Simon Becher scored his seventh goal of the season to make his case to remain in the starting lineup as visiting St. Louis City defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 on Saturday night.
Tomas Totland and Conrad Wallem had a goal and an assist each later in the first half after Becher’s leveler, helping St. Louis (10-6-7, 37 points) extend its league unbeaten run to 13 matches (9-0-4).
Alexandru Matan had two assists for the visitors, who moved up to fifth place in the Western Conference, behind fourth-place Dallas only on the third tiebreaker of having scored fewer goals. Third-place LAFC holds the second tiebreaker of goal differential.
Striker Rafael Navarro made his St. Louis debut as a 61st-minute substitute after being acquired via a club-record $12 million cash trade from Colorado earlier this week.
Emmanuel Saabi put West-leading Vancouver (13-5-4, 43 points) in front in the second minute with his fourth goal of the campaign.
But the Whitecaps conceded three times at home in league play for the first time this season while failing to add to their three-point edge over second-place Houston.
Navarro scored 10 times for Colorado before the trade. But for now, St. Louis manager Yoann Damet opted to leave him on the bench in favor of Becher, who repaid his manager’s confidence with a goal in a third straight match.
It came in the 23rd minute. Carlo Holse found Matan in central midfield, and Matan threaded a perfect throughball between two Vancouver defenders to play Becher into a 1-on-1 opportunity. Becher thumped his shot across the body of charging goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka and inside the right post.
That pulled the visitors level, before they surged to a 3-1 lead with two more goals just before halftime.
In the 41st minute, Wallem played Daniel Edelman into the right side of the penalty area, Edelman dragged a cross back toward the penalty spot, and Totland struck a low, first-touch finish beyond Takaoka’s dive.
In the 45th, there was a similar buildup on the opposite flank, with Totland reaching Matan’s ball on the left and providing the cross. This time, Wallem took a touch to sort his feet before guiding a low shot into the lower-right corner.
–Field Level Media
