LAFC Experiences Its First Loss Against St. Louis City

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis City earned a significant victory on Wednesday night by defeating LAFC for the first time, with a final score of 2-1. Tomas Totland opened the scoring just four minutes into the match, and defender Rafael Santos added a second goal in the second half.

Totland’s goal, assisted by Eduard Löwen and Marcel Hartel, marked his first tally of the season and the third of his career in 55 appearances. This also represented the first assist of the year for Löwen and the second for Hartel.

Santos further solidified St. Louis City’s lead with an unassisted goal in the 64th minute. This marked his first goal of the season and fourth in 92 career matches, as he substituted in for an injured Jaziel Orozco early in the match.

David Martínez provided a response for LAFC, scoring in the 73rd minute after entering the match in the 70th. His goal, assisted by Nkosi Tafari and Aaron Long, brought the score to 2-1 and represented Martínez’s fourth goal of the season and his 11th in 58 appearances.

St. Louis City’s goalkeeper Roman Bürki recorded three saves, contributing to the team’s efforts as they improved to a record of 3-6-3. Entering the game, they were winless in seven previous encounters against LAFC. In contrast, LAFC, now at 6-4-3, had goalkeeper Hugo Lloris on the field but did not register any saves; Lloris leads the league with eight clean sheets this season.

Previously, LAFC had dominated the matchup, highlighted by Mathieu Choinière’s two long-range goals that led to a 2-0 victory over St. Louis City back in March. St. Louis City, under coach Yoann Damet, struggled offensively early in the season, scoring just 10 goals in their first 11 matches, marking the second fewest in the league.

Looking ahead, St. Louis City is set to visit D.C. United on Saturday, while LAFC will take on Nashville SC on Sunday.