St. Louis City continued their dream MLS start to life with a 2-1 away win over the Portland Timbers, with goals from Jared Stroud and Kyle Hibbert sealing the deal.
After conceding early, St. Louis quickly bounced back, scoring two unanswered goals to take the lead in the Western Conference, ahead of LAFC and Seattle Sounders.
“One or two can be lucky or lucky. There are some rebounds that have come our way, but I also thought in those first couple of games, we’re making a lot of great looks,” said defender and goalie Kyle Hibbert.
St. Louis is now the first club in MLS since Los Angeles Galaxy In 2015 to record three consecutive come-from-behind wins. They are also the first team to do so in their first three matches.
Like Hebert’s sentiments, Coach Bradley Carnell doesn’t believe their good performance is due to luck and states that these underdog wins will make their team stronger in the long run.
“I thought it was a huge step for us together as a group this time, to show small moments of growth, every time I feel like we’re going on speed bumps, I feel like we’re getting stronger. This will only serve us so well.”
Although some might say St. Louis was lucky in how they won their games, the team doesn’t feel the same. They have carefully crafted their roster in order to be able to play this specific style.
“This style of play is not easy. This style of play requires a lot of commitment, not just to the philosophy, but to each other as team members.”
Carnell stressed that while the team is in a good position at the moment, there is still room for growth.
“…we felt every minute that the lights weren’t on us in MLS, these were moments for us to grow and prepare. We took it all in our stride. We feel like we haven’t achieved anything and we have to keep calm and be excited next time.”
St. Louis will look to add to their winning streak when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, March 18th.
