ST. LOUIS (AP) — João Klauss scored in the 88th minute as St. Louis City rallied to tie Real Salt Lake 2-2, closing out the regular season on Saturday night.
Real Salt Lake (12-17-5) secured the Western Conference’s final postseason berth thanks to a tiebreaker advantage over the San Jose Earthquakes. RSL will face the Portland Timbers on the road this Wednesday in a loser-out wild-card match. The winner will then advance to play the expansion side and Western Conference regular-season champion San Diego FC in a best-of-three first round.
Klauss matched his career high by netting his 10th goal of the season for St. Louis City (8-18-8). Rookie defender Fallou Fall, 21, earned his first assist in only his eighth appearance. Defender Devin Padelford added his second assist of the season; notably, Padelford had recorded just one assist over three seasons and 46 appearances with Minnesota United.
Real Salt Lake struck early with Victor Olatunji scoring twice in the first half to build a 2-0 lead. His first goal came in the 17th minute off assists from 18-year-old rookie Zavier Gozo—his third of the season—and Braian Ojeda, who notched his first assist. Olatunji then doubled the advantage in the 32nd minute, marking his fourth goal of the season in only his eighth career appearance. Diogo Gonçalves provided his career-best fifth assist this season.
St. Louis City responded before halftime with Eduard Löwen cutting the deficit in half via a penalty kick in the 42nd minute. Löwen’s sixth goal of the season—matching his career high—came after Brayan Vera was fouled in the box.
In goal, Roman Bürki made one save for St. Louis City, while Rafael Cabral turned away six shots for Real Salt Lake.
