first MLS goal in the 41st minute, assisted by fellow striker Rasmus Alm. Then he put the lid on the game with a 58th-minute penalty – a left-footed shot into the bottom-left corner of the net.
This win over San Jose means St. Louis is the second-fastest expansion team to reach 10 wins. And they’re the first Western Conference team to do so.
They defeated San Jose for the second time this season The win makes them the second expansion team ever to record a road win over the Earthquakes, after Los Angeles FC’s victory in 2018.
CITY goalkeeper Roman Burki maintained his quest for excellence. His eight saves on the Earthquakes’ 14 shots make this the third game this season where he recorded eight-or-more saves.
St. Louis has the momentum now to make post-season play in MLS. With at least one more surprise, they could even go deep.