St. Louis City carry the second-longest unbeaten streak in MLS this season into Wednesday’s game at Sporting Kansas City.
A 7-0-2 run over the past nine games has vaulted St. Louis City (8-6-5, 29 points) into sixth place in the Western Conference. MLS-leading Nashville SC had a 10-game unbeaten streak earlier this season.
Counting a draw in the U.S. Open Cup in May, St. Louis is on a club-record 10-match unbeaten run.
Simon Becher sparked the latest St. Louis effort on Saturday at San Jose. He scored twice in a 3-1 victory to double his season goals total.
“I think in the beginning of the year, I think we lacked a little bit of that confidence,” Becher said. “But now coming out and not shying away from who we are and not changing how we play on the road, coming out from the first minute and pressing and keeping possession and breaking teams down. I think that plays a big part in us starting on the front foot.”
To be sure, St. Louis demonstrated that urgency as Daniel Edelman scored in the eighth minute.
Meanwhile, Sporting Kansas City (4-13-2, 14 points) would do well to rein in their discipline in the early going.
Kansas City has been assessed a red card in the first half of consecutive matches. The latest came in the 38th minute of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Colorado, which extended the club’s losing streak to three games.
Sporting KC also had a red card in the closing minutes of the second half, finishing the match with nine men.
“We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and make the plays that we need to make,” Kansas City goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland said.
The team pivoted to a 4-4-2 formation as midfielder Lasse Berg Johnsen (suspension) was replaced in the lineup by Shapi Suleymanov. Kansas City coach Raphael Wicky said his group must improve at playing in possession.
St. Louis can sweep the season series from Kansas City with a victory. Host St. Louis prevailed 3-2 on July 16 behind Eduard Lowen’s penalty-kick goal in the 85th minute.
–Field Level Media
