Nothing like a midweek clash between two of the top teams in the Western Conference to get the juices flowing.
Wednesday’s match between LAFC and St. Louis City SC in the Gateway City figured to be a slog fest, as St. Louis looked to solidify its position atop the conference, while LAFC hoped to close the gap on the conference-leading expansion side. When 90 minutes were up at CityPark on Wednesday, St. Louis got the more favorable result, as timely goalkeeping by St. Louis’ Roman Burki and LAFC’s Maxime Crepeau resulted in a scoreless draw.
Aside from remaining on top of the West, Wednesday’s result also clinched a playoff spot for St. Louis City SC (15-10-5, 50 points). On the other side, LAFC (12-9-8, 44 points) not only were unable to close in on St. Louis, but actually slide down to third in the conference, as the Seattle Sounders overtook LAFC in the standings with its 2-1 win over Colorado.
St. Louis had the game’s first chance in the ninth minute, as Eduard Lowen received a pass from Anthony Markanich on the left side, Lowen then deked past Ryan Hollingshead, touched into the penalty area, then fired the right-footed shot for the back post, but Crepeau dived to parry the ball away from goal. St. Louis thought for sure they would have a chance to tally in the 14th minute, as Markanich crossed into the penalty area intended for Samuel Adeniran, LAFC defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Jesus David Murillo came out to defend the cross and both actually collided with one another, and the ball went off Murillo. However, referee Rubiel Vazquez initially ruled the ball went off Murillo’s hand, thus awarding St. Louis a penalty, but Vazquez soon got the call from VAR referee Michael Radchuk to take a second look at the play, and it was confirmed the ball did not go off Murillo’s hand, and Vazquez waived off the penalty.
LAFC finally started to generate some chances themselves. LAFC’s first chance came in the 36th minute, as a header by Mario Gonzalez off a corner went wide right. LAFC cranked up the offense in the second half, as Denis Bouanga sidestepped a pair of STL defenders in the 49th minute, Bouanga got inside the penalty and shot for the near post, but Burki had the angle covered, and forced Bouanga to pull the shot off the side netting. LAFC’s best chance however came in the 58th minute, as Acosta sent another corner into the penalty area, St. Louis defender Tim Parker initially headed a ball, but it stayed inside the penalty area, and Chiellini attempted a bicycle kick that was right on target, but Burki did not flinch, and calmly parried the ball away from goal.
