St. Louis City already have clinched the top seed in the Western Conference, but the expansion franchise has further accomplishments in mind.
St. Louis City (17-10-5, 56 points) aim to break the single-season points mark for a first-year squad in Wednesday night’s road contest against the Vancouver Whitecaps (11-10-10, 43 points).
St. Louis is two points away from passing the record of 57 set by Los Angeles FC in 2018.
“You can check these boxes now, you can check a few things off the list,” St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell said. “But we wanna keep on going now. We need a couple of more points to make 58 points and to make it our own.”
Forward Samuel Adeniran is one of many players fully aware St. Louis vastly exceeded expectations.
“In our locker room, we have a paper on the wall that says all of the predictions that, I don’t know exactly who, but they predicted that we were gonna be 13th or 14th in the West,” Adeniran told reporters. “… That’s motivation. I look at that thing every single day.”
Adeniran scored one of the St. Louis’ goals during Saturday’s 4-1 romp over visiting Sporting Kansas City. The win allowed St. Louis to set a record for wins by an expansion franchise.
Joao Klauss scored twice, Jared Stroud tallied once and Eduard Lowen compiled three assists to raise his season total to 14. All four goals came between the 73rd and 85th minutes.
St. Louis has a five-match unbeaten streak (2-0-3) entering the match with Vancouver. The Whitecaps are tied for sixth in the West but could clinch a playoff spot with a win over St. Louis depending on how FC Dallas and Minnesota United fare in their respective matches.
Brian White (14 goals) and Ryan Gauld (11 goals, 11 assists) are enjoying big seasons for the Whitecaps.
Both players had a goal in Saturday’s 2-2 home tie against D.C. United, though the draw stretched Vancouver’s winless stretch (0-2-2) to four games.
The struggles could hinder the Whitecaps’ chances at landing a top-four spot, which includes home-field advantage in the first round.
“To make the playoffs is the primary goal,” Vancouver coach Vanni Sartini said. “That’s the thing. Only if you make the playoffs, then you can think about going into the top four.”
St. Louis defeated the visiting Whitecaps 3-1 on May 27.
