ST. LOUIS — LAFC has hit a clear rough patch in its season as MLS closes in on its World Cup break.
Tomas Totland scored four minutes into the match and fellow defender Rafael Santos added a second-half goal to help St. Louis City beat LAFC for the first time, 2-1, on Wednesday night.
It was the third straight loss for LAFC, which has dropped a pair of league matches since its 4-0 loss to Toluca FC in the second leg of its CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal.
St. Louis got off to a dream start in the fourth minute through a well-worked team goal. Marcel Hartel’s first touch found the feet of an on-rushing Eduard Löwen along the right side. Löwen’s cross inside the box passed several LAFC defenders to reach Totland, who finished at the near post past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for a quick 1-0 lead. It was Totland’s first goal of the season.
St. Louis doubled its lead in the 64th minute. After Hartel found Sergio Cordova surging down the right flank, Cordova crossed the ball into the box. It sailed over the head of St. Louis’ Simon Becher, deflected off of LAFC’s Ryan Raposo, and landed at the feet of Santos, who powered it past a helpless Lloris for his first of the season.
Santos had entered the match in the 10th minute when Jaziel Orozco left with an apparent lower leg injury.
David Martínez entered the match in the 70th minute and scored in the 73rd to cut it to 2-1. Nkosi Tafari and defender Aaron Long set up Martínez’s fourth goal of the season. Martinez caught Roman Bürki off his line and chipped it over the head of the St. Louis goalkeeper into an open net.
LAFC nearly pulled even in the 81st minute, but Bürki made a tremendous save when Long deflected Martinez’s long-range effort toward the goal. That proved to be LAFC’s best chance at an equalizer.
Bürki finished with three saves for St. Louis (3-6-3, 12 points), which entered the match 0-5-2 all time against LAFC and sits just a few points above last-place Sporting KC in the Western Conference standings.
Hugo Lloris, who leads MLS with eight shutouts in 11 starts, did not have a save for LAFC (6-4-3, 21 points).
Mathieu Choinière scored his only two goals of the season – both from long range – to lead LAFC to a 2-0 victory over St. Louis City on March 14 at BMO Stadium.
St. Louis City had scored just 10 goals in its first 11 matches under Coach Yoann Damet, the second-fewest in the league.
UP NEXT
LAFC visits Nashville SC on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.