Rafael Navarro Scores Twice as St. Louis CITY SC Beat Minnesota United 4-2, Stretch Unbeaten Run to 15

Minnesota United had a plan, a fifth-minute lead and a goalkeeper standing on his head. Then St. Louis CITY SC remembered who they are.

Rafael Navarro scored twice, Carlo Holse curled in a first-half stunner, Daniel Edelman started the comeback, and St. Louis CITY SC beat Minnesota United FC 4-2 on Saturday night at Energizer Park. The win stretched St. Louis' unbeaten run in MLS play to 15 matches, an MLS-best run, according to MLSsoccer.com. Minnesota, which led for 13 minutes, left with a third straight loss and a red card.

Callender's Wall Cracks in Four Minutes

The opening was a blur. Drake Callender made three saves in the first four minutes, stopping Simon Becher, Conrad Wallem and Rafael Santos in quick succession. Then Minnesota punched back with its first real look. Joaquín Pereyra threaded a through ball on the break, Tomás Chancalay timed his run perfectly, and his right-footed finish beat Roman Bürki for a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.

It held until the 18th. Holse let one rip from outside the box, Callender pushed it away, and Edelman hammered the rebound into the roof of the net. Four minutes later, St. Louis had the lead and a highlight that will play all season. Wallem fed Holse on the right side of the box, and the summer signing bent a first-time, left-footed curler into the top left corner. Callender did not move. Nobody could have.

The third goal came in the 38th minute and was arguably even prettier. Holse lofted a long ball over the top, Navarro ran onto it, and instead of blasting it, he chipped Callender with a delicate right-footed touch. That made it 3-1 at the break, and St. Louis had scored three times in 20 minutes.

Minnesota came out of halftime pressing higher and nearly got a lifeline. Carlos Harvey headed wide in the 49th minute, Kelvin Yeboah dragged a shot just past the post in the 51st, and in the 54th Pereyra hit the left post from outside the box. Two minutes later, Michael Boxall, already on a yellow card from the 47th minute, fouled Navarro in the box, and Navarro stepped up in the 57th and sent the penalty into the top left corner. 4-1.

St. Louis made three changes in the 59th minute, and Minnesota immediately got one back. Yeboah beat his man near the endline, earned a foul from Jaziel Orozco, and converted his own penalty to the bottom left corner in the 61st. Anthony Markanich headed off the crossbar in the 69th, Bürki made his only save of the night on Yeboah in the 70th, and substitute Maurice Malone smacked the bar from the middle of the box in the 78th. Any hope of a miracle ended in the 80th minute, when Kyle Duncan picked up his second yellow card and Minnesota went down to 10 men.

The New Duo Is Already a Problem

Navarro took three shots, put two on target, scored both, and drew four fouls, including the one that produced the penalty. According to St. Louis, the goals were his third and fourth for the club, he became the first CITY SC player to score a brace in his home debut, and he now has back-to-back braces after scoring twice in Wednesday's 2-2 draw at Portland. He also made his 100th career MLS appearance, per the club. MLSsoccer.com described him as a club-record signing acquired from the Colorado Rapids two weeks ago.

Holse, the other summer Designated Player arrival, finished with a goal and an assist on two shots, both on target. St. Louis also credited Navarro with a secondary assist on Holse's goal, though ESPN's data lists Wallem alone. Wallem's assist was his sixth of the season, a career best, per the club.

"There is a sense of responsibility... for those guys coming in," St. Louis head coach Yoann Damet said of his new attackers, according to MLSsoccer.com. "So, very happy that they're able to express their abilities."

For Minnesota, Yeboah's penalty was his 13th goal of the season and his fifth in five games, according to the Loons. Callender made four saves and deserved better than four goals against.

Woodwork and a Whistle

At 3-1, Minnesota had the momentum early in the second half. Pereyra's 54th-minute shot came back off the post, and two minutes later Boxall brought down Navarro to give St. Louis a penalty. Instead of 3-2 and a nervy final half hour, it was 4-1. Minnesota hit the woodwork twice more after that and still scored once, which tells you how differently this one could have gone if that first post had been a few inches kinder.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: St. Louis 64.3 percent, Minnesota 35.7 percent.
• Shots: St. Louis 14 (8 on target), Minnesota 11 (3 on target).
• Saves: Callender made 4, Bürki made 1.
• Passing: St. Louis completed 537 of 598 passes; Minnesota completed 261 of 328.

Chasing a Top-Four Spot, and a Trophy

St. Louis CITY SC moved to 11-8-6 with 41 points, and MLSsoccer.com had them fifth in the Western Conference after the win. The unbeaten run dates to a 2-0 loss at Austin FC on May 3 and now includes 10 wins and five draws, and St. Louis says it is tied for the longest in MLS over the last decade. The club also noted it was its first four-goal home performance in regular-season play since 2023. A Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal at Colorado comes next, on Wednesday.

Minnesota United fell to 7-8-10 with 29 points. The losing streak now covers a 5-4 defeat at Portland, a 2-1 home loss to FC Dallas and this one. The Loons host the LA Galaxy next Saturday without Duncan and Boxall, who are both suspended, according to the club.

Two Weeks to Chemistry

Navarro and Holse play like a buddy-cop duo that skipped the awkward first act and went straight to finishing each other's sentences. Damet, for his part, wanted nobody getting carried away.

"The scoring is the scoring, but at the end of the day, if we want to make a step as a group, we need to keep looking at the way we want to play the game," he said.

Fifteen matches unbeaten suggests the way they play the game is working just fine.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by MLSsoccer.com; club notes as reported by St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com) and Minnesota United (mnufc.com).