St. Louis City secured a convincing 3-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night in Carson, California, claiming their third consecutive win.
Lukas MacNaughton and Marcel Hartel scored four minutes apart late in the first half to break the match open and put St. Louis firmly in control.
MacNaughton opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, gliding through the box to head Hartel’s corner in off the Galaxy’s back post.
With Galaxy captain Marco Reus down behind the play after a St. Louis player stepped on his foot, Hartel produced a moment of individual brilliance just before the break.
Hartel dribbled outside the penalty area and looped in a shot that froze goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski, who finished the match with eight saves.
The second goal sparked a heated exchange between the two sides, with Reus and Galaxy defender Emiro Garcés both picking up yellow cards in the fallout.
Garcés was then sent off in the 49th minute after kicking the ball away following a foul, receiving his second yellow card of the evening.
Simon Becher took full advantage of the extra space that LA’s numerical disadvantage created, sneaking behind the back line to chip home on the counter in the 68th minute.
Troy Elgersma, a 22-year-old midfielder from Redlands, California, entered as a late substitute in just his second MLS appearance and scored in the 86th minute to ruin Roman Bürki’s clean sheet.
The victory lifted St. Louis above the Galaxy in the Western Conference standings, with the club now unbeaten across six straight matches since early May.
It has been a turbulent period for the Galaxy, who have now conceded six goals across two home defeats since selling top scorer Gabriel Pec to Brazil’s Cruzeiro during the World Cup break.
The club-record transfer fee for Pec stood at a minimum of $12 million, with the Argentine forward having contributed 43 goals and 28 assists across 101 matches for LA.
Teenager Harbor Miller started in Pec’s absence on LA’s front line, as the Galaxy continue to search for solutions without their departed star.
St. Louis, meanwhile, continue to build momentum at the right end of the season with their form pointing firmly upward heading into the weeks ahead.
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