Cedric Teuchert had one goal and two assists to help St. Louis City SC earn a 3-1 victory over visiting Sporting Kansas City on a night the hosts were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Rasmus Alm and Eduard Lowen also scored for St. Louis (7-11-13, 34 points), which can no longer catch Minnesota United (13-12-6, 45 points) for the final Western Conference playoff place after the Loons beat visiting Colorado on Saturday.
Teuchert now has five goals and three assists in the league since the 27-year-old German joined St. Louis as its highest-profile signing of the secondary transfer window.
Stephen Afrifa scored for Kansas City (8-17-7, 31 points), which made eight changes to its starting lineup in a match played less than 72 hours after it suffered a 3-1 extra time defeat at LAFC in the U.S. Open Cup final.
The visitors began the night already eliminated from the playoff race.
Teuchert opened the scoring in the 33rd minute on a somewhat broken play, reaching the deflection of Akil Watt’s initial shot at the top of the penalty arc and dispensing a gorgeous curling finish that left goalkeeper John Pulskamp little chance.
St. Louis doubled its lead nine minutes into the second half on a play that began with goalkeeper Roman Burki’s long ball to striker Joao Klauss.
Klauss outworked a defender for possession before laying it off for Teuchert, who then drove a low pass across the box that Alm met with a well-struck finish.
Afrifa’s one-time strike nine minutes later trimmed Kansas City’s deficit to 2-1, and SKC manager Peter Vermes was about to call in reinforcements from his bench when Lowen scored in the 75th minute.
It was another cross from Teuchert that provided the opportunity. Lowen converted it for his fifth goal this season.
–Field Level Media
