Minnesota struck first, then St. Louis took the game apart
St. Louis City beat Minnesota United 4-2 overnight and stayed unbeaten since the spring. Rafael Navarro scored twice for the second match running.
The opening five minutes went the wrong way. Drake Callender had already made three saves inside four minutes when Tomas Chancalay slipped behind two defenders at midfield, collected a long ball from Joaquin Pereyra and drove a right-footed finish into the middle of the goal. Fourth of the season for the Argentine, and Minnesota led despite doing almost nothing.
St. Louis answered with three goals in twenty minutes. Daniel Edelman stabbed in a rebound from a long Holse strike in the 18th. Carlo Holse curled a left-footed shot into the far corner four minutes later. Navarro then chipped Holse’s pass over Callender to make it 3-1. St. Louis outshot the Loons 10-1 before the break.
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Penalties, a crossbar twice, and a red card
Michael Boxall tripped Navarro early in the second half and Navarro roofed the penalty. Minutes later Jaziel Orozco brought down Kelvin Yeboah on a baseline run and Yeboah converted his 13th of the campaign from the spot.
Minnesota had two chances to make it a one-goal game and hit the crossbar with both, headers from Anthony Markanich and Maurice Malone. Kyle Duncan then collected a second yellow card in the 80th minute and the visitors finished with ten men. Roman Burki needed to make one save all night.
A run that started in May
St. Louis have not lost since a 2-0 defeat at Austin FC on May 3. Fifteen matches since, ten wins and five draws, and they now sit on 41 points from a 11-6-8 record. Saturday also broke a small hex: it was their first home win over Minnesota in four attempts, after three defeats.
Navarro arrived from Colorado for a reported $12 million in late August and has taken about three weeks to look like the piece St. Louis were missing. Minnesota, meanwhile, have lost three straight and dropped to 7-10-8 and 29 points, with the playoff cut-off getting no closer.
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