Carlos Vela scored the tiebreaking goal on a breakaway in the 72nd minute and Stipe Biuk and Jose Cifuentes added goals as Los Angeles FC registered a 3-0 victory over visiting St. Louis City on Wednesday night.
John McCarthy made two saves while recording his seventh shutout of the season as Los Angeles FC (10-6-6, 36 points) moved into second place in the Western Conference, two points behind St. Louis City (12-8-2, 38 points).
Cifuentes also set up the decisive goal for LAFC, who snapped a four-match winless stretch (0-3-1). Meanwhile, St. Louis City had a three-match winning streak halted.
Vela’s goal came on LAFC’s first shot on target of the entire match.
Cifuentes sent a pass over the pack in the midfield and Vela chased it down. He sent a hard left-footer that sailed past St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki and landed in the left side of the net. The goal was Vela’s seventh of the season.
LAFC made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute after leading scorer Denis Bouanga made a run down the left side. He sent a cross-field pass to the open Biuk, who drilled a right-footer past Burki for his third goal of the season.
In the second minute of second-half stoppage time, Cifuentes ripped a left-footed grounder into the right corner of the net to end any suspense in the first all-time meeting between the clubs. It was Cifuentes’ first goal of the season.
Earlier in the half, LAFC had an opportunity in the 66th minute when Biuk passed the ball to Vela, whose glancing left-footed shot went wide to the left.
One minute later, St. Louis’ John Nelson unleashed a left-footed blast from beyond the box and McCarthy leaped to tip it over the net.
Burki didn’t make any saves. LAFC had an 11-9 edge in shots with all three of their on-target shots finding the back of the net. St. Louis put two shots on target.
St. Louis had the lone shot on target in the first half and that didn’t come until the first minute of stoppage time. The right-footer by Tomas Ostrak was saved by McCarthy.
LAFC’s best first-half scoring chance occurred off a corner kick in the 39th minute, but a header by Ryan Hollingshead went wide right.
–Field Level Media
