St. Louis CITY SC: Start good, score first, shuts out Inter Miami CF

St. Louis CITY SC expands their Western Conference lead with a shutout of Inter Miami CF. They hold the lead despite a loss this week to Los Angeles FC.

St. Louis CITY SC now has the fifth-most wins by an MLS expansion club after beating Inter Miami CF 3-0  at home. They held onto first place in MLS West despite recently losing 3-0 to second-place Los Angeles FC.

The 43 St. Louis goals this season put them second in the league behind Columbus Crew. They have 46 total goals.

Yet 18 of the CITY goals come from set pieces. That feat places first in MLS, five ahead of second-place Atlanta United. All three goals in this latest win came from St. Louis set pieces.

The first two scores were off corner kicks. Striker Sam Adeniran scored with an assist by Indiana Vassilev in the 28th minute. Then defender Tim Parker caught and netted a 40th-minute goal assisted by Aziel Jackson. Midfielder Eduard Lowen’s 80th-minute goal came off a free kick.

Lowen’s set-piece scores now total five, enough to tie him for fourth in the league.

Goalkeeper Roman Burki’s seventh clean sheet of the season ties him for fifth in the league.

Miami had only three on-target shots. The only player Miami had going in this match is defender Ian Fray – that according to scouting reports.  He got in five dribbles, three tackles, and two shots.

Yet, one player doesn’t make up for the other 10 missing in action. So other than the three on-target shots, they had little chance to score against CITY.

Miami allowed St. Louis to play their game. Miami out-passed  St. Louis 515-292. The visitors also were the leaders in possession with 63.4%. And they won more tackles than St. Louis 17-11. But strange as it sounds, that doesn’t take CITY out of their game.

That’s because St. Louis won more duels than Miami and executed more clearances. Most importantly – CITY scored first in this match. And they’re 11-0-2 when scoring first, and have nine wins when scoring three-or-more goals.

The St. Louis record after this victory is 13-8-2. Only FC Cincinnati has more wins in MLS with 15.

CITY players and coaches can see into the post-season at this point. So while still technically an expansion team, other teams aren’t expecting St. Louis to play like one on the pitch. Head coach Bradley Carnell acknowledged this in his post-match presser.

He described the expansion experience as a fairy tale. But he said St. Louis CITY SC is no fairy tale any longer. It’s a business.

CITY players have bought into Carnell’s game plan of good starts to games, good starts to the league, and then keep it rolling.