Simon Becher Brace Extends St. Louis CITY SC's Club-Record Unbeaten Run in 3-1 Win Over Earthquakes

Bruce Arena is 74, the oldest head coach in MLS according to his club, and he has seen just about every way a soccer game can go wrong. On Saturday night he watched his San Jose Earthquakes get pushed around at PayPal Park, and he said so. "I thought their back line dominated us," Arena said. "They were physically dominant tonight." The main culprit was Simon Becher, who kept arriving in the box before anyone in black and blue could stop him.

St. Louis won 3-1 on Saturday night, and the club said the result stretched its unbeaten streak across all competitions to 10 matches, the longest in club history. Daniel Edelman scored early, Becher headed in a corner and then finished a scissor kick for his third career MLS brace, and Beau Leroux's volley was the only real answer San Jose could find.

St. Louis Strikes First, Then Again

The visitors set the tone immediately. Becher fired just wide from a tight angle in the first minute, and Angus Gunn had to save from Jeong Sang-Bin in the fifth. In the eighth minute, Conrad Wallem got on the ball in the box and pulled it back for Edelman, whose sliding right-footed finish found the bottom right corner. St. Louis said it was Edelman's second goal of the season. ESPN credited Wallem with the assist, while both clubs also listed Jeong.

San Jose's best first-half response came from Preston Judd, who headed an Ousseni Bouda cross wide in the 10th minute. Beyond that and a Benji Kikanovic header in the 32nd minute, the Quakes were mostly chasing. Gunn saved an Edelman shot from distance in the 25th minute, St. Louis piled up back-to-back corners, and in the 27th minute Eduard Löwen whipped one in and Becher headed it into the top of the net from very close range. It was 2-0, and it should have been more before the break, with Löwen dragging a shot just wide in the 30th minute and Becher missing again in stoppage time.

Leroux Lights a Spark, Becher Puts It Out

Arena made two changes at halftime. Luka Jovanovic, who San Jose said was making his MLS debut, replaced Niko Tsakiris, back in the lineup for the first time since May 2. Jack Jasinski replaced Benji Kikanovic.

It worked for about two minutes. In the 47th minute, a St. Louis clearance hung in the air at the top of the box, and Leroux met it with a right-footed volley into the bottom left corner. San Jose said all three of his goals this season have come from outside the box. "The ball found its way to the top of the box, and I just like the way my technique is in those areas," Leroux said.

San Jose had a chance to level in the 51st minute when Judd met a Timo Werner cross after a corner at the left side of the six-yard box but sent it wide. Four minutes later, the hosts were two goals down again. Tomas Totland ran onto a long ball inside the box and floated a cross, and Becher, arriving at speed, finished with a right-footed scissor kick from very close range to make it 3-1 in the 55th minute.

That was effectively the end of the contest. Gunn kept the score respectable with saves on Becher in the 59th and 76th minutes, and the only other drama came from a trio of yellow cards for Wallem, Reid Roberts and Totland between the 77th and 84th minutes. Carlo Holse came on in the 69th minute for what St. Louis said was his MLS debut.

The Men Who Mattered

Simon Becher took seven shots, put four on target and scored twice. St. Louis said they were his third and fourth goals of the season, and that the brace was his second with the club.

Daniel Edelman opened the scoring on one of his two shots on target. The club said it was the fifth goal of his MLS career.

Angus Gunn made four saves for San Jose and still conceded three. He was the one Earthquake who could leave with his head up.

Beau Leroux scored the home side's only goal and was honest about the rest of the night.

The Turning Point

Becher's second goal in the 55th minute. Leroux's volley had given San Jose eight minutes of hope, and the Quakes had just missed a chance to level from a corner. Instead of 2-2, it became 3-1, and San Jose did not put another shot on target.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: St. Louis 14, San Jose 6.
• Shots on goal: St. Louis 7, San Jose 1. The Quakes' only shot on target went in.
• Saves: Gunn made four. Roman Bürki did not have to make one.
• Tackles won: St. Louis 16, San Jose seven.
• Possession: San Jose had 51.9 percent of the ball and did very little with it.

What It Means

St. Louis moved to 8-5-6 (wins, draws, losses) with 29 points, and San Jose's notes listed CITY SC fifth in the Western Conference. St. Louis said it is now 7-1-0 all time against San Jose and 4-0-0 at PayPal Park since 2023. The Quakes had won the first meeting this season, 3-2 in St. Louis in April. Next up for St. Louis is a midweek trip to Sporting Kansas City.

San Jose stayed on 33 points at 10-3-6 and, per its own notes, fourth in the West. The Quakes have now gone four straight MLS matches without a win, losing three of them, and Arena did not sugarcoat it: "Collectively, we have been very poor in the defensive end of the field." The LA Galaxy and the California Clasico are next on Wednesday.

The Closing Take

Arena also offered perspective. "We're not panicking," he said. "If we won tonight, we'd be in first place in our conference. It is what it is. That's MLS." He is right about that. The West is tight enough that one result can flip a whole season's narrative. But St. Louis is the team with the momentum and the club-record run, and San Jose is the one going back to the film room. Leroux put it best: "I don't think a lot of us, myself included, had that fight tonight."

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by the San Jose Earthquakes. Additional details from St. Louis CITY SC.