Aziel Jackson scored his first MLS goal to lift visiting St. Louis City to a 1-0 win against Toronto FC on Saturday.
Western Conference-leading St. Louis (12-7-2, 38 points) is 10-0-2 when scoring first this season and has won three straight matches.
Toronto (3-10-10, 19 points) has lost five straight and is winless in its last eight matches (0-5-3). The Canadian side has been shut out in each of its past three matches and four times during its five-game slide.
Toronto dominated possession in the first half with nearly 64 percent of the touches while generating 10 shot attempts. Only two of those attempts reached the target, however, as the home side struggled to create chances inside the box.
St. Louis had a few opportunities early but couldn’t convert. In the 18th minute, Jackson set up Nicholas Gioacchini at the top of the six-yard box, but goalkeeper Tomas Romero came off his line for the save. A minute later, Jackson had a chance of his own with a distance shot that missed high and wide.
Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty had the best chance for Toronto in the first half when he cut from the left side to the middle, firing a shot from above the arc that forced goalkeeper Roman Burki to deflect it over the net.
St. Louis came close to breaking the scoreless draw twice minutes apart before the end of the half. In the 44th minute, Jackson took a cross-body shot from the top left that hit the far top corner outside the net. Then, in stoppage time, Samuel Adeniran’s quick shot from inside the box was saved by Romero, who had come off his line.
Marshall-Rutty was at it again in the second half, turning into a shot from the top in the 49th minute, but his attempt rolled past the right post.
Jackson’s first MLS came in the 50th minute. The midfielder took a pass from Akil Watts inside the box and brought it to the middle before firing through the Toronto defense and past Romero into the back of the net.
Celio Pompeu came close to doubling the lead in the 85th minute with a short side attempt down low, but Romero got a hand on the ball and deflected it out of play.
–Field Level Media