Field Level Media
18 Mar 2023, 10:40 GMT+10
St. Louis City can become the first expansion team in MLS history to win their first four league games when they host the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night.
St. Louis (3-0-0, 9 points) has already defeated Austin FC, Charlotte FC and the Portland Timbers this campaign. That ties the 2009 Seattle Sounders for best-ever three-match start for an expansion team.
In Portland last Saturday, Jared Stroud scored shortly before halftime to level the match. Then defender Kyle Hiebert scored his first MLS goal in the 75th minute, capitalizing on a sloppy free kick defending to send a header past Portland goalkeeper David Bingham.
As a result, St. Louis was installed as oddsmakers' favorites for the first time in its brief history this week. But manager Bradley Carnell does not believe suddenly rising outside expectations will shift his squad's mentality.
"We took it upon ourselves to hit a hard reset on Tuesday when we got back to work," Carnell said this week. "There's a lot of good things happening. Obviously, momentum and success helps ease the cause. But even if we weren't 3-0, I think this group would be even hungry for more."
San Jose (2-1-0, 6 points) have also started brightly under new coach Luchi Gonzalez.
The Quakes' only defeat so far came away to an Atlanta United team that has yet to lose this season, and they led that contest 1-0 heading into second-half stoppage time.
Jeremy Ebobisse scored in his first two games of the season for San Jose. Cristian Espinoza struck the winner in March 11's 1-0 home win over the Colorado Rapids after striking the post earlier in the match.
Espinoza has always been a talented winger, but adding more of a goal-scoring threat could take him from a good-to-great MLS player, and lift the Quakes with him. He scored a career-high seven goals last year.
"It's something I've always tried to work toward," Espinoza said this week through an interpreter. "I'm always trying to create spaces to have good shooting opportunities. As a winger, sometimes you don't have many chances to shoot so you need to create those spaces to have options."
--Field Level Media
Get a daily dose of Denver Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Denver Sun.
More InformationUVLADE, Texas: Texas police stopped a Florida-bound freight train this week and discovered two migrants had died in a freight ...
ROLLING FORK, Mississippi: A powerful tornado has struck Mississippi, killing at least 25 people, injuring dozens, flattening entire blocks and ...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: In what could signal the end of his country's decades-long relations with Taiwan, Honduran foreign minister Eduardo Enrique ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: A new US Congressional committee focusing on China held its second hearing on the alleged abuses of the ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: A new round of extreme winter weather that hit California, also drifted into neighboring Southwest states, with ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: After several high-profile near collision incidents, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a safety alerts to ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: A new round of extreme winter weather that hit California, also drifted into neighboring Southwest states, with ...
LOS ANGELES, California: Some 30,000 education workers in Los Angeles, backed by teachers, went on a three-day strike, canceling school ...
washington - Foreign terrorist groups, including some Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates, may have the desire to launch major attacks ...
Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram each had a goal and an assist as the visiting Colorado Avalanche cruised to a ...
Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists for his 29th triple-double of the season, leading the host ...
Matt Boldy scored his second hat trick in nine days as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 Monday ...