Jeong Sang-bin scored in the 26th minute on Saturday, and visiting St. Louis City SC secured its first clean sheet since last season with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids.
The goal marked Sang-bin’s first of the season. Goalkeeper Roman Burki initiated the play with a long goal kick, which Simon Becher redirected to a sprinting Sang-bin. Charging down the middle of the pitch, Sang-bin easily rounded goalkeeper Nicolas Hansen and tapped the ball into the net.
Colorado’s hopes of a second-half comeback suffered a blow when Rob Holding was sent off in the 51st minute for a foul on Becher. St. Louis (2-6-3, 9 points) played 36 minutes with a man advantage before Chris Durkin received his second yellow card in the 87th minute, reducing both sides to 10 men.
Rafael Navarro, Keegan Rosenberry, and Georgi Minoungou each had promising chances to equalize after Durkin’s dismissal. Navarro’s header went wide right in the 87th minute, and Rosenberry failed to convert two minutes into stoppage time. Minoungou then sent a header over the crossbar—a shot with a 48% expected goals rate. St. Louis held on through six more minutes of stoppage time to claim its first road win of the season.
The Rapids (3-5-4, 13 points) squandered a significant possession advantage (58.1% to 41.9%) and managed only two shots on target from 11 attempts, both saved by Burki. Colorado earned 11 corner kicks but failed to convert any set pieces into goals.
Both teams entered the match looking to reverse recent poor form. St. Louis had gone 0-3-2 in its previous five matches, while the Rapids were 0-3-1 in their last four.
The first half was evenly contested until Sang-bin’s breakthrough. Despite Colorado holding 55.1% possession, each side took five shots and registered one on goal.
Referee Tim Ford called 36 fouls and issued nine cards in a physical contest.
