Joao Klauss scores twice, St. Louis City extends run

Joao Klauss recorded a second-half brace and St. Louis City extended its unbeaten streak to five games with a 3-1 win over the visiting Chicago Fire on Saturday.

Rasmus Alm scored the other goal as St. Louis (3-1-7, 16 points) found the win column after back-to-back away draws and improved to 2-0-3 in its last five games while sending Chicago (2-6-4, 10 points) to a fifth straight winless result (0-3-2).

Alm opened the scoring for St. Louis in the second minute as his effort from beyond the box found its way past Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady and into the net for an early 1-0 lead, marking his first goal of the season.

Chicago, entering the match without a goal in its last four matches, didn't offer Roman Burki any significant threats in the first half, despite the St. Louis goalkeeper being credited with a pair of saves in the opening 45 minutes.

St. Louis, meanwhile, nearly doubled its margin in the 40th minute, but a well-taken free kick by Indiana Vassilev was stopped by a leaping Brady.

Just 45 seconds into the second half, Hugo Cuypers put Chicago back on level terms, volleying it past Burki to make it a 1-1 match and ending the Fire's lengthy goalless run.

But Klauss scored twice later in the frame to put his team ahead, first by knocking home Celio Pompeu's cross in the 56th minute and then with a near-post header past Brady 11 minutes later.

That was more than enough offense for St. Louis, who remained unbeaten at home with the win (3-0-3) and outshot Chicago 24-13 (7-4 in shots on target). The Fire dropped to 0-3-3 on the road with the loss.