St. Louis City SC will try to extend their unbeaten run to seven matches when the Colorado Rapids visit on Saturday.
St. Louis is 5-0-1 over its last six regular-season games, in a streak that began with a 1-0 victory over the Rapids on May 9. After scoring only 13 times in their first 13 games of the season, St. Louis City (6-6-4, 22 points) have tallied three goals in each of their last three matches.
While it took a while for the offensive progress to emerge, midfielder Chris Durkin felt his team has had “a sense of direction and structure” all season.
“We were producing good moments, but we just couldn’t get those over the line,” Durkin said. “And now that the ball is going in the back of the net, there’s a level of expectation when we get on the field that, ‘Hey, we can get something out of this.'”
That “expectation” has spread over the whole roster, as Durkin noted that “a lot of people are chipping in to help” the attack. Marcel Hartel leads St. Louis with five goals, but 13 different players have scored at least one goal.
Midfielder Conrad Wallem is available Saturday after missing the Galaxy match due to concussion protocol.
The Rapids (6-9-1, 19 points) are hoping to emulate St. Louis’ string of consistent results. Colorado hasn’t collected points in consecutive regular-season games since Feb. 28-March 7.
The stirring nature of Wednesday’s 1-0 win over San Diego FC might be the spark Colorado has needed. Playing in his first MLS match, defender Loic Williams scored the deciding goal six minutes into second-half stoppage time.
“To get a clean sheet, a win and to also score a last-second winner … you can’t ask for anything better than that,” goalkeeper Nico Hansen said. “So of course you know the vibes and the morale was very good in the locker room after.”
Wayne Frederick and Miguel Navarro are available Saturday after being suspended for the San Diego match. Frederick returns to action with a new contract, as the midfielder signed an extension Friday that will keep him in Colorado through at least the 2029-30 season.
Rafael Navarro leads the Rapids with eight goals. Frederick, Paxten Aaronson and Dante Sealy share the team lead with five assists apiece.
–Field Level Media
