St. Louis City SC extended their MLS unbeaten streak to 16 games with a 3-1 home victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.
Alexandru Matan and Conrad Wallem each provided two assists in the commanding win for St. Louis (12-6-8, 44 points) as Toronto (6-9-11, 29 points) was handed its first back-to-back defeats since May.
Designated Player Carlo Holse opened the scoring in the 41st minute, arriving on the end of Matan’s perfectly threaded through ball into the box. The ball skittered over goalkeeper Luka Gavran’s boot and into the back of the net.
Gavran had thwarted Matan on the only other opportunity of note in the first frame with a fingertip save from in close. TFC did not register a single shot on target until the game’s dying minutes.
Tomas Totland finished a brilliant team sequence to make it 2-0 in the 55th minute, Matan slipping him the ball at the edge of the box. Simon Becher and Wallem both completed passes forward to catch out the visitors at the back.
Wallem picked off a pass from seldom-seen substitute Nicksoen Gomis, springing Becher on a simple 1-on-1 that he tucked past Gavran in the 68th minute. The tally marked Becher’s seventh goal in his last nine league games.
Lewis Morgan finally tested Burki with a powerful attempt from the edge of the box in the 87th minute. St. Louis’ Damion Downs had his first MLS goal chalked off on a late offside.
Theo Corbeanu denied goalkeeper Roman Burki his third clean sheet of the season with a stopppage-time tally off a set piece.
Exactly a month after being sent off against Charlotte, Toronto center-back Walker Zimmerman was issued a yellow card. The American international will be suspended for the next match on yellow card accumulation. Zimmerman subbed off after Totland’s goal with a potential injury.
St. Louis won the clubs’ only previous meeting in 2023.
Toronto captain Jonathan Osorio came on as a substitute in his first appearance since July 31.
–Field Level Media
