It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it!
Winner: St. Louis City, MLS Cup contenders?
St. Louis City had one of the best summer transfer windows in MLS. Despite losing Marcel Hartel and Edward Lowen, they went out and spent big on Rafa Navarro and Carlo Holse, players who fit Yoann Damet’s approach perfectly and will make them better.
That’s all nice in theory, but who cares about transfers if it doesn’t lead to results? Well, I’m happy to report that the early returns are quite good.
St. Louis went to BC Place on Saturday, where the Whitecaps had lost just twice and outscored their opponents 27-6 this year, and played them off the field. The visitors were every bit deserving of their 3-1 win. Playing out of Yoann Damet’s Wilfried Nancy-esque 3-4-2-1, they stayed incredibly compact, looking in control when they had possession and forcing Vancouver to be much more direct than they would have liked. You can see as much in the pass map:
Simon Becher’s opening goal told the story of the night for both sides. The ‘Caps were incredibly loose with their defensive shape, consistently leaving huge spaces between their defensive and midfield lines. St. Louis didn’t fully dominate the ball – 53% possession and 35% field tilt – but they did an exceptional job getting the ball into the middle third, identifying the gaps in Vancouver’s defense, and hitting it directly.
Here’s that opener from Becher, who should soak up these minutes while he can get them before Navarro is fully integrated:
Simon Becher is composed in front of goal!@stlCITYsc are level. pic.twitter.com/wTNu2sYAxh
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 6, 2026
And watch them exploit the space similarly for their third:
