St Louis City SC continued their record start to the MLS season with a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake to fire the new franchise to the top of the Western Conference after five games.
Goals by Nicholas Gioacchini, Rasmus Alm and a double from João Klauss helped St Louis to five-straight victories at the start of the 2023 season. The win, described as “magnificent” by manager Bradley Carnell, helped the team become only the third team to win their first five games of the season, joining an elite club consisting of LA Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting KC in 2012.
St Louis are, however, the first expansion team to reach the feat, having joined the MLS Western Conference for this season.
Goalscorer Gioacchini said: “It's memorable. It's something that I think every player will remember for the rest of their lives. It hasn't happened yet, five wins from an expansion team. Even five wins in a row in a league for teams that have been here for a while. It's not easy as you can see in past seasons.”
Gioacchini’s strike partner Klauss took his goals tally to five in five games with a second half brace. Carnell heaped praise on the Brazilian, who spent his whole professional career playing in Europe, notably Hoffenheim.
“He's another guy that's fully committed and you can see he's getting stronger, he’s getting healthier,” Carnell said. “He’s getting fitter and he's becoming a real menace.”
St Louis’ next outing is against Minnesota on April 2 at the CITYPARK. The new team holds a five-point advantage at the top of the Western Conference.
Seattle Sounders and LAFC are training behind in second and third on ten points, while Minnesota, FC Dallas, Matthew McConaughey co-owned Austin and San Jose occupy the remaining final series spots.
There are four teams without a win so far this season. Vancouver, LA Galaxy, Sporting KC and Colorado are yet to leave a game with all three points. Galaxy, of course, have topped the Western Conference on eight previous occasions.
