Rafael Navarro could make his St. Louis City debut in Saturday night’s visit to the Vancouver Whitecaps after joining the club from Colorado in a $12 million cash trade earlier this week.
Navarro has scored 10 league goals this season, marking a third straight MLS campaign reaching double digits.
He joins St. Louis (9-6-7, 34 points), a squad that enters the weekend in sixth place in the Western Conference — one spot above Colorado — despite not having a standout goalscorer.
Simon Becher and Marcel Hartel have six goals each to lead manager Yoann Damet’s squad, which is unbeaten in its last 13 overall and last 12 in the league.
“In terms of the professionalism, the work ethic and the personality, it fits right into what we want to have here in St. Louis,” Damet said of the move to acquire Navarro. “And at the same time, in terms of ability, what he can do on and off the ball, he’s very, very good. He’s one of the forwards that presses the most in the league. He’s scoring goals. He’s working for the team. He’s selfless. Everything we like to have.”
St. Louis has already beaten West contenders Houston and San Jose since play resumed in late July following the World Cup. And Damet didn’t anticipate any minutes limitations for Navarro, who was featuring regularly for Colorado before the blockbuster news.
Now the club will try to knock off West leader Vancouver (13-4-4, 43 points), which holds a four-point conference lead over second-place Houston with one fewer game than Dynamo FC.
In their last two MLS games, the Caps knocked off Dallas and Kansas City by a combined 8-0 margin while Brian White took his team-leading total to 13 goals.
But Vancouver manager Jesper Sorensen’s squad will only have three days to recover after playing CF Montreal to a 1-1 draw Wednesday night at home in Leg 1 of the Canadian Championship.
And he certainly won’t be overlooking St. Louis’ recent form or the potential that Navarro’s addition brings.
“I think everybody knows Navarro in this league,” Sorensen said. “He’s been a very good striker, and he caused us some trouble before. He’s well known, and everybody knows his quality in this league.”
–Field Level Media
