news-engine

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Earthquakes’ winless streak reached eight matches on Saturday night as Simon Beecher’s two goals led streaking St. Louis City SC to a 3-1 victory at PayPal Park. San Jose has now lost three of its four matches following the World Cup break and hasn’t earned an MLS win since May 23 in Portland. Meanwhile, streaking St. Louis (8-6-5) has climbed within a point of the fourth-place Quakes (10-6-3) in the Western Conference after extending its unbeaten streak to nine games. The Quakes were victimized on defense once again as they’ve been outscored 12-4 during their four post-break matches. “I think we just need to get to a better level of understanding as a team, figure out what we’re doing wrong, really break down the film and get to the bottom of it,” said San Jose midfielder Beau Leroux, who scored the Quakes’ lone goal. Despite its slump, San Jose remains right in the middle of the conference race with just two points separating first-place Houston (11-6-2) and Vancouver, LAFC and the Quakes. “Collectively, we have been very poor in the defensive end of the field,” said San Jose coach Bruce Arena. “We’re not panicking. If we won tonight, we’d be in first place in our conference. It is what it is. That’s MLS.” Daniel Edelman opened the scoring for St. Louis in the seventh minute before Beecher’s brace made the difference in City’s fourth win in five post-World Cup matches. The Quakes fell behind 2-0 when St. Louis’ Eduard Löwen played an inward-arcing corner kick and the 6-foot-1 Beecher slammed home a header from 5 yards out in the 27th minute. Leroux scored in the 47th minute for San Jose’s lone goal. The 22-year-old Leroux scored his third goal of the season on a right-footed shot from close range following a set piece situation. Eight minutes later, St. Louis’ Tomas Totland flicked a cross from the left side of the area to the back post where Beecher’s first-touch finish from point-blank range made it 3-1. Beecher, who had his third career multi-goal game, has a career-high tying four goals this season. Edelman, who perfectly timed his run, slipped between a pair of defenders for a sliding first-touch goal, off a cross played by Conrad Wallem, from the center of the penalty box. Edelman, who was acquired in January for general allocation money, has a career-high two goals this season. The 23-year-old midfielder had three goals and three assists across his first four MLS seasons, all with the New York Red Bulls. “I thought their back line dominated us,” Arena said. “They were physically dominant tonight. Our midfield was dominated. They looked like a more athletic and physically stronger team than us.” St. Louis had just 45% possession but outshot the Earthquakes 13-7, 7-2 on target. NOTABLE - Midfielder Niko Tsakiris returned to the San Jose lineup for the first time since May 2. Despite not playing in the past seven league games over three months, Tsakiris still ranks in the top 10 among all MLS players this season in assists (7), crosses (23), corner kicks (54) and chances created per 90 minutes (3.5). - Australian Under-23 international forward Luka Jovanović made his MLS and Earthquakes debut Saturday. The 21-year-old Jovanović came on right after halftime and played the remainder of the match. - Angus Gunn had four saves for San Jose. - San Jose gets back in action on Wednesday when it travels to Southern California to face the LA Galaxy in the California Clasico at 7:30 p.m.