Following a 4-0 victory over rivals Sporting KC, St. Louis CITY SC will face Vancouver Whitecaps FC for the first time this season at CITYPARK at 7:30 p.m. CT this Saturday. The match can be seen on Apple TV and heard by our radio partners on KYKY Y98.1 FM (English) and KXOK 102.9 FM (Spanish).
CITY SC kicked off their rivalry against Sporting KC in entertaining style, scoring two goals in each half to record a huge win at home. Eduard Löwen, Indiana Vassilev (2) and Niko Gioacchini all found the back of the net in an impressive team performance in front of a sold-out crowd at CITYPARK.
Vassilev earned man of the match honors after scoring his first two goals for CITY SC. Vassilev became the second CITY SC player to record a multi-goal game in MLS play, joining João Klauss, who recorded a brace against Real Salt Lake earlier in the season.
Jared Stroud notched two assists and registered five key passes, which was the most in the match, per Opta. Stroud became the third CITY SC player to record a multi-assist game in MLS action, joining Löwen (2) vs Austin FC and Klauss (2) vs FC Cincinnati. Stroud took his tally to four in MLS, which is tied with Löwen for second on the team.
CITY SC captain and goalkeeper Roman Bürki was in fine form against Sporting KC on Saturday night. In keeping a clean sheet, his third of the season, Bürki recorded six saves and his fourth consecutive MLS match with at least five saves. Bürki joined New England’s Djordje Petrović and Austin’s Brad Stuver as the only goalkeepers to record at least five saves in five different matches this season.
After scoring four goals against Kansas City, St. Louis have now scored three or more goals in six of their 12 games in MLS this season. CITY SC has also scored at least three goals in six of their seven wins and remains undefeated when they score first in league play, posting a record of 5-0-1. CITY SC has seven different players (Klauss, Gioacchini, Stroud, Löwen, Vassilev, Kyle Hiebert, Rasmus Alm), including all four scorers on Saturday night, that have multiple goals this MLS season, more than any other team in the league.
With the win, CITY SC moved to third in the MLS Western Conference standings with 22 points, three points behind leaders LAFC and one point behind Seattle Sounders. St. Louis has scored 26 goals in league play this season, second behind Atlanta United (28 goals), and tied for the best goal differential (+13) with LAFC.
St. Louis CITY SC boasts a 6-2-0 record at CITYPARK across all competitions. Offensively, St. Louis has tallied 21 goals, 94 shots, 37 shots on target in six matches at home. On the defensive side of the ball, CITY SC has allowed just six goals and held opponents to 82 shots and 28 shots on target across all competitions. CITY SC has trailed just 52 of 630 minutes and is 4-2-0 this season at CITYPARK.
Vancouver Whitecaps are coming off back-to-back wins, defeating Seattle Sounders 2-0 at home in MLS play before beating Pacific FC 3-0 to advance to the Canadian Championship finals. The Whitecaps sit in seventh place in the MLS Western Conference standings, owning a record of 4-4-5 while scoring 18 goals in the process.
Fourteen of Vancouver's 17 points this season, including the 2-0 win over Seattle last weekend, have come at home. The Whitecaps are winless on the road this season (0-3-3 record) and have gone 14 straight away games without a victory (0-7-7), tied with San Jose for the longest active run in the league, per Opta.
Vancouver lost 2-1 at Charlotte last May in its last meeting with an expansion team. The Whitecaps had been unbeaten in five straight road games against MLS newcomers (3-0-2 record) dating back to 2015 before the defeat at Charlotte last season.
